Typee And Redburn Essay

The Possibility of Resistance against Oppressive Social Codes in Herman Melville’s Typee and Redburn

Environments with equality shape minds in a beneficial way. Healthy environments where people treat each other with dignity can create a happy society. However, an oppressive society that adheres to a system of double standards will cause a feeling of negativity amongst people. When people are forced to deal with rejection and ignorance from others they feel a lasting sense of negativity that can follow them for the rest of their lives. Herman Melville focuses on these topics and shows us how these negative influences impact people. Melville discusses how to deal with these issues and how to survive them. His two famous books, Typee and Redburn, deal with these social issues. Both of the stories take us on a journey overseas, where the protagonists are introduced

to exotic societies that alter their outlook on life.
In Typee, the narrator, Tommo, is shaped by an oppressive society and environment changes which force him to accept a harsh reality. Tommo introduces the reader to the Typee, a valley where he experiences a different culture and different rules. Although he sailed himself in a whaling ship on the dangerous sea he has very little knowledge about his new journey. As an adult he gains experience and knowledge that he had never before. In his journey, his whole identity shifts. In the first chapter the sailors and Tommo are seen yearning to stop at the Nukuheva Island. Tommo’s suffering begins early; He says, “…as I live, six months out of sight of land; cruising after the sperm-whale beneath the scorching sun of the Line, and tossed on the billows of the wide-rolling Pacific—the sky above, the sea around, and nothing else! Weeks and weeks ago our fresh provisions were all exhausted”(Chapter 1). There is no food on the ship, and he wants to eat banana, chicken, yam, potatoes etc., but he is trapped aboard the ship. He does not want to stay and is trying to handle a harsh new situation. His life on the ship is very hard where he has to separate himself from his culture and land. Tommo is not starving and want to eat, but also he is not getting any company from others. The captain of the ship is not friendly towards him. “… Therefore he is missing his family. The entire environment of the oppressive ship puts him into a difficult situation, and he wants to leave. He is yearning for his freedom, but he cannot do anything except waiting to change his situation.
Tommo’s view of Marquesas Islands changes over time. Tommo finds that the island seems nice. He thinks of leaving the ship in exchange for this new and welcoming land. However, after escaping from the ship, he experiences a different type of hardship. He finds himself very poorly prepared when he enters the valley. He claims, “Shall I ever forget that horrid night! As for poor Toby, I could scarcely get a word out of him. It would have been some consolation to have heard his voice, but he lay shivering the live-long night like a man afflicted with the palsy, with his knees drawn up to his head, while his back was supported against the dripping side of the rock. During this wretched night there seemed nothing wanting to complete the perfect misery of our condition” (Chapter 7). He leaves the ship ill prepared, without sufficient food or appropriate clothing. He brings nothing for bedding and finds himself cold, wet, helpless, and unprotected. In his new environment he has to rely on others for shelter and food. In the European sense, he is not senior to these natives. He is desperate to live despite the danger he faces, but he does not know how to survive. Here he obliquely critiques Western values.
The beauty of the young girls of the island mesmerizes Tommo. He says, “Their appearance perfectly amazed me; their extreme youth, the light clear brown of their complexions, their delicate features, and inexpressibly graceful figures, softly molded limbs, and free unstudied action, seemed as strange as beautiful” (chapter 2). Tommo sees this island as fresh as these young girls. Tommo realizes the European sailors mistreat the island girls while simultaneously taking advantage of the islands. Tommo suggests, “How often is the term 'savages' incorrectly applied! None really deserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by travellers. They have discovered heathens and barbarians whom by horrible cruelties they have exasperated into savages. It may be asserted without fear of contradictions that in all the cases of outrages committed by Polynesians, Europeans have at some time or other been the aggressors, and that the cruel and bloodthirsty disposition of some of the islanders is mainly to be ascribed to the influence of such examples” (chapter 4). He states that the natives are not ‘savage’ and their culture and systems are as rich and simple as they and are civilized in their own way. Polynesians are larger minded than Europeans, honoring each other while remaining peaceful in nature. They have different religious views than Europeans and they treat everyone with respect. In Tommo’s eyes, Europeans are committing ‘savage’ acts by trying to control the lives and culture of the natives. Tommo tries to connect Polynesians with Europeans but this only leads to him feeling disappointed.
Tommo believes “the term 'savage' is, I conceive, often misapplied, and indeed, when I consider the vices, cruelties, and enormities of every kind that spring up in the tainted atmosphere of a feverish civilization, I am inclined to think that so far as the relative wickedness of the parties is concerned, four or five Marquesan Islanders sent to the United States as Missionaries might be quite as useful as an equal number of Americans dispatched to the Islands in a similar capacity” (Chapter 17). Tommo is under the impression that the beliefs of the natives are superior to those of Christians. They are doing noble work just as Christian missionaries do, but Polynesians treat others with dignity and generosity, unlike many Christians. Tommo is naturally resistant but he cannot raise his voice against the Europeans and can’t protest against them. Consequently he is struggling with his own feelings. Thus, showing Tommo’s resistant nature in a new oppressive situation.
