ENG 304: Melville & Ellison

When I enrolled in the class, I was very interested in learning about two classic American authors that I had relatively little prior knowledge about.  I am a huge fan…

The Invisible Man is called in to the Brotherhood’s committee meeting after delivering a speech at Clifton’s funeral.  The Brotherhood thought that he had stepped beyond his jurisdiction, acting too much as…

It is fairly clear that the Emerson’s son, tasked with interviewing the Invisible Man after being presented with the letter from Bledsoe, feels a type of connection with and sympathy…

The fact that Stubb abandoned Pip on his second time out of the boat brings several questions of ethics into focus aboard the Pequod.  It weighs the value of human life…

I happened to flip through one of the books in the reserve collection that was about the real-life sperm whale that was the inspiration for the Moby Dick whale.  “Mocha…

One of the things I liked most about Flying Home was the symbolism behind flight, buzzards, and eagles.  The black men, who wish to gain flight and fly like white…

One of the most interesting and innovative aspects of Dear White People, among films that tackle issues of race, is the emphasis it places on individuality.  I think that this…

This poem, coming at the end of Melville’s chronological composition of the war, seems to make a statement at the brokenness of the country that followed the closing of the…

One of the biggest questions raised about the story of “Billy Budd” is the strictness with which Captain Vere and the people aboard the Bellipotent adhere to the laws of…

At several points in Melville’s Typee Tommo either makes note of Western impacts on the native peoples or changes their customs himself.  This is perhaps most noticeable when he asks to…