As
I read this novel, I am struck by the tone of Ishmael or the author. Although
we talked about the diction and the sound of Ishmael’s voice at the end of
class of Tuesday, it goes further than that and the technique is one of the
fundamental techniques that Melville uses in the novel. I find that the sound
of his words is important to him. He is not purely driven on plot or even a
random literary device. It sees that he has carefully laid out his words, even
at slow points in the book; it seems to me that every word was meticulously chosen
by Melville.
I have also noticed the type of
words that he tends to choose in his writing. While some of the words may be
long or too advanced for the average reader to understand, I think there is something
precise in his word choice. Melville may not have written a concise book, but
the vocabulary that he used allowed him to accurately describe all the on goings
of the Pequod and Ishmael’s adventure pretty clearly. At times it does make me
feel like I’m reading a narrative about something as opposed to reading a novel
with a first person point of view, but nevertheless Ishmael is a successful narrator in that he paints any scene unfolding in front of him accurately.
I agree that Melville probably was fastidious over certain words he used to accurately describe not only the exciting plot, but the slower portions which describe Sperm Whales or whaling in general. One of my few dislikes about the book is how slow the plot seems to develop, which I think is related to word choice and the enormous amount of knowledge Melville provides as well. Understanding that this book was intended for people of the 19th century, I feel like there are times where I am reading a biology textbook on whales. How well do you think this novel would be received if it were first published in 2012?
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