Melville’s primary focus in his classic novel Moby Dick is the evil of mankind, a point of focus consistent with his anti-Transcendental philosophical alignment. In Moby Dick, Melville illistrates man’s feelings of evil toward fellow man and nature through his thoroughly developed plot and character. Melville also illistrated this in the components of the thematic layer which, underlies almost every character’s personal motives.
Analysis of Melville’s own motives helps to clarify the author’s reasoning behind each of the examples of man’s evil in his novel. In order to fully understand his anti-Transcendental belief, it is necessary to first comprehend the origin of anti-Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is the term linked to the Emersonian-Thoreauvian set of beliefs, which incorporated the existence of an Oversoul and the benevolent disposition of man as the default soul. Melville and others like him was opposed to the Transcendental views. The natural opposition to a theory of man’s general benevolence is one of his malevolence toward everything around him; the primary idea behind anti-Transcendentalism was all human people have a capacity for evil and that, given the proper circumstances, the evil in anyone would come forth in their actions.
The plot and characters of Moby Dick contribute to its anti-Transcendental philosophy; the entire story revolves around the evil of man, which is demonstrated in practically each person portrayed in the book. The story itself is about man being pitted against nature, as though the two were never meant to coincide peacefully. The men on the ship must fend for themselves against the harsh maritime weather and the believably evil whales which they hunt. Natural forces ravage the population of the whaling vessel; in the end, only the narrator survives. In turn, man is reciprocally evil toward nature; the men destroy the giant sea creatures for their blubber and drop the stripped carcasses back into the water.
In addition to this collective evil of the people on the ship, many of the individuals are shining examples of humanity’s evil themselves. Captain Ahab, the primary character in the book, makes the sole dedication in his life one of vengeance on the great white whale after which the novel was named. Ahab does, at times, show that he has a less wicked side (signified by the scar that seemingly divides his body into two separate people), but in the end, the evil half of him overcomes his goodness.
Transcendentalism is a religious, philosophical, literary, and social movement of the nineteenth century. Essentially, this movement was based upon the ideals of the “sixth sense,” nature, and non-conformity, as well as individualism, intuition, idealism, imagination, and inspiration. A few of the works and writings featured in the transcendental unit include Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint by Craig Medred, and Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The primary focus of this essay is to provide an opinion on a strikingly debatable topic; Whether or not Christopher McCandless, hero of Krakauer’s Into the Wild, was a true transcendentalist. Despite the bold actions of Chris McCandless on his daring Alaskan odyssey, he turned out to be far from a true transcendentalist, failing to meet the definition of transcendentalism, being solely concerned with himself, and acting out of revenge rather than seeking self discovery - nothing more than a childish suicidal rebel.
Analysis: Melville's Great American Novel draws on both Biblical and Shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is "a grand, ungodly, god-like man … above the common" whose pursuit of the great white whale is a fable about obsession and over-reaching. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab takes on Nature in his
Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop is considered to be the most respected scholar of Kemet. An Egyptologist and linguist, he had the revolutionary idea to use the scientific method to disprove the many myths surrounding ancient Kemet. He developed a way to test the levels of melanin in Egyptian mummies, which revealed that the ancient Egyptians were, indeed, Africans. He also argued that the Egyptian language was related to African dialects and can be connected to the Wolof language of today. By far, the most important theory that he sought to prove was that human life began in Africa.
In this essay, I will compare the philosophies of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism through the writings of Thoreau and Emerson vs. Melville. In Thoreau’s excerpt of “Walden”, he tested the transcendentalist philosophy through experience. Emerson’s transcendental writing style is displayed in “Nature”. In Melville’s excerpt of Moby Dick, he exhibits anti-transcendentalism in his work.
In Herman Melville’s world-renowned tale, Moby Dick, the crew aboard the Pequod sail the seas in order to hunt, capture, and kill a mysteriously terrifying sperm whale named “Moby Dick”. For centuries, humans have used technological advances to protect their elite status in the animal kingdom, at the unfortunate expense of species ignorantly perceived as being too weak or unintelligent to fight back. Moby Dick illuminates one of the most historically cruel instances of selfishly-oriented, industrial engineering: whaling and hunting animals for sport. Humans and animals are the only living creatures with a similar state of consciousness and this cognitive interconnectedness binds the two species together in ways that can only be speculated and
Herman Melville’s use of religious images not only demonstrates his genius as a romantic author, but also displays the human capacity for evil. Melville specifically chooses these religious images to make a powerful statement on how evil is used as a weapon against people. Melville’s use of religious imagery is deliberate and even on the verge of calculating. Melville uses religion multiple times to show how being ignorant of one’s surroundings can be incredibly damaging.
Once Father Mapple speaks about Jonah and the whale, it becomes clear that Herman Melville's 1851 novel has a connection to the Bible and Christianity. Melville fills Moby Dick with several biblical allusions, and the novel's main characters are linked symbolically to figures in the Bible. Melville alludes to the Bible in Moby Dick to mock Christianity. He uses his primary characters of Ishmael, Ahab, and Moby Dick to make God seem like a judgmental being who has no pity on sinners unless they obey him. He also portrays faithful Christians as outsiders who
Janice G. Raymond would say that Michael Kantaras is really Margo. She believes that transsexuals can never really relate to the female persona and therefore never truly be a woman. She bases this belief on the idea of male privilege. This is the privilege that men receive just for being men; they get higher pay, more leadership opportunities, are always seen as more competent, etc. Even though men are born with this privilege and may not realize they have it, they still experience it and have that edge to allow them to advance in society. Because of this, Raymond claims that male to female sex changes cannot know how it really is to be a woman. They do not realize they have this privilege, but continue to live being dominant because it is inherently within them.
