《白鲸》的艺术特色 --毕业论文.doc

【标题】《白鲸》的艺术特色 【作者】孙婷婷 【关键词】艺术特色；象征主义；叙述技巧；寓言 【指导老师】张亚军 【专业】英语 【正文】Ⅰ. Introduction?Moby Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic. Although it is presented in the form of a novel, at times it seems like a prose poem. It is difficult to read because much of the talk in the novel is sailor’s talk and much of the language is purposely old-fashioned. However, if we can say that there is such a thing as the great American novel, Moby Dick can well qualify for that distinction. The story is not complicated, dealing with Ahab, a man with an overwhelming obsession to kill the whale which has crippled him, on board his ship Pequad in the chase of the big whale. But Moby Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure, and it turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology.?Melville’s earlier experiences of sailing become the raw material of novel. He is a great novelist who whites adventure novel, at the same times he is also a great artist who owns profound thoughts. He thinks and explores deeply about human and nature, goodness and evil, beauty and ugliness. In the novel most things have symbolic meaning. Though sometimes all the kinds of things it reflects are abstract, distorted, and apparent, it can help readers explore more secrets and get at the essence through the appearance. Melville thinks deeply about them, at the same times he leaves the space of fancy to readers and lets readers taste it by themselves. Melville uses ingeniously plenty of quotations. He often lets Ishmael tell the story in the way of first person; at the same times he interrupts the telling of story and inserts plenty of knowledge about whale and whaling industry. He makes this novel like an encyclopedia with a certain scientific quality and tightness to increase the truth of novel. The artistic features of Moby Dick are the key to the work’s success. This thes