The Color White in Melville's Writing

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Melville's innovative manipulation of the color white. The primary concerns include the unsettling effect of a monster "wearing white" and what may have been Melville's attack on racism. Careful attention to syntax, diction and literary style serve as the intellectual support for these ideas.

From the Paper:

"From a very young age, popular media teaches us that we can spot the good guys from a mile away, based solely on their entirely white costumes. This small piece of conventional wisdom presents a serious problem for Moby Dick's readers, as Herman Melville shrouds his title character, the vicious, homicidal whale in the color traditionally reserved for heroes. Without a close reading of the text, the simple fact that the whale is associated with white might be enough to convince the reader that he is in fact the hero of the story. However, this is not the case, as close reading of the text suggests only Moby Dick's fundamental "naturalness" as well as the whale's ability to serve as a metaphor for the color, and, in turn all of those things for which the color itself serves as a metaphor. The effects of Melville's decision to employ the whale in such a way are numerous, spanning from the simple, unnerving juxtaposition of the color's purity with the whale's monstrosity, to a complex, subtle condemnation of racism."

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