고래 · 『모비딕』 · 생태주의적 비전
Whales, Moby-Dick, and Ecological Vision
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The health of the world's oceans as the last remaining open space for human race has been of increasing global concern, and so the efforts made by such environmental movement groups as Greenpeace and World Wide Fund for Nature to protect the whales, which are at the top of the ocean food chain, has been justified. This paper aims to explore the significance of conserving the ocean environment and protecting whales, its prominent inhabitants, by way of examining the ecological vision inscribed in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. While claiming the "honor and glory" of whaling, Moby-Dick nevertheless demonstrates the affinity between humans and whales in various ways and thus dissolves any absolute dichotomy between them, consequently indicating an intrinsic interconnection and interdependency among diverse species of life. Melville's references to the sea are also freighted with metaphors and symbolic implications which link nature with humans. Ishmael's lament over the impossibility of gaining a full picture of a whale despite all the encyclopedic inquiries into its world involves Melville's critique of the modern mechanistic view of the world, a key paradigm for materializing the capitalist system of the West, which has eventually brought about today's ecological disaster. All these suggest that Melville evolves an ecological vision, which retains particular relevance in sharpening our environmental consciousness, throughout his whaling experience as well as the writing of his novel.
Abstract
The health of the world's oceans as the last remaining open space for human race has been of increasing global concern, and so the efforts made by such environmental movement groups as Greenpeace and World Wide Fund for Nature to protect the whales, which are at the top of the ocean food chain, has been justified. This paper aims to explore the significance of conserving the ocean environment and protecting whales, its prominent inhabitants, by way of examining the ecological vision inscribed in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. While claiming the "honor and glory" of whaling, Moby-Dick nevertheless demonstrates the affinity between humans and whales in various ways and thus dissolves any absolute dichotomy between them, consequently indicating an intrinsic interconnection and interdependency among diverse species of life. Melville's references to the sea are also freighted with metaphors and symbolic implications which link nature with humans. Ishmael's lament over the impossibility of gaining a full picture of a whale despite all the encyclopedic inquiries into its world involves Melville's critique of the modern mechanistic view of the world, a key paradigm for materializing the capitalist system of the West, which has eventually brought about today's ecological disaster. All these suggest that Melville evolves an ecological vision, which retains particular relevance in sharpening our environmental consciousness, throughout his whaling experience as well as the writing of his novel.
참고문헌 (24)
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