Billy Budd

My book is Billy Budd and the author is Herman Melville, this book is a historical fiction and its publication date was in 1924.

Author Biographical Information
Melvine’s first novel, ”Typee” appeared in 1846. Between these two books there is, of course, the famous Moby Dick; and between them also is Melville’s enigmatic, tormented and tragic career as one of the few great American fiction writers, immensely popular at the outset and gradually condemned to the neglect and oblivion that extended for a quarter of a century after his death. Coming from a respectable New York family of Dutch and English stock, but one that the father’s bankruptcy and death had brought into poverty and disrepute, Melville went to sea at nineteen. He never forgot this wealth of physical and material experience, which was denied to the more scholarly or reclusive New Englanders. This was in 1838. Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Billy Budd Boss-man (hagan) 17:00, 19 April 2012 (MDT)

Setting: Historical Information
Billy Budd takes place on a boat called, “H.M.S. Bellipotent.” A ship of the British Navy. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Wars in the same year as a number of massive mutinies in the English fleet. Thus a man like Captain Vere was concerned not only with fighting a war against the French but also with keeping peace within his own crew. The Bellipotent is not just a passive setting where things take place, the setting actually affects the way that things happen.

Boss-man (hagan) 17:01, 19 April 2012 (MDT)

Genre
The characteristic’s of Billy Budd that show the genre of Historical Fiction, is how it shows his experiences on the boat and out a sea. And since this book has been called the best short novel ever written. And that Herman Melville is in a narrative prose.

Boss-man (hagan) 17:02, 19 April 2012 (MDT)

Plot Summary
Billy Budd is close to probably being called a play, because everything has its part in the narrative weight as if Melville was the one in the story and acting everything out. The year 1797, to which the action of Billy Budd had started, had witnessed all the wars of the French Revolution, and the subsequent Nore Mutiny in the English navy itself. Billy Budd (the best sailor) on a reputable English merchantman, was called the handsome guy. Still waves good-by to the Rights-of-Man, when he is on the H.M.S. at sea. The Dansker in Billy Budd is another marvelous profiles of seafaring men in the story. There is the meeting of the young Achilles and the sea Chiron who know the truth of what is happening, but has reached the end but never interferes in ought and never gives advice. Then at the end there is the final touch that Billy Budd of the British navy’s official account of the Handsome Sailor’s death.

Boss-man (hagan) 17:02, 19 April 2012 (MDT)

Characters

 * Billy Budd- Billy Budd is the main character and is a very good seamen as he is portrayed as in the book.


 * Captain of the H.M.S- Captain of the ship Billy Budd is on.


 * John Claggart- To take care of the ship because he is the police officer on the ship.


 * Squeak- Tries to make Billy’s life miserable.


 * Red whiskers- When Billy strikes him, at first he hates him, but soon the hate turns into love.


 * Red pepper- Reproves Billy for not taking greater disciplinary action against the stranger.

Boss-man (hagan) 15:36, 26 April 2012 (MDT)

Author's Style
Herman Melville seemed like he was a very religious man. And isn’t afraid to show how he feels about anything, let that be about religion, life, a person, and anything in general.

Example: The hull, deliberately recovering from the periodic roll to leeward, was just regaining an even keel when the last signal, a dumb one, was given. At the same moment it chanced that the vapory fleece hanging low in the East was shot through with a soft glory as of the fleece of the Lamb of God seen in mystical vision, and simultaneously therewith, watched by the wedged mass of upturned faces, Billy ascended; and, ascending, took the full rose of dawn. -Billy Budd Pg. 52

Boss-man (hagan) 17:30, 19 April 2012 (MDT)

Setting
Now, the H.M.S. Bellipotent is a military ship, which means that it is supposed to run like clockwork. The story takes place in 1797, during the Napoleonic wars. So it’s taking place in the Atlantic Ocean and the wars are going on around the English fleet. They are protecting themselves from the French Invasion in the harbor of Great Britain.

Boss-man (hagan) 08:50, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Themes

 * Theme One - The individual Society
 * Theme Two - Conscience vs. Law
 * Theme Three - Vulnerable Innocence

Boss-man (hagan) 08:51, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Symbols
Billy Budd; He is the title of the book, so you know that he’s the main character. And the author always compares him to religious figures so Billy could be a religious symbol. The H.M.S. Bellipotent; The story of Billy Budd is mostly on the ship H.M.S Bellipotent so this is a symbol because this is where Billy lived for a part of his adult life. So this is a symbol of Billy’s home you could say. The Surgeon; This person is a symbol because he tells the story about Billy Budd whenever he passes away. He doesn’t like the way that Billy was so religious and told you can say the evil side of Billy. The Purser; But The purser on the other hand disagrees with the surgeon and adores Billy, and the way that he died was in some way special, and maybe supernatural. And he tells the good side of Billy after his death.

Boss-man (hagan) 08:52, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Significance of the Opening/Closing Scenes
Opening scene- The narrator begins the story by recalling a time, in the days before steamships, when it was common to observe in port towns a group of sailors gathered around a “Handsome Sailor” type—a man who stood out from his peers by being taller, stronger, and more physically attractive. The Handsome Sailor’s peers would instinctively look up to and follow this naturally superior specimen. As an example, the narrator cites an instance in Liverpool in which he observed a male African in a plaid cap promenading proudly in the company of his fellow seamen. Then pops up a 21 year old sailor named Billy Budd.

Boss-man (hagan) 08:54, 7 May 2012 (MDT)

Memorable Quotes
The will to it and the sinister dexterity were alike wanting. To deal in double meanings and insinuations of any sort was quite foreign to his nature. Chapter 1 Pg. 15   The narrator is trying to get the reader to believe that Billy Budd is an honest man and will tell the truth because he believes about sinning and he hates that.

His simple nature remained unsophisticated by those moral obliquities which are not even in every case incompatible with that manufacturability thing is known. Chapter 1 Pg. 15   The narrator is still trying to show how well-being Bill Budd is and about his morals. He believes that he the best working person and just all around good person.

Billy’s former captain- “ And Lord bless you, the lubber was astonished at the celerity. And you will believe it.” Chapter 1 Pg. 10   According to his captain, he is telling Billy that he is a special kind of sailor and that he a peacemaker that is on the ship. All the other men on the ship admire him, and look up to him. Even the older men that are on the ship look up to Billy Budd.

Boss-man (hagan) 17:33, 19 April 2012 (MDT)