“The Town-Ho’s Story” from Moby-Dick (1851)

 

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was one of the greatest American writers.

 

His experiences on a whaler (1841-42) and ashore in the South Sea islands led to the writing of Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), and other widely popular romances.

 

Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851), tells the tale of a whaling captain's obsessive search for the white whale that had bitten off his leg. It is at once an exciting sea story, a heavily symbolic inquiry into good and evil, and one of the greatest novels ever written. Both Moby-Dick and the psychological novel Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (1852) were misunderstood at the time of their publication and badly received.

 

Although disheartened by his failure to win an audience, by ill health, and by debts, Melville continued to produce such important works as The Piazza Tales (1856), a collection including the stories "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby the Scrivener," The Confidence Man (1857), and the novella Billy Budd (1924).

 

After holding the position of customs inspector in New York City for 19 years, Melville died in poverty and obscurity. Neglected for many years, his work was rediscovered c.1920.

 

Vocabulary:

cavalier  eaves  aggregate  archipelago  audacious 
solicitude  windlass  cozening forbearance conflagration
infatuated malediction predestinated poinard brigandish
swart evinced  impetuously perfidious vernacular


Study Questions

 

p. 1      Moby-Dick was originally published in serialized form. It’s reading audience was the rapidly expanding bourgeoisie in New York City. How does Melville use the form of an adventurous sea tale to address the political concerns of Americans in the 1850’s?  Think about how this story can be interpreted as an allegory of social relations between the rich and the working class during the 1850’s.

 

p. 1      Think about why Melville chooses to use such an elaborate frame for his story: Ishmael spins his tale for a group of rich Spanish cavaliers in an inn in Lima, Peru, a town reputed to be the most corrupt in the western hemisphere.

 

p. 1      Notice how Ishmael learns the story of the Town-Ho when he overheard the dream mutterings of a Polynesian harpooner named Tashtego. Why does Melville choose such an interesting origin for the tale Ishmael is about to relate?

 

p. 1      What is the situation aboard ‘The Town-Ho’? Why are the hands forced to man the water pumps day and night?

 

p. 2      From what part of the United States does the seaman Steelkilt hale? What aspects of a wholly American hero does Steelkilt possess? List adjectives Melville uses to describe the Lakemen. In contrast, what sailing town does the first mate Radney call home?

 

p. 2      How is Steelkilt a natural leader? How does he allay the tension of his shipmates while they are manning the pumps? Why does this lead to problems with Radney?

 

p. 3      How does Melville present Steelkilt’s natural resentment of authority in positive terms?

 

p. 3      How does Radley insult Steelkilt in a way that leads to open insubordination?

 

p. 4      When Steelkiltstoves inRadley’s jaw, how has he also broken an inflexible law aboard sailing ships?

 

p. 5      Which sailors fly to Steelkilt’s defense? What part of the country are they from? How does Melville characterize the ‘Canallers’?

 

pp. 6-7 Into what part of the boat are the mutineers driven? Why do Steelkilt’s accomplices desert him? What is Melville’s point about the possible hopes of open rebellion aboard the ship “America” in the mid 1850’s?

 

p.9       How has Radley crossed the boundary of no return when he volunteers to flog Steelkilt?

 

pp.9-10 How is Steelkilt planning to take his revenge? What does the chance intercession of Moby-Dick himself tell us about Melville’s vision of the political situation in America in the 1850’s?

 

p. 10    What metaphors does Melville use to describe the great white whale? What symbolic point is he making?

 

p. 11    How does Radley meet his proper demise?

 

p. 12    How does Steelkilt escape from ‘The Town-Ho’?

 

p. 12    What is the purpose behind Melville’s interesting depiction of the conclusion, as Ishmael swears on a Bible to the truth of his story before the group of incredulous Spanish cavaliers?

 

Write a thesis statement about Melville’s allegorical purpose in this eventful sea yarn: