Herman Melville White-Jacket

Herman Melville White-Jacket

  • Submitted By: sonic
  • Date Submitted: 01/11/2009 11:33 PM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 883
  • Page: 4
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Herman Melville is acclaimed as one of the greatest writers in American history. The biggest reason for his popularity is the depth and impact his novels make on readers. One such novel being White-Jacket, a story based on his sea voyages. Melville’s portrayal of flogging in White-Jacket opened Congress’s eyes to the cruelty of flogging and even changed laws.
Herman Melville was born in 1819 in New York City, New York, into a family of war heroes and wealthy merchants. His father was Allan Melville, a successful merchant at the time of his birth and Melville’s mother was Maria Gansevoort. His father loved to tell his children stories of sea-faring adventures which is likely what led to Melville’s fascination with the sea. As a child, Melville contracted Scarlet Fever leaving him and his parents with constant fear of disease and permanently weakened eyes. Not long after he contracted this illness, Allan Melville’s business faltered. Two years after, Allan died, leaving Maria to take care of Melville and his siblings alone. As a result of this, Melville had to take on a few jobs when he was relatively young. In 1835, he attended the Albany Classical School for one year, likely refining his writing skills, and then started working for a short time as a teacher in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Melville later took off on a couple sea voyages to a variety of places. When in Tahiti, Melville participated in a mutiny in which he was arrested. He reflected his sea voyages in multiple books such as Typee and Omoo. His novels were full of metaphors and allegories, sometimes cynical, sometimes satirical. Many of his books, however, were written purely for money. His poems, which he wrote later on, were not nearly as successful as his novels. In spite of this, he still considered poetry to be a superior form of writing. Melville ended up marrying Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Lemuel Shaw, a noted Massachusetts jurist. With Shaw he had four children. His...

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