April Gentry Critical Companion to Herman Melville, A Literary Reference to His Life And Work (2006)

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.Over the next quarter cen- Vaz de Cam�es in the original Portuguese.Hetury, White-Jacket would only earn him another was a brave man who had fought with Sir Edward$357 in royalties.Codrington at the battle of Navarino during theGreek War of Independence, and he was a literateCHARACTERS AND RELATED TERMSman whose friendship clearly meant a great dealBaldy One of White-Jacket s messmates, a cap- to Melville.When White-Jacket bids Jack Chasetain of the mizzen-top, who, when ordered to move goodbye at the end of their voyage together, hetoo quickly in a sail-furling contest with neighbor- kisses the hand of the man he had so often referreding ships, jumps to obey.His actions result in a pre- to as his noble captain.Melville devoted his lastWhite-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War 253work, BILLY BUDD, to Jack Chase, Englishman, / Cuticle, Cadwallader The surgeon of theWherever that great heart may now be, / here on American fleet in which White-Jacket s frigate,Earth or harbored in Paradise, / Captain of the the Neversink, serves as flagship.Melville based Dr.Main-Top in the year 1843 / in the U.S.Frigate Cuticle on Dr.Thomas Johnson, who in his dayUnited States. had a fine reputation.Melville seems, however, tohave borne Johnson a grudge: Cuticle, as his nameClaret, Captain The captain of the man-of-war suggests, is a caricature of a physician vain, inhu-Neversink.The son of a veteran of the Revolution- mane, and physically grotesque.Against the adviceary War battle of Brandywine Creek, Claret is a of the other doctors in the fleet, Cuticle amputatesrotund man whose alcoholism sometimes clouds his the leg of a sailor who has been shot.The result isjudgment, as when he nearly loses the ship off CAPE predictable: Although the surgery is brilliantly per-HORN by giving the wrong command.A stickler for formed, the patient dies.naval discipline, he is also something of a sadist,pitting two black cook s helpers against one another Cylinder A bad-tempered, stuttering, club-footedin a head-butting contest for his own amusement.gunner s mate aboard the Neversink.Claret is probably modeled in part on James Arm-strong, who was captain of the USS UNITED STATES Frank An ordinary seaman, about 16 years old,during Melville s service.Like Claret, Armstrong who serves on the Neversink with the narrator.had a weakness for the bottle.He also published Once the ship arrives in Rio de Janeiro, Franka memoir, Narrative of the U.S.Exploring Expedi- sinks into a deep depression, confessing to White-tion during the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 Jacket that the supply ship that will restock the(1845), which Melville may have drawn on when fleet carries his brother, a midshipman.So ashamedwriting his book.is Frank of the difference in their stations thathe does all in his power to hide himself from hisColbrook, Corporal It is Colbrook, a handsome, brother.Frank s attitude may reflect Melville s owngentlemanly marine aboard the Neversink, who toward his cousin STANWIX GANSEVOORT, a mid-first steps forward to defend White-Jacket when shipman aboard the store-ship Erie, which did, inCaptain Claret accuses the seaman of being absent fact, resupply the UNITED STATES when Melvillefrom his station and threatens to flog him for the was a member of the crew.offense.Lemsford A member of the after-guard onboardcommodore, the Because the narrator of the the Neversink and a particular friend of White-book serves on the Neversink, the flagship of the Jacket.Lemsford is a gentlemanly young poet whofleet, he shares space with the commodore.In the spends every spare moment, improbably enough,book, the commodore is not named, but he seems attempting to write poetry aboard the man-of-warto have been modeled on THOMAS AP CATESBY on which he serves.He stores his works in a casketJONES, a hero of the War of 1812 who had com- inside the seldom-used guns on deck, but one day,manded the Pacific Squadron, including the USS when the guns are fired in a ceremonial salute, hisUNITED STATES, from 1841 to 1842.Jones was not works are published, or distributed to the world.on the United States at the same time as Melville, Lemsford was clearly modeled on EPHRAIM CURTISSbut for two and a half months in 1843 Melville s HINE, an aspiring poet when he served with Mel-ship was detained in Callao, Peru, where Jones was ville onboard the USS UNITED STATES and laterpaying an official visit.There is no evidence that the author of The Haunted Barque and Other Poemshis and Melville s paths ever actually crossed.The (1848).commodore in the book is wizened and old andrumored to be brave and virtuous, but his com- Mad Jack One of the lieutenants aboard the Nev-mand of the ship is virtually nonexistent.ersink.One of the few officers whom White-Jacket254 White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-Warrespects, Mad Jack has a weakness for the bottle sons, enlisted as Edward Norton. Melville calledbut a profound love of the sea.Furthermore, he him Nord, and the two had many long shipboardknows what he is doing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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