On The Metaphorical Formation Of The American Ethos In Moby Dick

Moby Dick,written by Herman Melville,demonstrated a forming process of the American ethos in a metaphorical way.In the term of story-line,the novel includes not only two mainline plot,which is Ishmael whaling at sea,and captain Ahab haunt down the white whale;but also plentiful sailing science knowledge and philosophical thinking contents which blurred the clarity of the theme of the novel.Therefore,it is necessary to reveal an in-depth meaning with the help of narrative perspective and prototypical image.In the term of theory of narratology,there are three narrative perspectives in Moby Dick: fixed internal focalization,multiple internal focalization and zero-focalization.All those focalizations represent all kinds of personal experiences of "I" before sailing,and the growth of “I” in the end.Therefore,Moby Dick is a bildungsroman.In the term of symbol,characters in novel such as Ishmael,Aha,and Moby Dick possess of both prototypical meaning from the Bible and new cultural connotations.On the one hand,the Puritan tradition from Continental Europe constitutes the subconscious part of the American ethos.On the other hand,the Puritan tradition is constantly integrating with the new environment.Focalization and prototype within Moby Dick has changed in history and eventurally formed a new type of American ethos.In conclusion,Moby Dick is a metaphor of the American ethos,with heavily nationalism.The American ethos is a process,which from optimistic ideals,to a series of doubts forming from contradictions between reality and ideal,and finally transformed into a status of nothingness.Thereore,the real theme of this novel comes out.Melville has accomplished a literary interpretation of the formation process of the early American national ideology through his novel.