Pudd'nhead Wilson

This book was defiantly a relief after Blithedale and Moby-dick; it was small, easy to read and didn’t act like an encyclopaedia. Twain only ever told us what we needed to know, unlike Melville who told us things about whaling we will probably only need if we go on a quiz show.

The story in itself is kind of complicated and I don’t entirely know how I’m meant to feel about it. Part of me thinks that this book is quite racist because Twain stereotypes his characters; we have the rude supposedly superior white slave owner, and then the meek and docile black slave. Even Roxy is stereotyped because of her speech and self-hatred of her black blood. However, I also think that Twain did his best to actually bring across the race issue but was limited with how far he could go.

I really enjoyed the presentation of nature vs. nurture. I’m a big supporter of the nurture aspect, in that people are a product of their environment. This is clearly seen with Tom and Chambers. Tom is allowed to get away with everything and therefore sees no issue with being badly behaved because he has never been punished for his behaviour, he has been raised to think that how he acts is perfectly okay and acceptable. Chambers on the other hand has been punished for even the slightest mistakes for the majority of his life. At one point Twain even says that Chambers had learnt early on that it was better not to fight back, the three times he did he was brutally punished. I just liked that Twain did challenge the idea of race at the time. Like I said I’ve always believed in nurture over nature and that the way you are raised becomes a large part of who you are, so maybe I refuse to see any nature arguments that arise.

Also the idea of culture, the fact that many of the white characters use names they have little or no right to. I realise now that as a relatively new nation Americans like to hold on to the ancestry of their families and feel connection to a nation or country that they may have never set foot in. However, this just seems such a strange notion because I feel like what you are connecting with is your family and not the country in general but I get that it is a touchy subject so I’m not going to go much further with it.

The end, finally...

So that’s it. Moby Dick is finally finished and it I’m perfectly honest I’m quite relieved; I never thought we’d get here. I feel as if this book has been an all-consuming part of my life for the last few weeks. The fact that I haven’t been dreaming of whales still surprises me.  Really this post is just going to by thoughts on the novel as a whole.

Yes the book is full of action, and I love that I really do, but for the main part it felt as though the action got buried beneath the description.  I felt a lot of the time like Melville was lecturing me; I kind of wanted to turn round by remind him that he isn’t a high school teacher. In some ways the descriptions helped but at other points in the story it felt like it was suffocating the plot line. It also makes me wonder about Ishmael; if he is this intelligent then why is he on a whaling boat? He could be teaching animal biology somewhere and probably making a lot of money from ridiculously overpriced academic books on the subject. I think added so much in the way of information on whaling was a bit unnecessary.

On saying that I liked the ending of the book; I mean I wish that more characters had survived but as far as Ahab is concerned I didn’t think there was any other way for things to end for him. He kind of deserved his fate, didn’t he? I mean after everything that Ahab has done throughout the book it would have been a disappointing ending if he had of survived. He was the bad guy of the story and the bad guy has to die at the end.

Overall the novel was a good read but it felt like it would have been more enjoyable if it weren’t so bogged down with the details. I didn’t need to know everything that Melville told me and it felt like it was distracting from the story a lot.

Sympathy for a Whale?!

I know we spoke about this in class; but for me the image of the old blind whale being killed is still very much engraved in my mind. It just seems so unnecessarily cruel and brutal an action. Here is this whale that is harmless and frail and yet the crew kills it as if it were some terrifying monster who was attempting to eat their children. This scene sticks in my head; simply because it is so pathetic and heart breaking. At this point it is as if the whale has become the victim and the crew the monsters. It feels almost as if it is retribution when the whale sinks; as if something is punishing the crew for their cruelty. I can’t get the image out of my head though; to the point where I can imagine a look of fear in the whale’s eyes. If I’m perfectly honest I lost a lot of respect for the crew through their attack on the blind whale.

I think this particular happening within the story has caused me to see the rest of the novel in a harsher light. I understand that it’s a job and they do it to earn a living but it just seems so unfair on the animal. I’ve always had an issue with killing wild animals and that chapter in particular just made it worse.

In the chapters that follow it becomes clear that we’re starting to get near the climax of the book; in the writing it’s almost as if something is telling you that they are getting closer to Moby Dick. I think we can all say we know how the book ends; it’s a story that everyone knows without having to read the actual book but I kind of wish it didn’t have to end that way. It would be a rubbish ending but why can’t Ahab see the errors of his ways and go home. He loses everything through his desire for revenge. Maybe I’m just looking at this from too modern a view but the whole practice of whaling just appals me. 

Next time on Emi’s blog; a full opinion of the book as a whole; hopefully without a lecture on the morality of whaling.

Moby dick cont.

Okay so to be perfectly honest I'm getting a little bored with all this chasing the whale. Although Meville’s writing style is engaging the book does seem to drag on a bit. I can’t help but think that the story could have been just as well told with less chapters or in a shorter story. I’m not going to try and understand why Meville wrote the book this way; I’m sure he had a reason for it. Although the action will probably pick up again; it feels like this part of the book is just dragging on for far too long.

