Mar 05 2010
Moby Dick and the Myth of America
I found an interesting article about Moby Dick and American myth. The author, Harry Slochower, addresses the question of whether there is such a thing as an American myth, and he discusses where Moby Dick fits in. Ahab, in his view, a mythic hero not unlike Dante’s pilgrim or Goethe’s Faust, but with distinctly American characteristics.
Slochower explains first the American myth of opportunity, which is embodied in the “rags-to-riches” tales or in the stories of great heroic outdoorsmen finding gold, etc. Slochower identifies the distinct qualities of the American myth. The outdoor hero is a rugged, self-reliant individualist, but his country came to be through a common effort: “Many races, religions, and customs found themselves on one boat which led them away from the restrictive and divisive hierarchies of the Old World” (261).
This myth of opportunity decayed over time. It developed from idealism to skepticism. He writes:
By the time of Theodore Dreiser, William Faulkner, and Robinson Jeffers, it has lost most of its legitimacy. The success story of Dreiser’s “Titan” becomes suspect and the efforts of the little man to hit it rich provide the foundation for an “American tragedy.” The shortcut to the happy ending receives even more acid treatment in Faulkner and Jeffers. Among our contemporary writers, the myth of expectancy appears frozen (O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh), cornered (Tennesse Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire), pitiful (Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman), and self-destructive (Clifford Odets’ The Big Knife). (261)
Shlochower argues that Moby Dick is the American myth, that it is the ideal American myth, combining individualism and collective action:
Herman Melville stands at the watershed moment of this historic cycle, between individualism and coordination, between freedom and equality. America in the mid-century still harbored vast, unexplored possibilities of adventure and fortune. But Melville is among those who are beginning to question the ethic of expansionism and coordination. (262)
This dynamic of individualism and collective action is exercised throughout the novel. It is important to remember that Ahab’s quest, carried out collectively by the Pequod’s crew, is a personal quest. And, as Slochower alludes to in the above quote, these personal quests can often be destructive and wrongfully conceived.
2 Responses to “Moby Dick and the Myth of America”
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This makes me think of what we discussed in class in terms of the Benito Cerino. Melville’s oblivious protagonist is American, and Melville seems to emphasize his almost absurd trustworthiness as an American trait. Then he write Bartleby, about the center of the American economic world. He does seem to have some deep interest in the American ethos. Maybe Moby Dick is the first place this appears, as his earlier books are more like travel narratives. I think your point is really interest in the context of Melville’s entire body of work.
That article definitely raises good points. To read “Moby Dick” in relation to the American myth is interesting given the time period in which Melville was writing. As the section of article you posted mentions, the American dream slowly melted into disillusionment, but did so a long time after Melville penned this novel. Perhaps he was a bit ahead of his time. It certainly seems that way with “Bartleby the Scrivener” which is no doubt a critique of the budding American economic system. Going back to “Moby Dick,” perhaps Ishmael is a representation of the ultimate disillusioned citizen, one who is depressed to the point of suicide. Melville builds on this character by introducing Ahab, the “rugged individual” whose stubbornness leads to the demise of his “country” save Ishmael. By having Ishmael be the lone survivor, perhaps Melville is suggesting that there is ultimately hope for America, but not in the American myth.