Tag Archives: cannibalism

Inspired by Cannibalism

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The Essex reflects the internal horrors that one can face when pushed to their absolute limits. As Ishmael himself notes the sea as a romanticized experience that men must run to rather than the safety of the shore, the Essex falls short of that romance when its men were left stranded and starving to the point of cannibalism. Melville takes this tragedy and reimagines new parameters for man, a fictionalized world that speaks to real life tragedies, analogized in the form of a tyrant who takes this boat beyond its limits and ultimately destroys everyone with it. Melville’s romance for the sea is preemptively shaped by tragedy, as seen in the early chapters of Moby Dick. Ishamel has idealized his voyage on the Pequod, yet there is an internal hesitancy as the ship is preparing to take off among other warning signs, immediately sealing this tale as one of misfortune. For Melville, romance and misfortune are fated together, whether this is consciously noted by Ishamel.

The Essex’s fate led to the cannibalization of its shipmates, notably two teenaged boys one of which was the cousin of George Pollard Jr., the survivor who shares his story of the Essex. Melville uses the real life cannibalism from the Essex in his fictional piece, figuratively having the leader devour his own shipmates for his insatiable hunger to conquer nature. The men on the Essex were left to the fate of an unforgiving and endless ocean, left feeble. Yet, Moby Dick presents a man who cannot accept his powerlessness against the open sea, going to inhumane lengths to conquer the unconquerable. 

The Essex is a tragic story that immediately draws your attention with its horrible images and tragedy. It’s easy to see how Melville was able to create a world based on the events of the Essex, drawing from reality as a basis for Ishamel’s journey on the Pequod. From the many mirrored images we can see from the real life story of survival, Moby Dick takes the lived experience of Pollard and weaves it into a tale that speaks to something much bigger than any single individual.

Melville was inpired by…cannibals???

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While reading this article, my jaw was on the floor the entire time. What do you mean Melville was inspired by that? He was inpsired by someone’s trauma and wrote a whole 800 page book about it, my gosh. What that man had gone through for Melville to be inspired by that to write Moby Dick must be something. What George Pollard went through was something he definetly won’t forget ever and would be haunted by his actions which he had to make to stay alive.

I would never wish for that whole situation that Pollard went through on anyone. Having to restort to cannibalism to stay alive, eating his crewmates, and even HIS OWN COUSIN. Like what the heck that is insane. Then for the author of this article to say that a scholar had written that Pollard commited “gastronomic incest.” That was a sentence I never thought I would read in my entire life. I know that that guilt must have haunted him daily and if I could, I would want to sit down with him and ask what his thoughts must have been like after commiting that act to stay alive.

The whole cannibal part was shocking to me and it reminded me of that one movie that was based on a real life situation where in 1972 a plane that had a rugby team had crashed in the Andes Mountains which had left them stranded and resulted in them becoming cannibals to stay alive. This traumatic situation also became a movie called “Alive” (1993) and even a show too which I found to be like how Melville was inspired by the trauma which Pollard had went through to create a novel on a this killer whale. I guess when aspiring authors hear a very traumatic situation, they decide to write a whole book on it.

Melville has a creative mind and I am very interested now having read this article to see what we have in store for us in this book. Again I haven’t read this book before and I am ready to be confused, shocked, and probably cry over what is going to be happening within this really long book.

Week 2: Cannibalism

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In the second text for this week, The True-Life Horror That Inspired Moby Dick, I found irony in the act of cannibalism. The crew’s fear of going to the islands that were rumored to have cannibals forced them out into sea, and they ended up eating each other. This act was also a bit disturbing to read about–nowadays engaging in something like that would be deeply disturbing and looked down upon. Yet, this was only about two hundred years ago, and seen as normal. Looking at historical context around events is important, and also highlights how constructed social norms are. What we see as right now, might be seen as wrong and/or immoral a hundred years in the past or future. I think having this type of critical thinking is important, as our values are often relative to the society we have been raised in. 

Another part of the cannibalism/society interaction I find interesting is that this cannibalism was seen as normal when forced into those conditions. When people are put into emergency situations, it is always interesting to see what standards/morals become quickly compromised. It makes me think about Lord of the Flies and Lost–both of which highlight what can happen when a group of people are removed from the laws of society. 
I am also interested to see how this may tie into Moby Dick. I honestly know nothing about the book except for that they are on a ship, there’s a whale, and people from different backgrounds. I wonder if there will be cannibalism in the book. I would also be interested in seeing what social norms will be present in the book that people may find ‘issue’ with nowadays, or what might be considered improper. Additionally, I found there to be a bit of karmic humor in this ‘adventure’. After setting a fire, the ship was sunk. I wonder if this may pop up as a theme in Moby Dick as well.