6-Herman Melville (Revised)

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick has several elements in common with southern sperm whale fishery legends of the 19th century. For this reason, critics have disputed the originality of Melville’s novel. After reading both Moby Dick and the sperm whale fishery legends, I believe that Melville’s book was an original work that was only inspired by the whaling legends. I think that a combination of Melville’s personal experiences and philosophical beliefs provided the true basis for his novel Moby Dick.

The amount of knowledge Melville gained through years of working as a harpooner and common sailor can be seen throughout his novel. In the first chapters, the narrator (Ishmael) describes his environment with intricate detail. He sees things that only a person with sailing experience could see. For example, one morning at breakfast Ishmael makes these observations about his fellow “whalemen.”

“You could pretty plainly tell how long each one had been ashore. This young
fellow’s healthy cheek is like a sun-toasted pear in hue, and would seem to
smell almost musky; he cannot have been three days landed from his Indian
voyage. That man next looks a few shades lighter; you might say a touch satin
wood is in him. In the complexion of a third still lingers a tropic tawn, by
slightly bleached withal; he doubtless has tarried whole weeks ashore.”
(McMichael, 1343)

This description could have only been written by a person who has been exposed to the maritime living and foreign lands. Melville had knowledge of the Southern Seas and knowledge of working whaling vessels. The more than two years of his life spent aboard the whaler Acushnet allowed him to experience the places Ishmael describes in Moby Dick. How would a person identify the smells and effects of a particular place without ever experiencing it for themselves? For this reason, I believe first hand experience not sperm whale legends helped Melville to create the believable, yet fictional situations in his novel Moby Dick.