Introduction
This paper compares a poem by Whitman (1) titled, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” with an exclusive narration by Melville in his work titled, “Moby-Dick.” For comparison purposes, this paper analyzes their use of metaphors, artistic styles, and their representations of humanity. This analysis is in three sections that outline this essay. They appear below
A Small Metaphor to Symbolize a Big Issue
Both Whitman (1) and Melville (1) present a comprehensive view of the universe by using small symbolic elements of analysis. Whitman (1) uses the spider as a metaphor of humanity, drowned in a sea of uncertainty (the universe), while Melville (1) uses Pip’s ocean experience to represent peoples’ struggles in the world. As a tiny, detached and measureless creature, the spider explores its surrounding and tirelessly speeds through it.
A deeper analysis of Whitman’s (1) spider metaphor also shows how human beings struggle to make sense of their surroundings by trying out different things. Still metaphorically, Whitman (1) shows that the trickiest part of the spider’s life is laying down eggs in a sea of confusion, characterized by endless attempts to make a web. This narration is symbolic of people’s attempts to connect their souls to one another.
Melville (4) also uses a similar metaphor to explain his view of the world through Pip’s castaway experience. When Pip jumps out of the boat into the ocean, he becomes a small spectacle in a vast ocean. In fact, the author says, “The Sea had leeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul. Not drowned entirely, though. Rather carried down alive to wondrous depths” (3).
Based on this statement, Melville’ uses Pip’s experience to explain the relationship between people and the universe. Pip is a tiny element in a vast universe. The vastness of his surroundings shows how distracted and detached we could be (as humans). The spider is the equal representation of the same feeling because although it is small, it represents the vastness of the human soul. Therefore, both Whitman (1) and Melville (3) use the same artistic style to depict the human experience in the universe.
Use of Animals
Using animals to depict human emotions, or to show human characteristics, is a common phenomenon in many artistic works. However, using animals, metaphorically, to represent the same issue is one unique artistic tool that Whitman (1) and Melville (2) have used successfully. Both authors used the spider and the whale metaphorically to represent the human emotions of patience and greed. Whitman’s (1) narration is direct because his title alone, “A noiseless patient spider,” shows the human characteristic (of patience) he strives to portray. While there is a consensus that nobody has ever been a whale or a spider, to know what characteristics they possess, both authors use their animal qualities (directly and indirectly) to explain different human qualities.
For example, Whitman (1) uses the spider as a personification of patience and stealth. Similarly, he describes the spider as “noiseless” because he wants us to look at his story from an “outward-in” perspective, as opposed to an “inward-out” perspective. In other words, he wants us to know that there is a greater creature looking at the spider, as opposed to the spider looking at the greater creature. Here, the creature is the human soul, and the spider is its representation. Noiseless and patience are concepts used to represent the serenity of our understanding of the relationship between the spider and the human soul. Indeed, such attributes are often synonymous with our understanding of the human soul. Similar to how Whitman (1) uses the spider’s characteristics to explain the human soul, Melville uses the whale to represent human greed.
When Pip and his crew went out fishing, they primarily wanted to catch whales and sell their meat. Understandably, many people engage in economic activities to make money. However, when they start looking at the whale as more valuable than human life, we get alarmed. In one extract of Melville’s work, Pip’s crew tells him, “Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I will not pick you up if you jump; mind that. We cannot afford to lose whales by the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you would” (2). This statement shows that the fishermen valued the life of a whale more than they did that of another human being.
Their love for money also explains why the fishermen abandoned Pip when he jumped into the water for a second time. They left him as they chased the whale. This analysis shows that the whale is the epitome of human greed. Its massive size and its potential to fetch a lot of money when sold in the fish market was a tactful strategy by the author to represent the size of human greed. Indeed, whales are the largest mammals on earth, and, deliberately, the author decided to use it to denote the kind of money people could get by simply selling it. Comprehensively, using the whale and the spider to represent intrinsic human emotions is a tactful strategy by Whitman (1) and Melville (2) to personify animalistic traits and use them to explain human characteristics.
Representations of Humanity
Albeit insightful, the “Noiseless Patient Spider” shows hopelessness in humanity. It discusses human struggles, metaphorically, but unlike Melville (3), who shows there is a light at the end of the tunnel, Whitman’s (1) poem leaves its readers in utter hopelessness of humanity. The endings of both articles are important for the reader to understand the authors’ narrations because both of them illustrate human weaknesses and struggles. Whitman’s (1) poem represents the latter, while Melville’s (1-3) story represents the former.
Whitman (2) uses the spider’s personification of human instincts as a struggle of the human soul (the need to belong). Indeed, when the spider launches its filament, as a struggle to understand its environment, it fails to grip a wall. The failed attempt prevents it from making a web. The detachment is similar to the failure of the human soul to connect. At the end of the poem, the author shows that the “struggle” continues, almost hopelessly.
Here he says, “Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul” (2). Comparatively, Melville (3) is optimistic about the human spirit. Although at first, he shows the excesses of human greed by narrating how Pip’s colleagues leave him behind as they pursued a whale, he expresses hopefulness when the colleagues come back for him. His narration ends when they reunite, and Pip tells them about his experiences with God. From this interaction, Melville (3) shows hope in humanity.
Conclusion
Based on an assessment of the above-mentioned literary works, this paper argues that both Melville (3) and Whitman (1) use similar artistic styles (use of metaphors to symbolize a bigger issue). Similarly, it shows that the two artists tactfully use animals to personify human characteristics of greed and patience. These insights show different points of convergence for both literary works. However, their point of departure is their representation of humanity and the hope that exists in it. Here, Whitman (1) shows no hope in humanity, while Melville (1-3) shows that, even in the confusion of life, humanity exists.
Works Cited
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. 1851. Web.
Whitman, Walt. A Noiseless Patient Spider. 1891. Web.