Journal of The School of Marine Science and Technology,Vol.4 No.3
gThe White WhalehReviewed through the Reading of Typee
|From the Explicit Denunciations to the Symbolic Condemnations of the White Civilization|
Hiroshi IGARASHI
Abstract
To Melville,to write was his gsubstitute for pistol and ballhjust as gto get to seahwas to Ishmael,the narrator of Moby-Dick. Melville wrote from the very beginning of his literary career,what lies behind the specious good or evil, always seeking the truth behind the deceptive appearances of the world and people.

In his first novel Typee, Melville severely criticized the 19th century Christian civilization of the white race in explicit language,describing the vices inflicted by the civilized white race upon the innocent natives of the Polynesian islands. He contends that the natives were not at all savages in the beginning but the invasions and enormities perpetrated by the white race in the name of Christian civilization made the natives savages.His final say was gthe white civilized manhwas gthe most ferocious animal on the face of the earth.h

Melvillefs denunciations of the White Christian civilization were symbolized in the characters and stage settings of Moby-Dick with the white whale in the center. The white whale can be a symbol of many a thing depending on the readerfs viewpoint,but apparently it is a symbol of the White Christian civilization when it is reviewed through the reading of Typee.
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