Siamese connexion with a plurality of other mortals. If your banker breaks, you snap; if your apothecary by mistake sends you poison in your pills, you die. True, you may say that, by exceeding caution, you may possibly escape these and the multitudinous other evil chances of life. But handle Queequeg’s monkey-rope heedfully as I would… Nor could I possibly forget that, do what I would, I only had management of one end of it. [11]
The passage proves that Ishmael and Queequeg are close enough that we are willing to die for each other. It also shows how the interdependency of mankind is unavoidable and how no person can control it. “…Melville asserts that life interwoven, whether it be one human connects to another human or one action connects to another action; everything it ultimately interdependent”. This dependency is how the Pequod functions. Although every crewmember is different from the next, they all try to assure the success of the Pequod. Therefore, the interdependency is visible on the ship, and transfers over to show the counterpane of humanity.
The most diverse, single character by far in Moby Dick, is a dark-complexioned harpooner named Queenqueg, who represents a great number of cultures all at once. He is first introduced to the reader as a man Ishmael will have to share a bed with for the night. At the first encounter, Queequeg is portrayed as a horrifying savage and “cannibal” who seem ready and willing to attack Ishmael:
But what to make of this head-pedding purple rascal…his chest and arms…parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back too, was all over the same dark squares; still more, his very legs were marked… It was now quite plain that he must be some abominable savage or other…I quaked to think of it. A peddler of heads too-perhaps
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the heads of his own brothers. He might take a fancy to mine-heavens! Look at that tomahawk [12]
Immediately, Queequeg is portrayed as someone to fear. However the first impression is quickly replaced by the impression of noble and trustworthy friend. In the chapter entitled “Biographical”, the reader is surprised to find that Queequeg is actually a prince, with a Christian family that includes “His father…a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the maternal side he boasted aunts who were the wives of unconquerable warriors. There was excellent blood in his veins-royal stuff; though sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his untutored youth ”[13] Another culture that is rolled up into Queequeg, is that of the Ishmael religion. He follows the Ramadan but only while worshipping an African idol. Along with harpoon, one of the most precious belongings to Queequeg is his little “Congo baby” named Yojo. When he is following rituals like the Ramadan for hours on end, he escapes to another world. His death-like trance is frightening to those who do not understand what he is about; Ishmael thinks Queegueg has died before learning of this special fasting period! But all of these opinions form are based merely on the physical looks of his character. Despite the fact that at first glance, anyone would be terrified of this so-called cannibal, he is one of the most outgoing and positive people in the book. He remains loyal to his friends, especially Ishmael, and his courage and nobility shines through his heroic acts. The poor fellow whom Queequeg had handled so roughly, was swept overboard; all hands were in a panic; queequeg, stripped to the waist, darted from the side with a long living arc of a leap. For three minutes or more he was seen swimming…the poor bumpkin was restored. All hands voted queequeg a noble trump. His intriguing character builds a fascinating scope of
human emotions and characteristics that is unique to him, yet common to humanity.
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V. Conclusion
The paper has discussed Melville’s symbolism in Moby Dick. As a master of allegory and symbolism, Melville develops a great deal of symbols to add beauty to his novel, and makes it become a timeless masterpiece. What remain to be pointed out are the symbolic meanings of Ahab, Moby Dick and counterpane. Ahab is viewed as the human with evil, Moby Dick as God, counterpane as the world’s multiculturalism.
However, what the paper has discussed about symbolism in the novel is just a little part of the whole. There are many other symbols in the novel. For instance, the voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.” The Pequod is, to D.H.Lawrence, the ship of the American soul, and the endeavor of its crew represents “the maniacal fanaticism of our white mental consciousness”. By far the most conspicuous symbol in the book is, of course Moby Dick, the white whale is capable of many interpretations. It’s viewed as God, an unstoppable force of nature and as simply a whale. It is apparent that he represents more. It symbolizes nature for Melville, for it is complex, unfathomable, malignant and beautiful as well. For the author, as well as for the reader and Ishmael, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery; an ultimate mystery of the universe, inscrutable and ambivalent, and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a search, not a discovery, of the truth. Thus, people should not be satisfied with learning from the ancient only. A more important thing for them to do is to develop more scientific and reasonable point of view about Melville’s symbolism in Moby Dick.
(4568 words)
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Notes
1. Melville Herman, Moby-Dick. (New York: Bantam, 1981), 177. 2. Ibid.133. 3. Ibid.213. 4. Ibid.76. 5. Ibid.77.
6. Braswell William, Moby-Dick is an Allegory of Humanity’s Struggle with God. (Leone, 1949), 150.
7. Ibid.151.
8. Melville Herman, Moby-Dick. (New York: Bantam, 1981), 177. 9. Robertson-Lorant Laurie, Melville: A Biography. (New York: Clarkson Pottor, 1996), 108.
10. Ibid.281.
11. Melville Herman, Moby-Dick. (New York: Bantam, 1981), 310-311. 12. Ibid.40-41. 13. Ibid.70.
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《白鲸》的象征意义