Tommo’s resistant nature is put to the test when adjusting to the native’s way of life. As the native’s food, clothing, system of society, laws, and regulations are different than Tommo’s, he has to sacrifice his living style there. Previously, Tommo knew that Typees were dangerous because they eat men so he was prepared to sacrifice his own life. However, The Typees treat Tommo very kindly and sometimes he feels overwhelmed by this. Tommo says, “Kory-Kory commenced the functions of the post assigned him. He brought out, various kinds of food; and, as if I were an infant, insisted upon feeding me with his own hands. To this procedure I, of course, most earnestly objected, but in vain; and having laid a calabash of kokoo before me, he washed his fingers in a vessel of water, and then putting his hands into the dish and rolling the food into little balls, put them one after another into my mouth” (chapter 12). Kory-Kory spends a lot of time taking care of Tommo, feeding him, bathing him, and even carrying him everywhere. Like this, Tommo finds himself in an situation that was not prepared for and finds he needs to relinquish his own desires.
In the valley, Tommo hides his true identity and introduces himself as Typee. His confusion between Happar and Typee and his position in the island makes him vulnerable and weak. Tommo’s elegant appearance suggests a typical European man, and he enters the valley with his sober culture. Strange feelings rise because of his transition from one culture to another. He has to prepare for change both mentally, and physically. Even though the valley is a paradise to him sudden changes make him lost. Typees’ constant attention towards him makes him uncomfortable. Tommo mixed with Typee, and he changes his clohes and begins to wear Typee’s clothes. He honors everything of this valley.
Tommo says, “There were none of those thousand sources of irritation that the ingenuity of civilized man has created to mar his own felicity. There were no foreclosures of mortgages, no protested notes, no bills payable, no debts of honour in Typee; no unreasonable tailors and shoemakers perversely bent on being paid; no duns of any description and battery attorneys, to foment discord, backing their clients up to a quarrel, and then knocking their heads together; no poor relations, everlastingly occupying the spare bed-chamber, and diminishing the elbow room at the family table; no destitute widows with their children starving on the cold charities of the world; no beggars; no debtors' prisons; no proud and hard-hearted nabobs in Typee; or to sum up all in one word—no Money! 'That root of all evil' was not to be found in the valley” (Chapter 17). Here Tommo announces that in every perspective natives are better than Western world. By saying ‘no Money’ Tommo shows his feeling of hate against the system of capitalism. He does not like the European system that separates people from one another. He thinks Typees are fortunate people, because they have ‘no beggars’, ‘no debtors’, and ‘no destitute widows with their children starving’. Tommo means natives are broad-minded people. Unlike European system of capitalism, Typees are generous, and they like to give others what they have.
Tommo goes through hardship to protect him from tattooing his entire body. Tommo reveals,
“The idea of engrafting his tattooing upon my white skin filled him with all a painter's enthusiasm; again and again he gazed into my countenance, and every fresh glimpse seemed to add to the vehemence of his ambition. When his forefinger swept across my features, in laying out the borders of those parallel bands which were to encircle my countenance, the flesh fairly crawled upon my bones. At last, half wild with terror and indignation, I succeeded in breaking away from the three savages, and fled towards old Marheyo's house, pursued by the indomitable artist, who ran after me, implements in hand. Kory-Kory, however, at last interfered and drew him off from the chase” (Chapter 30).
When Karky wants to tattoo Tommo, which is a sign that Tommo belongs to Typee, Tommo refuses that idea because it separates him from rest of the world. He does not want to mark himself as ‘Typee’ forever. Even though he praises native’s land and culture, Tommo does not accept the idea of tattooing himself; he does not want to lose his true identity. He does not want to be a part of natives, and draw any sign of them in his body that divides him from his own land where he belongs. Even though it is very difficult for him to fights with natives and protect himself in Typee’s land, Tommo escape from that house. He is not mentally prepared for the change, and that leads him to protest physically. Redburn defends himself by ‘drew him off from the chase’.
Tommo is exhausted after hiding his identity and his true feelings for a long period of time. His struggle makes him physically distressed and he becomes desperate to escape from this land. “Even at the moment I felt horror at the act I was about to commit; but it was no time for pity or compunction, and with a true aim, and exerting all my strength, I dashed the boat-hook at him. It struck him just below the throat, and forced him downwards. I had no time to repeat the blow, but I saw him rise to the surface in the wake of the boat, and never shall I forget the ferocious expression of his countenance” (chapter 34). At the end of the book, Tommo escapes with Karakoee in a boat. Mow-Mow wants him to stay there and swim toward them. Tommo hits Mow-Mow with a hook and run away. Tommo’s actions do not mean that he likes violence. For a long term he sacrifices his desires and needs and he tries to adjust with Typee makes him desperate to leave. Tommo’s lack of knowledge of Polynesians and their language change things completely. His total new experience in exotic society in the South pacific island changes his tolerance.
In Redburn, the narrator is Redburn. In Liverpool Redburn sees extreme poverty. When he compares Liverpool with New York he notes the huge difference. The new environment alters Redburn both physically and mentally. After the death of Redburn’s father, his family’s condition deteriorates. Moreover the debt of his father makes their life miserable. They have to move from New York to a village on the Hudson River. At a young age, Redburn has to join as a sailor to the sea. From the beginning of the book to the very end, Redburn endures immense suffering. Aboard the ship he was made fun of for his poor appearance.
Redburn says, “ I was then but a boy.

