Department of English

In the years following Melville’s induction into the literary canon during the mid-twentieth century, scholars have dubbed Moby-Dick the “Great American novel” because of the endurance and malleability of Melville’s themes, especially those that praise or critique the core values of American democracy. Since World War II, rhetoricians have been resurrecting Melvillean political symbols—particularly the Pequod and the White Whale—to comment on the ideals and trajectory of the nation during nearly every national crisis that has arisen since the 1940s. Yet, in order for a nineteenth century text to evolve with America herself, either Melville’s abstract prose must lend itself towards perpetual modernization, or readers are subconsciously editing the text by extracting its timeless bits while ignoring its archaisms. To prevent the cultural revision of Moby-Dick, we must interpret Melville’s American allegory holistically, rather than isolating its situationally relevant aspects. By comparing interpretations of this thread of uniquely American symbols and themes found in over six decades of scholarship, this paper contemplates the benefits and dangers of forging a perpetually relevant text, as well as identifies a lack of scholarship that discusses the thematically integral ending of the novel, where the Pequod (America) falls to ruin. What core truths about American politics does Melville capture within the text? Why is it so easy to read ourselves and our modern world into the story, 170 years later? And, most importantly, what essential parts of the text are irrevocably lost when we do?