One chapter in particular that I found interesting was ‘The Funeral.’ It’s the first time we really see what the crew is doing in a bad light. It’s almost as if the action is made to seem villainous; we hear the pathetic way in which the whale’s remains are just left for the predators of the sea. In this chapter the death of the whale is seen as something tragic and in a way anti climatic. Ishmael has this idea of what it will be like to kill a whale but the actual moment and the scenes afterwards are a disappointment.  I don’t know if anyone else thought this but I felt that the stripping away of the whale’s skin was a representation of how the glamour or mystery of whaling had been stripped away by the first kill. It was almost as if the prize was not worth to battle to win; or couldn’t live up to the thrill of the hunt.  I think in this chapter Ishmael becomes disillusioned with the world of whaling; he begins to realise that it is not all glorious and great but that the actual death of the whale is a sad thing.

I can’t help but think that Meville wants to foreshadow the doom that the ship will ultimately face if it continues on this voyage.

The art of bromance; and a man with whale issues...

Okay first off the videos have very little to do with the actual book; they are basically there for my own amusement.

I definitely enjoyed this more than the Blithedale Romance. The characters especially are more likable. In the Blithedale Romance; the narrator is kind of annoying; I would go as far as to say very annoying. However in Moby Dick; the narrator Ishmael is much more likeable; possible because he isn’t constantly telling us he is likable.

One of the main things I love about Moby Dick is the relationship or, to quote a brilliant term brought up in class today, bromance between Queequeg and Ishmael. The two characters form a bond that is both awesome and a little confusing. We feel the need to constantly question it; are they just friends? Although I couldn’t help thinking that if the two were girls instead of boys would we question it as much? The relationship between the two characters could be described as that of a married couple. They share a bed; they look after each other and there is a sense of them both sharing moments that could almost be described as intimate. Although it seems as though Melville knows we will question this relationship but does not wish to clear up the confusion. He or Ishmael never address the oddness in how close the two characters are.

Another point in the story that I found interesting was the absence of Captain Ahab for the first few chapters. His presence in the story is huge but Ishmael and the reader never actually see him. Although we went through some of the possible reasons for the absence it still just doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe it’s just in hindsight; the reader or even someone who has actually read the book; can go back and say there were all these warning signs and Ishmael should have picked up on them. Also the case that no one seems to realise that he’s not exactly right in the head; and I get that he is a very charismatic character. However it just seems strange that only one person questions him; the rest of the crew take having to make an oath in their stride.  Again hindsight is a wonderful thing but surely that wasn’t common place; there can’t have only been one person who thought, wait a minute this isn’t right.

I’m going to keep this post short because I want to reserve further judgement until I’ve read more of the book.

 

The Blithedale Romance

To be perfectly honest; The Blithedale Romance isn’t really my kind of book. For me it lacked action or more relatable plot motivators. I prefer my books to have a little more action and suspense in them. Also I find Coverdale to be a really annoying character; he wants to seem like a good guy who gets along with everyone but he is very quick to point out the worst in people while ignoring his own flaws. With this in mind; I found the book quite difficult to get through; although I managed it in the end; after hours of struggle and getting distracted by other books. However I can see why it could appeal to other people.

The main point I found interesting in the book was the theme of paradise lost. All the characters go to Blithedale to start this new society in which everyone is equal and everyone must do part of the work within the society. Although this starts out well it soon becomes clear that the society isn’t going to work. Many of the characters are there with less than pure intentions. It seems as though Hawthorne is making a comment on the idea that people are incapable of finding paradise because they themselves will ruin it. It is the character’s desires and suspicions that cause discontent within the Blithedale community.  Hawthorne could be using this as a way to express that it is a natural part of human behaviour to put themselves before others and therefore would be incapable of a utopian society.

As the book continues the community falls apart as the characters own flaws come into focus. This is first seen with Coverdale. Coverdale has an almost obsessive need to know what is going on between Hollingsworth; Priscilla and Zenobia.  In this way he starts to become more distrustful of their motivations and commitment to the community. It’s also shown in the way that Covendale only helps others when it profits him; he will not go out of his way to help anyone if it will cause him hardship or trouble which goes against the ideals of the project.

Also with Zenobia; she appears at first to be a very strong character. She could almost be described as a modern day women; however she also shows a sense of fragility when it comes to Hollingsworth and his opinion of her. She always wants to appeal to Hollingsworth and changes her own ideals to do so. The main appearance of this weakness is Zenobia’s reaction to being rejected by Hollingsworth; it seems such an extreme reaction and one completely opposed to the image of her that she has presented.

Like I said at the beginning I said that this wasn’t my type of novel; and if I’m honest my opinion hasn’t changed. I still think the book lacks a strong plot motivator and seems a bit dull.