读懂一种唯我论

————《白鲸》读书笔记

11中文2班吴意晟

《白鲸》主人公名叫以实玛利，曾跟商船出过海。他和在南塔开特结识的好友魁魁格到即将出航的捕鲸船“裴廓德号”报名。在航海过程中他知道了“莫比?迪克”—— 一只凶猛而狡诈的白鲸，在大海上一再使许多捕鲸者失肢断臂，船破人亡，是捕鲸者心目中的一种妖魔。“裴廓德号”船长亚哈，在一次猎击中给莫比迪克咬掉了一条腿，因此，他满怀复仇之念，一心想追捕这条白鲸，竟至失去理性，变成一个独断专行的偏热症狂。捕鲸船“裴廓德”号船长亚哈一心要捕杀咬掉自己一条腿的凶残聪明的白鲸莫比?迪克，在航行几乎全世界，经历辗转，终于与莫比?迪克遭遇的故事。经过三天追踪，最后用鱼叉击中白鲸，但船被白鲸撞破，亚哈被鱼叉上的绳子缠住，带人海中。全海落海，只有水手以实玛利（《圣经》中人名，意为被遗弃的人）一人得救。

亚哈船长是一个具有多重性格的矛盾体。他违犯了基督教关于“傲慢”的戒律,一切以“自我”为中心,背弃捕鲸获取鲸油的使命,执迷不悟于一己私仇,全然置船员的安危于不顾,在这个意义上,他就是一个不折不扣的暴君和邪恶魔王的象征。然而,就其敢于搏击邪恶、挑战命运、反抗神明而言,他又是人类反抗英雄的象征。另一方面,他又是一个坚毅执著探索宇宙奥秘的勇士,尽管具有顽强无畏和骁勇善战的勇气和能力,但终因无视大自然的内在规律,而徒劳地成为与宇宙力量抗争的牺牲品。可见,在亚哈身上同样体现了善恶并存、美丑相共、既是害人者又是受害者的多重意义,这一形象所蕴含的象征意义与白鲸一样也是复杂深邃、难以把握的。读者很难从中找到绝对的、唯一正确的结论,小说的意义并不是证明所有这些不同的结论都可能正确,而是要求读者根据自己的经历和思考做出评判,正如评论家 C. K.希勒加斯 (C.k.Hillegass) 所言:“《白鲸》的意思不在书中,而在读者身上。”复仇是世界文学的一个古老母题。《白鲸》正是以复仇主题贯穿故事始末的。从事捕鲸业四十余年的船长亚哈不幸在出海时被白鲸莫比?迪克咬掉一条腿。此后,他对白鲸就充满了刻骨的仇恨,复仇的欲望吞噬着他的每一个细胞,他出航乃至整个余生的唯一目标就是誓死捕杀莫比?迪克。满腹仇恨使他成为最孤独自闭的人。为了报复白鲸,他听不进理智的劝告,完全被自己的“我”所吞没,他不再为妻子和孩子着想,不再和船员们交流,极端的自我中心主义使他几乎完全丧失了理性和人性,为报一己私仇不惜伤害他人。他始终固执地认为,自己的意志就是唯一的法则,世界为他而存在,世人为他而牺牲。“我所敢做的,我就有决心做;而我有决心做的,我就要做!他们当我发疯了??可是,我是恶魔,我是疯上加疯!??我现在预言,我一定要肢解那肢解我的家伙。”复仇的抉择一旦作出,满载祸殃的命运之船便开动了,一场由狂妄和偏执领航的复仇战斗就在这泯灭了理智的黑暗航行中开始了,最终把“裴廓德号”引向了毁灭的航程。在这个意义上,亚哈的悲剧主要源于由复仇导致的极端自我膨胀,他的灵魂因过于独立而难以得救,因而成为唯我论的牺牲品。

《白鲸》像一座象征主义的迷宫。这里大到典型人物、宏观景物,小到静止的物体几乎都具有多层次的象征意义。作者正是通过多重奇谲的象征事

物来表现他对哲学、社会、宗教等问题的深刻思考。

“裴廓德号”捕鲸船的象征意义更为丰富。它代表人类生活的世界舞台;象征执著探寻自然界秘密的美国精神;代表原始文化的一叶方舟;象征基督教对其他“落后”文化的统治之地;又由于“裴廓德”取自被灭绝的印第安部落之名,因而它还可以象征邪恶的人类世界必遭毁灭的命运。

然而,小说中更为隐秘微妙的复杂象征仍然主要体现在白鲸莫比?迪克和船长亚哈这两个形象身上。对于二者象征意蕴的阐释,是理解这部小说的关键。 “莫比?迪克”是一条颇富传奇色彩的白色巨鲸,小说从不同人物的视角展现其多重的象征寓意。在异教徒水手看来,它是一只时而平静安详,时而恐怖暴虐的海怪;疯子迦百利把它当做震教神的化身;在亚哈眼中,“一切最使人狂怒和痛苦的事情,一切足以搅起事物的残渣的东西,一切附有恶念的真理,一切使人焦头烂额的东西,一切有关生命思想的神秘而不可思议的鬼神邪说,一切的邪恶等等,都是莫比?迪克的显明化身”。它是亚哈心中邪恶与恐怖、难以征服而又必须予以摧毁的仇敌。但对以实玛利来说,白鲸既代表高洁安宁,也代表恐怖死亡,它是宇宙间一切对立矛盾的结合,象征宇宙的浩阔与奥秘、上帝的无边神力、人类的命运与前途,它给以实玛利的重要启迪不是简单的摧毁,而是努力完善认识、不懈地追求真理。

