Melissa Guachun

Notes on Melvilles Fist: Barbara Johnson

Johnson’s analyzation shows that there are two different lens in which one can perceive Melville’s Fist-literal and figural. In this story, each character offers a different point of view that shed light into the depth within the situation presented.

When reading this passage, many people perceive the happenings through Billy’s perspective. His one dimensional and simple character mimics the lens in which he personifies which is literal. The details, actions, and characters that are perceived through Billy are interpreted as straight forward, simple, and straight-forward. The flaws in Billy’s personalities lies in his stutter, his illiteracy/unintelligence, and his behavioral filtering/obliteration. Claggart is known for his intelligence, articulate nature, and his mistrust for Billy for being capable of “possessing natural depravity”. His envy and mistrust makes him the character associated with evil. Captain Vere stands for the well being of man and relies on the history of discourse of men to guide him as a captain. Even though he is a key character, his response in this tale is perceived as unaffected, cold, and emotionally detached. He doesn’t have the patience for tolerance and acts swiftly. Billy’s version of the reading is considered literal because the plot mimics Billy’s essence of illiterate, simplistic nature. Johnson states “ His literal mindness is represented by his literacy because in assuming that language can be taken at face value, he excludes the very functioning of difference that makes the act of reading both indispensable and undecidable” (2262). Johnson makes the point that by reading the passage through Billy’s lens one can only interpret the actions and characters at face value. Billy’s simplistic nature only renders him as disadvantaged causing his ability to read and filter to result in his death. In Billy’s perception, the conflict resides in the discourse of good and evil.

Claggart’s perception is then considered figural in this passage. This is where deconstruction comes into play because Claggart’s lens allows the relationship between the signified and signifier to flip. The question of being versus doing is brought into question and challenges Billy’s lens of the good versus evil archetype. Billy is deemed innocent, attractive, popular, and simple, yet he is a murderer. Claggart is “supposed” to be then considered evil by default but ends up being murdered by Billy. Captain Vere is deemed responsible for bringing justice to this matter and being the captain of these men. Yet he makes a hasty sentence, allowing a man who he thinks is innocent to be hung. The decision was done with force due to his fear of not maintaining the respect of his men if he were to let a man go free after committing murder. Claggart who is assumed to be evil questions the good nature of Billy, causing the sign of Claggart to switch (as sign of arbitrariness). To Billy, he is put under an intense emotional situation causing his stutter to render him verbally paralyzed. Claggart’s serious accusation causes Billy to respond in a serious manner. He results to physical violence as a way of verbally communicating his allegiance to his captain and men. But the action was performed in violence against his accuser which ends up being the alibi to convict him of murder and to his hanging. Johnson states “Captain Vere is a reader who kills, not, like Billy, instead of speaking, but rather, precisely by means of speaking” (2272). This makes Captain Vere and Billy both murderers in their own right. Billy’s action of announcing loyalty through his lens was perceived as proof of Claggart’s claim through Claggart’s lens. Billy’s action of filtering his answers and responses through repression. By filtering out certain words he is able to control his sign, being perceived only as “good”. He maintains his innocence by erasing, destroying, and obliterating any evidence that would challenge the persona he has constructed for himself. This challenges the nature versus doing, if Billy is making conscious attempts to edit himself into a supposed “good character” then it’s not his natural state. Then we as readers are unsure of who he really is characteristically, he becomes an anomaly. We are only aware of who he is attempting to be. This makes Claggart more human because he is sticking to his gut by calling Billy out because he is able to see through his attempts of maintaining goodness. Billy’s censorship had become so integral to his inner workings, it became a source of maintenance and control. So when Claggart accused Billy of mutiny, it sparked an impulse in him to obliterate any evidence of character abnormality. This impulse in combination with his literacy and stutter under emotional situations prompted violence. Claggart’s lens offers an insightful, articulated, and analytical approach to the reading. This is because it mimics his character traits. His lens allows a deeper understanding of how the signifier and signified are constantly in flux. Again, it proves that this reading can’t be taken at face value because of mistrust. Mistrust from Claggart’s character and mistrust from receiving filtered information from Billy. Billy’s censorship and simplistic persona acts as a blank sign, proving that blank signs often hold other meanings.