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Abstract |
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Mardi is an allegory, the main theme of which is a real world named Mardi where sins and evils abound.Taji,the protagonist and his companions try to seek out ideal innocence,happiness,and peace,only to be disillusioned and repelled by many a wrong and vice they encounter throughout Mardi.
The most repulsive is gloomy Maramma,which represents domineering ecclesiastical system and whose institutional religion Taji and others reject. Babbalanja, speaking for Melville’s rational judgment based on his acquired
wisdom, decides to stay in Serenia where Christian love and faith are practiced “without priests and temples,”and
concludes his voyage there,whereas Taji,who stands for Melville’s instinct,turns his back on Mardi and pursues lost innocence into the outer seas while being pursued by avengers who incarnate Melville’s sense of guilt.
Taji’s final behavior in the last chapter implies the downright refusal and denial of the human world and its
reality that include existing Christendom and Christian faith.
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