by Paris Herzog
Throughout Herman Melville’s Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, the protagonist, Tommo, finds himself in a state of captivity from which he endeavours to escape. His forms of confinement throughout the novel have very discreet bounds: he is at first physically confined to the ship at sea, held captive by a tyrannical captain; he is then physically confined by the valley and held captive by the Typee. Tommo’s captivity and lack of control over his circumstances often serve a narrative purpose, heightening the plot’s tension. The novel’s format—represented as fictional, but rooted in Melville’s own experience living among Polynesian natives after jumping ship—makes it difficult to decipher what elements are true and what elements are exaggerated for the sake of storytelling. Tommo’s confinement aboard the vessel and in the valley are almost antithetical to one another: the circumstances that make his confinement aboard the vessel unbearable are completely gone in the valley, while the circumstances that conspire to make his confinement in the valley unbearable are such that drive his return to a ship. Tommo’s reflections on the two situations interrogate the nature of freedom both in a physical and mental sense, as well as its connection with one’s environment and circumstances.
Two fundamental aspects shape Tommo’s physical captivity on the ship: isolation from the rest of the world, and a lack of control over his future. The novel begins with the narrator highlighting the isolating experience of being at sea with “the sky above, the sea around, and nothing else!” (Melville 3). Tommo further highlights this state of desolation and estrangement from the rest of the world by describing the state of their provisions: their enterprise has “exhausted” their produce, and their other provisions have “disappeared”. In these opening descriptions, Tommo laments, “Oh! For a refreshing glimpse of one blade of grass…. [I]s there no green thing to be seen? Yes, the inside of our bulwarks is painted green: but what a vile and sickly hue it is, as if nothing bearing even the semblance of verdue could flourish this weary way from land” (Melville 3). A sort of confinement occurs on the ship that detaches and removes man from nature: while a man can survive removed from nature, Tommo’s reflections point to it being unnatural and conducive to melancholy. These descriptions serve a narrative purpose, highlighting the need for the character to leave their present circumstances, which drives the plot and justifies the character Tommo’s decisions. They also emphasize that confinement aboard the ship represents an estrangement from the natural world, and thus implicitly that freedom would involve reconnecting with the natural world.
The second aspect of Tommo’s captivity on the ship is the tyrannical control that the captain exercises over the ship. He lists the conditions of the ship and the captain’s abuse as evidence of his contract being violated; however, Tommo believes that all the abuses from the ship’s captain “could have been endured awhile, had we entertained the hope of being speedily delivered from them by the due completion of servitude” (Melville 21). Tommo is beholden to a contract that he signed upon boarding the vessel for several reasons: his physical inability to leave the vessel; the threat of punishment by the captain; and the captain’s ceaseless determination to continue the enterprise. Aboard the ship, therefore, Tommo is physically confined and captive to the captain’s wishes. Tommo punctuates the horror of this condition by delving into the tale of the Perseverance, a ship that, by the greed of her captain, stayed at sea interminably. He describes her old crew “composed of some twenty venerable Greenwhich-pensioner-looking old salts, who just managed to hobble about deck,” and the functioning of the ship: “not a yard was braced or sail set without the assistance of machinery” (Melville 22). This description seems allegorical of what Melville might forecast to be the future of the modern industry: machines responsible for most of the labour, with a crew decrepit, destitute, and completely cut off from the natural world. This is the fate Tommo implicitly fears. The immediate source of Tommo’s captivity on the ship is the captain who, with near complete control over Tommo’s destiny, is driven by an obsession with squeezing as much profit as possible from the ship in its entirety, overworking the crew and exhausting the provisions in the process. The captain is a representation of the interests of modern industry: profit at all costs. On the ship, therefore, Tommo is ultimately held captive to the interests of modern industry.
Melville likely emphasizes the horrors of mariner life to an extent, making it very compelling for the character to want to leave. This justifies Tommo’s choice to abandon the vessel and run the risk of surviving in an unfamiliar land and encountering the cannibalistic Typee. Although the narrator claims that his feelings towards the cannibal tendencies of the Typee were of a “most unqualified repugnance,” he also shows sympathy towards them, even questioning whether their violence towards foreigners is perhaps justified (Melville 25): “Who can wonder at the deadly hatred of the Typees to all foreigners after such unprovoked atrocities” (Melville 26). At the novel’s beginning, Melville provides many instances that show the cruelty of Europeans:
Europeans have discovered heathen and barbarians, whom by horrible cruelties they have exasperated into savages. It may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that in all the cases of outrages committed by Polynesians, Europeans have at some time or other been aggressors, and that the cruel bloodthirsty disposition of some of the islanders is mainly to be ascribed to the influence of such examples. (Melville 27)
This statement implies that the Polynesians, originally innocent and non-violent, were corrupted by Europeans in some way. The combination of emphasizing the barbarity of life aboard the ship, a representation of the evils of Western civilization, and a quite sympathetic attitude towards the Typee (despite the fact they are renowned cannibals) lays the groundwork for his interaction with the Typee, and to interrogate whether their way of life does indeed pose a better alternative.
