| The purpose of this paper is to investigate the expressions about “colors” Herman Melville uses in his works, especially in “Jimmy Rose” and Billy Budd. And it also considers the reason he applies this method so often.
In “Jimmy Rose,” the narrator seems to feel pity for his friend, Jimmy. But it isn’t until twenty five years later that he meets Jimmy again. So, as Noma suggests (1999), when he tells his compassion, feeling glad to see Jimmy’s “rose in his cheeks,” it is clear that the narrator pretends to worry about his friend, referring to Jimmy’s vital color of quasi-natural “rose-red.”
In Billy Budd, the weak point of Billy’s, the dumbness, makes him kill his senior, Claggart. This fault hides behind his rose-colored “fair cheeks,” so Melville uses his technique of colors again and lets his readers find the implications of colors.
In conclusion, it is possible to say that Melville’s color symbolism suggests the expressions of colors are not only the implicative ones, but also the devices to hide the severe truth his readers can’t or shouldn’t see.
|