Final+Product-Industrialism

Argument:

In Herman Melville's Moby Dick Herman Melville argues against the system of industrialism which America was undertaking during the industrial revolution of the United States. That is, through Ahab's (The captain of the whaling ship "The Pequod") blantant misuse of those he commands, it is revealed that America's path in the industrial revolution is seen to be ridden with problems in regards to the workers of America. Industrialism's leaders are personified in the character of Ahab.

[|Moby Dick and Industrialism]

Essay:

Herman Melvile's Moby Dick, in once sense,can be considered an interpretation of the class warfare brought about by industrialism in eitheenth-century America. As the proletariat grew increasingly defined as a class and power shifted to a greedy and vocal minority, more specificaly rich factory owners, society was slowly closing in on corruption; such is seen throughout Melville's novel, Captain Ahab being exemplary of this in the way that he twists and manipulates his crew, the "proletariat" to preform his bidding with little attetion to their well-being. Eventualy such a system would cave in upon itself, but untill then many hardships would plague its preogression. The associated difficulties form the basis of Moby Dick.

In essence, when introduced to "The Pequod", the ship which Captain Ahab rules over, we are given the understanding that the ship is made of American wood. This is intended to be nothing less than a symbol of the boat's connection to America itself. That is, "The Pequod" represents America. In fact, "The Pequod" also has a crew of many ethnicities, revealing yet another connection to multicultural America. However, what is more important is that the ship is made to be a stage for Herman Melville's argument. We see the up's and down's of Ahab's system and how it effects "The Pequod", or how Ahab's choice's effect the form of America. Ahab, in the truest sense, represents the new thought and control of industrialism which was growing in Melville's time. Thus, we see Ahab as a industrial leader moving his workers, the "proletariat", to his will. It is in this context that Herman Melville's connections become apparent.

At the start of the story we see a sort of economic ladder formed as soon as Ishmael boards the ship. While he recieves only the 300th lay, a lay being a sort of percentage of the profit from the voyage (the lower the lay the more profits recieved), harpooners such as Queequeg are offered much more profitable lays. One might think this to be a very socialism-based system of payment, however, it also shows the problematic system of pay which one faces in the world of American industrialism, as Ishmael cannot have any say in what pay he recieves, instead he is summed up and given a lay at the whims of the owner of the ship who may or may not care of the wellbeing of any of the sailors, only the price that they must give up in order to enlist them as a worker. Later, we see how this ladder is represented again in the cabin dining on the ship. All of the first mates eat with Ahab, while the harpooners then come in for themselves. The Sailors are left to eat on their own outside of the cabin. This is probably the best example of a social ladder in the novel. We then see that it has its own problems as well, as the one who comes into the cabin last, better recognized as the lower of their class, must leave first as well generating many a problematic situation for themselves. We thus see that the lower of a class seeks to gain a higher status, and we thus see that having a class structure at all is problematic in that all it causes is struggle. In summary, Melville is calling for a equal treatment among indsutrial workers, treatment without class structures or struggles.

In addition to Melville's hidden messeges and arguments against the current status of social structures, there are a few blatant attacks on certain aspects of society the he does not agree upon. One such of these being shown in the chapter heads or tails where he comments on how it is unfair that the government should take most of what is earned through the use of a duke of the land, meant to represent local government, and the use of the king and queen of England, meant to represent the head of the government. In this paragraph he is criticizing the way that the government functions and taxes its people, taking most of what a person earns and hording it away for themselves and those who are more fourtunate than they. This shows us that the upper class seems to be greedy and that the greed is not going unnoticed by the rest of the community.

As one can see, Moby Dick tells the tale of eighteenth-century industrial America and the increasingly rigid social ladder it represented. Ishmael's journey aboard the Pequod is an allegory of the industrial hardships which Melville observed or foresaw; the final destruction of the ship is a symbol of the corruption of the system, and Ishmael's escape one of the rise of a more humane industry. At any rate, it is clear that Melville's novel offers a disturbing look into the industrial facets of the eighteenth century and the problems they posed.