Sad disappointments in several plans which I had sketched for my future life; the necessity of doing something for myself, united to a naturally roving disposition, had now conspired within me, to send me to sea as a sailor” (43). Here his father’s death puts pressure on him to work as a sailor. The oppressive society forces him to leave his comfort zone, his home, his class, and makes him helpless and unprotected. When he leave his home, he thought everything would be fine as he dreamt as a child. He says, “Yes, I will go to sea; cut my kind uncles and aunts, and sympathizing patrons, and leave no heavy hearts but those in my own home, and take none along but the one which aches in my bosom. Cold, bitter cold as December, and bleak as its blasts, seemed the world then to me; there is no misanthrope like a boy disappointed; and such was I, with the warmth of me flogged out by adversity” (52). The hardship in the village and the poverty make him a “misanthrope.” He hates his environment and he wants to leave the village. He desires a welcoming world full of

hope.
When Redburn is in the boat heading to New York, the people on the boat are unwelcoming. He mentions, “They were certainly a cheerless set, and to me they all looked stony-eyed and heartless. I could not help it, I almost hated them; and to avoid them, went on deck. Not with me, for the scent and savor of poverty was upon me, and they all cast toward me their evil eyes and cold suspicious glances, as I sat apart, though among them. I felt that desperation and recklessness of poverty which only a pauper knows” (54). Redburn belongs to a rich family and is confident about himself, thinking people will favor him. In the ship, Highlander, Captain Riga is rude towards him. Captain Riga takes advantage of Redburn’s situation, and pays him less money. He is facing a brutal reality that he had never dealt with before.
In Liverpool, Redburn witnesses the sufferings of people, which he believes to be far more brutal than the sufferings of those in New York. He finds his father’s guideline ‘The Picture of Liverpool’ is invalid and useless (208). His positive image of Liverpool that inspired him to come is a thing of the past and his effort was in vain. In Liverpool Redburn sees and experiences things that break his heart. He revels, “Every variety of want and suffering here met the eye, and every vice showed here its victims. Nor were the marvelous and almost incredible shifts and stratagems of the professional beggars, wanting to finish this picture of all that is dishonorable to civilization and humanity” (259). In Launcelott’s-Hay Redburn sees a mother with three children are starving and dying yet no one is helping them let alone paying attention to them. People are unsympathetic there. Redburn feels very disturbed by this image. “‘She deserves it’ said an old hag, who was just placing on her crooked shoulders her bag of pickings, and who was turning to totter off, ‘that Betsy Jennings deserves it—was she ever married? tell me that.’ Leaving Launcelott's-Hey, I turned into a more frequented street; and soon meeting a policeman, told him of the condition of the woman and the girls. ‘It's none of my business, Jack,’ said he. ‘I don't belong to that street’” (253-254). Here Redburn seeks help from the police for these dying children and the police refuse to help. This shocks Redburn. He sees the people are very cold to the poor and he confronts the tyranny from his surroundings. Nature is cruel towards the poor while those in power neglect them. In need of shelter, food and help, they are ignored. Furthermore Redburn overhears this woman ‘deserves it’ because she is unmarried with three children. He feels the people in power are pathetic and lowly. He also says “but again I looked down into the vault, and in fancy beheld the pale, shrunken forms still crouching there. Ah! What are our creeds, and how do we hope to be saved? Tell me, oh Bible, that story of Lazarus again, that I may find comfort in my heart for the poor and forlorn. Surrounded as we are by the wants and woes of our fellowmen, and yet given to follow our own pleasures, regardless of their pains, are we not like people sitting up with a corpse, and making merry in the house of the dead?” (257). Redburn’s resistance breaks down. His heart fills with grief and sorrow and he cannot refrain himself from crying. After his father death Redburn sees coldness in people in Hudson village and people also humiliate and disregard him. He tolerates everything in an attempt to adjust with his new oppressive situation. However, what he observes in Liverpool is indescribable. As a result, his immaturity and illusions fade away. The harsh reality opens his mind’s eye. His experience in Liverpool is far more bitter than his experience in Hudson village. In Liverpool he is a completely mature man. His expectation of others disappears, and he carries different perspectives and ideas. Liverpool takes his innocence, and what he encounters in there conflict his previous ideology.
In sea life, both Tommo and Redburn struggle with their environment. Their tolerant nature in an oppressive society is changed by circumstance and observation. By the end of the books their mentality shifts. Both of them are not the same immature person as they were before. Both of them slowly gain the knowledge required to adjust with their new environments. In their journey, their internal changes remove their ignorance and their experience helps them to see the things as they are. Eventually, their true understanding of the world makes them practical