Morgan Maxey
Holmberg
English 352
26 February 2013
Try-Works; The Beginning of Industry
In Melville’s, Moby Dick, there is a heavy focus on whaling as well as all the
aspects of the industry and a narrative describing the life of a whaler among a
crew of many. In this novel we see many themes become more apparent and
relevant to the story and in essence society as well. One of these large themes
is that of industrialization, or the shift towards a producing and consuming on
a large scale as technology was quickly evolving. The whaling industry was the
most prominent large-scale business in the 19th century, as hundreds
of ships roamed the oceans in search of whales in order to kill them and take
their carcasses to harvest resources such as oil, meat, and other products,
which could be manufactured from whales. The Try-Works which, were aboard these
whaling ships, were the epitome of industry as they represented the
smokestacks, which followed later in the industrial revolution, along with the
notion of an assembly line as well.
The Try-Works were most commonly placed in the middle
of the whaling ship and were the last step in the production line; once the
whale was carved, minced, and disassembled the blubber would be placed in the
Try-Works and heated to the boiling causing the blubber or fat to melt into oil
which was used for lamps and heating, this process can easily be related to the
method one uses to turn bacon fat into bacon grease. This being the last step
in the process of turning the whale into a product for everyday use it
epitomizes the theme and notion of industrialization. This is easily seen in
chapter 96 as Melville describes the scene of the crew firing up the Try-Works
in a demonic and gloomy manner, referring to the flames as dark and “pitching
hissing masses of blubber into, the scalding pots”, “The smoke rolled away in
sullen heaps.” (Mellville, 350). These descriptions paint a picture of being in
some sort of hellish factory.
His hellish depiction of a factory was the Try-Work,
and also represents the final step of the process of imperialism. Melville
characterized Moby Dick, the white whale as a nation or nature. The process of
whaling and the slow hunting and death of the whale can be paralleled with the
institution f imperialism as it follows the same process. One nation (the
whaling ship) is tasked by some higher power within the nation; this power is
almost always capitalism, to go seek resources from some other foreign nation
(the whale). In the case of whaling the resources sought are oil, meat,
perfume, and along with many others, these desired resources are forcefully
taken with a sense of entitlement as is done with the dealings with nations as
well, this is demonstrated throughout history with examples such as slavery, racial
hierarchies, diamond trade, etc. This is the classic story of the exploitation
of one culture or nation solely for resources, our nation is founded on the
principle, and we should all be familiar with such motives.
In conclusion the Try-Works could be seen as a
symbol, which represents both the industrialization period along with the
notion of imperialism, both, viewed in a negative light by Melville. Keep in
mind that these themes would both be erased if it weren’t for the mass fleet of
ships present at this time, there would be no justification if there was but
one ship, one Try-Work, and whales which were thriving. This is all shaped in
the context of over hunting of whales as well as the decline of the whaling
industry as every industry eventually falls as does every empire.
No comments:
Post a Comment