"Cliff Notes - Billy Budd" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

mythology, and this has the effect of elevating Billy's story into a
symbolic drama. The narrator also has a habit of digressing, and he
confesses that this weakness is a "literary sin." You might find
these digressions distracting, but in fact when you stop to think
about why the narrator has included them you see that they do shed
light on the story. Not only does the narrator keep changing his
point of view, but he keeps changing the pacing of the story as well.
Broodings on history, or long analyses of characters are followed by
intense dramatic action, such as Billy's being approached about a
mutiny or his killing of Claggart. The narrator evokes the
atmosphere of the ship through the use of light and dark, short but
vivid descriptions, and through the poetic rhythms of his language.
The narrator devotes the last two chapters of the novel to a
newspaper story and a poem, both of which have voices and styles
completely different from his own and depict Billy's story in a
totally different light. Doesn't this make you think that the way a
story is told can be at least as important as the story itself?


BILLY BUDD: FORM AND STRUCTURE

The narrator himself admits that Billy Budd lacks "symmetry of form,
" but he claims that this is unavoidable since it's a true story,
and the truth will always have its ragged edges. We know that this
is, in fact not the case, that Billy Budd is a work of fiction, so
why does Melville put this in? It draws your attention to the form
and structure of the book and makes you think about what he means by
truth.

While you perceive the book's structure to be loose and flexible,
you might find that the digressions, the fits and starts, and the
alternation of long and short chapters are the best way of conveying
the feel and meaning of Billy's story. Maybe the narrator means that
Billy Budd is true in a deeper sense: Its form corresponds to the
shape of real experience. Don't you find that when you're trying to
make a major decision, or when you're living through some crucial
event, your mind keeps jumping from one thing to another, sometimes
dwelling on an analysis of the event, sometimes taking things in
quickly and dramatically, sometimes inventing hypothetical
situations to use as comparisons or contrasts? This is what the form
and structure of Billy Budd are like. The book does not proceed in a
strictly orderly fashion but begins by dwelling at length on
character portraits, then shifts to fast action, slows down again to
a long and closely argued trial scene, and then draws rapidly and
dramatically to a close with the intense and cinematic hanging of
Billy. Even after this event, the book lingers on to comment on it
and tie up loose ends. Many readers feel that though the structure
lacks symmetry, it coheres in a profound and moving way.