The narrator’s journey into insanity is caused by her husband isolating her from societal influences and also the long period of time in which she was imprisoned without anything or anyone to stimulate her intellect. While some critics may claim that she was insane upon entering the mansion, it is clear that she was able to think and reason well and be able to hypothesize during the first few weeks of her confinement. By feeling demoralized and useless in the presence of her husband, and also not being able to vocalize her own treatment options, she slowly became the incompetent women that needed her husband to dictate her life. In the end, she escaped the realism that she felt was holding her from expressing herself and became an individual not scared to express what she was to her husband.
Heart valve defects include narrowing of the valves or complete closure that stops forward blood flow. Some valves do not close properly allowing blood to leak backwards. Defects in the walls between the atria and ventricles of the heart may allow abnormal mixing of oxygenated and un-oxygenated blood between the left side and the right side of the heart. Heart muscles defects often lead to heart failure due to the muscle not working properly. The vital signs that detects a congenital birth defect is a pulse oximeter and blood pressure.
Ahab is dedicated towards regaining control of his life by conquering the whale. His obsession with Moby Dick is what fuels his desire to spend months and months at sea. Ahab is so involved that he tries to get into the mind of the whale. He becomes obsessed with the whale’s every move. Similarly, the narrator is highly analytical of Bartleby’s behavior. He feels the need to know exactly what it is that makes Bartleby ‘tick’. Eventually the narrator is mentally defeated by Bartleby and is forced to change the location of his offices in order to avoid him. Ahab on the other hand is constantly chasing his antagonist and does whatever he can to get closer to Moby Dick.
At first glance, Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, appears to be the story of a man, his captain, and the whale that they quest to destroy. But a closer look reveals the author’s intense look at several metaphysical ideologies. He explores some of the most ponderous quandaries of his time, among these being the existence of evil, knowledge of the self and the existential, and the possibility of a determined fate. All of these were questions which philosophers had dealt with and written about, but Melville took it to a new level: not only writing about these things, but also doing so in a lovely poetic language backed by a tale packed with intrigue. He explores the general existence of evil in his antagonist, the white whale, and through the general malice that nature presents to humans throughout the novel. The narrator, Ishmael, gains a lot of knowledge about himself through his experiences on the whaling voyage, where he also is able to learn much about the phenomenon of existence itself. Also, through Captain Ahab, he sees more about the existence of man and the things that exist within man’s heart. Especially through Ahab and his ongoing quest for the white whale, and also in general conversation amongst the whalers, the issue of fate and whether one’s destiny is predetermined are addressed in great detail, with much thought and insight interpolated from the author’s own viewpoints on the subject.
Fibonacci Numbers originated from India hundreds of years ago. Though Fibonacci Numbers came from India, Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci, made it known to the world. Leonardo came from a wealthy Italian family and traveled to North America to join his father. He was educated by the Moors and sent on business trips. “After returning to Pisa around 1200, Leonardo wrote his most famous literature, Liber Abaci” (Pearson). Leonardo featured a rabbit question in the book. The question was asked in a mathematical competition, he appeared in when he was young. Leonardo Fibonacci used the Fibonacci Numbers to solve it. Fibonacci Numbers is now used throughout our society.
Fibonacci was born in approximately 1175 AD with the birth name of Leonardo in Pisa, Italy. During his life he went by many names, but Leonardo was the one constant. Very little is known of his early life, and what is known is only found through his works. Leonardo’s history begins with his father’s reassignment to North Africa, and that is where Fibonacci’s mathematical journey begins. His father, Guilielmo, was an Italian man who worked as a secretary for the Republic of Pisa. When reassigned to Algeria in about 1192, he took his son Leonardo with him. This is where Leonardo first learned of arithmetic, and was interested in the “Hindu-Arabic” numerical style (St. Andrews, Biography). In 1200 Leonardo ended his travels around the Mediterranean and returned to Pisa. Two years later he published his first book. Liber Abaci, meaning “The Book of Calculations”.
Fibonacci was born around 1170 in Italy, and he died around 1240 in Italy. He played an important role in reviving ancient mathematics and made significant contributions of his own. Even though he was born in Italy he was educated in North Africa where his father held a diplomatic post. He did a lot of traveling with his father. He published a book called Liber abaci, in 1202, after his return to Italy. This book was the first time the Fibonacci numbers had been discussed. It was based on bits of Arithmetic and Algebra that Fibonacci had accumulated during his travels with his father. Liber abaci introduced the Hindu-Arabic place-valued decimal system and the use of Arabic numerals into Europe. This book, though, was somewhat contraversial because it contradicted and even proved some of the foremost Roman and Grecian Mathematicians of the time to be false. He published many famous mathematical books. Some of them were Practica geometriae in 1220 and Liber quadratorum in 1225.