Journal of The School of Marine Science and Technology,Vol.6 No.1
Semi-Civilized Tahiti and Moorea in Melvillefs Omoo
|The Advantages and Disadvantages of White Christian Civilization Encroaching on the Paradise in the South Seas|
Hiroshi IGARASHI
Abstract
Melvillefs second book, Omoo, whose meaning is a rover in the native language, depicts Tahiti and Moorea toward the mid-19th century, by which time the lands and people there had been half-civilized. He wrote the book based upon his own experiences as a rover on those islands,aiming to be a gspeaker of true thingshand convey how civilization and missions affected the Polynesians.

He delineates the moral,religious,and social conditions of the half-civilized natives,and expatiates on many a disadvantage and a paucity of advantages the whitesfChristian civilization brought to their life.He tells us that the missionary operations and civilizing influence availed them next to nothing, or rather they are rubbing out the nativesfculture and driving their existence as a race to extinction.

In this work in conjunction with his first book,Typee,we can clearly hear what the ex-whaler had to say about the civilization and religion he was raised in from his international and global viewpoint.
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