Theoretically, Tommo’s discontent aboard the ship could be resolved by living an antithetical way of life, one like that of the Typee. Although the narrative seems to present the circumstances for this question to be answered, the story never answers whether the Typee way of life would make Tommo, or indeed any Westerner, happier. This is because of the overarching similarity between the two circumstances, in which Tommo is fundamentally not in control of his destiny: in both situations, he experiences profound melancholy attributable partly to his lack of control over his situation. Apart from this similarity, Tommo’s life in the valley and life aboard the ship have drastically different characters. Among the Typee, he is not required to do taxing physical work in difficult conditions; all physical needs and wants can be met without rigorous work. This is partially due to the Typee catering to him in his injured state, but Tommo observes that the natives themselves do not have to engage in laborious tasks to survive; their environment supplies everything necessary for their existence. The narration compares the Typee’s circumstances to that of the Fuegians, who live in a much harsher climate and seem more miserable:
But the voluptuous Indian [Typee], with every desire supplied, whom Providence has bountifully provided with all the sources of pure and natural enjoyment, and from whom are removed so many of the ills and pains of life—what has he to desire at the hands of Civilization? She may “cultivate his mind”—may “elevate his thoughts”—these I believe are the established phrases—but will he be the happier? (Melville 124)
In this passage, the Typee are painted as divinely selected: due to “Providence,” all their needs are met. This religious imagery is highlighted by Tommo’s first interaction with the Typee: he comes across a young man and woman embracing, evoking the image of Adam and Eve.
Depicting the Typee and their way of life in this way seems to confront the notion that Western “Civilization,” where one can “cultivate his mind” and “elevate his thoughts,” is superior to one that leads to more happiness. However, the text attributes the differences between the societies to their environments, thwarting any practical comparison between the two ways of life. Tommo interprets the Typee’s contented way of life as a product of their environment: all the “ills and pains of life” that are familiar to Western “Civilization” but absent from Typee society are due to a scarcity in the environment that the Typee themselves lack—they enjoy a scarcity of scarcity itself.
Although Tommo asserts that the Typee Valley and its resulting way of life leads to greater happiness, Tommo himself nevertheless experiences melancholy from this lifestyle. This melancholy is unrelated to the anxiety he feels being held captive and the potential threat of being a victim of cannibalism. Tommo’s dissatisfaction with the Typee way of life adds a tragic element to his story; he escapes the barbarity of his old life but cannot enjoy the luxuries of this new world. Quite symbolically, Tommo describes how observing the beautiful and vibrant birds who always make happy cries fills him with melancholy:
I know not why it was, but the sight of these birds, generally the ministers of gladness, always oppressed me with melancholy. As in their dumb beauty they hovered by me whilst I was walking, or looked down upon me with steady curious eyes from out the foliage. I was almost inclined to fancy that they knew they were gazing upon a stranger, and that they commiserated his fate. (Melville 216)
While observing these birds, Tommo feels his alienness in the valley more acutely. Elements of the bird’s description—their “gladness” and “beauty”—are reminiscent of the Typee, also native to the valley; however, the birds’ simultaneous belonging and freedom to leave directly contrast Tommo, an alien who is being held captive. Tommo is prevented from the “gladness” and “happiness” of the natives of the valley because he is a “stranger” to that land. In Tommo’s framework, not only are societies a product of their physical environments but also the individuals who constitute them. Tommo’s identity is inextricably tied to the society from which he originated; he is not a product of the valley and, therefore, cannot fully participate in Typee society.
A sense of captivity to one’s origins underlies Tommo’s melancholy throughout the novel. At the novel’s beginning, Tommo’s sense of melancholy derived from his state of captivity differentiates him from the other sailors, save for Toby. Tommo describes how Toby, like himself, “was one of that class of rovers you sometimes meet at sea, who never real their origin, never allude to home, and go rambling over the world as if pursued by some mysterious fate they cannot possibly elude” (Melville 32). This romantic description casts the two characters as typical heroes of adventure novels to appeal to readers. Although it serves a literary purpose, this description also highlights Tommo’s sense of captivity to his circumstances from his desire to escape an “origin,” “home,” or “fate.” Throughout the novel, a sense of fateful captivity to one’s origins or identity frames all of Tommo’s experiences and indeed his very future.
The sense of melancholy that Tommo experiences throughout the novel results from being a captive of his circumstances. Other individuals literally hold him captive aboard the ship and in the valley, but underpinning these characters’ actions and motivations are their societal contexts. His captor on the ship is driven by greed that results from modern industry; the Typee hold Tommo in captivity, partly because he is an alien to them. In both cases, Tommo is incarcerated by his origins and the society he was born into. The resonating sense of captivity Tommo experiences comes from the helplessness of being beholden to one’s society and to one’s circumstances.
Works Cited
Melville, Herman. Typee: A peep at Polynesian life during a four months’ residence in a valley of the Marquesas. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.