从社会政治的角度来看,白鲸象征着庞大的资本主义生产力。许多评论家认为这个尚不被人理解而又威力无穷的庞然巨鲸,实际上是作者对资本主义巨大发展的生产力迷惑不解而又惶恐不安的真实心理反映,也表达了作者对处在变动时代的人类命运的忧患意识。

正文部分在整体结构上呈现出“喜剧—闹剧—悲剧”这一明晰易见的发展脉络,大体可以第二十三章分为前后两部分。前一部分基本上是传统的小说模式,以喜剧式的现实主义笔触描写当时的社会生活。而其余的一百一十二章,特别从亚哈出场后第二十八章开始,小说在表现手法上做了重大变化。不但将前半部分明快风趣的笔调转变为词藻华丽的文体,而且将叙议结合的描述、新闻报道性的描写、戏剧化的宏大场景以并列或递进的方式交替展开。叙述者在故事讲述中角色的频频转型,叙事视点的时时变更,以及叙事文体的不断变换,使得这部分的叙事结构看似显得杂乱无章、复杂难辨。其实,这正是麦尔维尔对多元艺术手段的创新应用,这种对传统叙事手法的突破恰好是当今现代主义文学惯常采用的艺术手段,体现了麦尔维尔高超而颇具现代性的表现艺术。正如美国评论家约翰?布莱恩特在《〈白鲸〉:一场革命》中所言:“充满节奏的长句、散文体诗歌、文学种类的混杂及各种人物的声音、视点上的实验、象征手法、心理学、以实玛利与亚哈内心生活的戏剧化,甚至是小说的悲喜剧性,都预示着詹姆斯?乔依斯和福克纳的文学意味。”

第二篇：白鲸记英文读后感

Moby Dick        

Brief Introduction

  The novel, Moby Dick, was written by Herman Melville, an American writer. The book I read was published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research in 2004. The book contains 286 pages.

Main Contents

  Ishmael was the only surviver in that wreck. The story was told by him. Ishmael worked as a schoolmaster, but sometimes he liked to adventure. Whenever he felt a little down from life, he would stop his work and head for the sea that brought back and restored his spirit. This time he decided to go aboard a whaling ship. In a hotel he met with Queequeg, a harpooner. Later on they became closed friends. Ishmael and Queequeg reached the Pequod. Captain Peleg was one of the two owners of the Pequod. Another was Captain Ahab. Actually Ahab was the captain of this ship.

  A white whale, Moby Dick often killed people and he ate Captain Ahab’s leg. He had promised he would chase him round the Cape of Good Hope and round Cape Horn and round the flames of Hell before He gave up. He had signed the men aboard his ship to chase that White Whale over all sides of the earth until he coughed black blood and rolled over. During the sea travel, they also killed many whales but Ahab still insisted to kill Moby Dick. Ahab looked after the trail of the White Whale. In the first day of hunting Moby Dick they had a fierce fighting with Moby Dick. Fedallah disappeared.On the second day’s chase, all the crew except Ishmael were dead. It was Queequeg’s coffin life saver that saved him. Finally Ahab did not kill Moby Dick.

Excellent episode

1.I worked as a schoolmaster, but sometimes I would feel that I needed a bit of change. So, whenever I felt a little down from life, I would stop my work and head for the sea. There was something about the sea that brought back and restored my spirit, my drive in life. For this I could always count on the sea.

2.No, my way of escaping the reality of my hometown of Manhattan, New York, was going to sea as a plain, ordinary seaman. I liked the exercise of being a seaman. Most importantly, I was able to travel to far-away places and experience things that I would never experience if I stayed in my hometown.

3.Floating all alone at sea, I had much to think about. I thought of Ahab going after his goal even thought it meant death, and of the White Whale’s answer of revenge. The memory of Queequeg’s kindness protected and kept my spirits alive, just as his coffin chest now kept my body above the sea.

Reflection

  When I am reading the fighting between the crew and whale,especially the White Whale, I feel I am one of them. After reading the novel I want to talk about it from different sides.

  Ishmael was a schoolmaster but he liked to adventure. If his life was smooth, he would feel bored. He liked to head for the sea. There was something about the sea that could bring back and restore his spirit, his drive in life. Today we are in a comfortable society and we enjoy the comfort. We live without passion.However, we lost our soul. We do something against morality. Our material life is rich but we are lacking morality. Society is full of coldness and we cannot smile at the strange. We lost the nature of human beings. I believe we don’t want to live in such society, so we should do something meaningful to improve ourselves and make our society full of warm.

  Many people who have read the novel admire Captain Ahab for his perseverance.

He had a great aim to kill the White Whale.They think the White Whale was the symbol of the devil and Ahab was the symbol of justice. However, I have the different idea. I think Captain Ahab was selfish. For the revenge for his leg, he didn’t care about others’ lives. Many people were dead for his selfishness. Many people think Captain Ahab was the great man who wined over the nature and who didn’t believe in the God. Actually I think he is a killer of the nature. He was rude. Animals are our friends and we should make friends with them. However, he killed them. He lost his leg, which he deserved. He made the sacrifice for what he did. We could not harm the nature or we will have the bad result just like the dead the White Whale had killed. We should have harmony with the nature.

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