Physical attributes and atmosphere of Galapagos Islands. Speaks of Mellville and Darwin

Essay by Anonymous UserHigh School, 11th gradeA, September 1996

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During the nineteenth century, two prominent writers, Herman Melville and Charles Darwin both voyaged to the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador. Both of these individuals wrote descriptive passages about the physical attributes and atmosphere of the Galapagos Islands. The passages vary in specific content due to the intentions and interests of the respective authors, even though the object described is the same. Charles Darwin, best known for the theory of evolution, wrote for the purpose of science; Herman Mellville, best known for Moby Dick, for the purpose of entertainment. The audience intended, the tone of the author, and the terms used in description-these all vary between the two passages. These passages exemplify that a single subject, under varying conditions, can be seen and portrayed using differing style and rhetoric.

Mellville's passage uses allusions, analogies, and comparisons to well-known entities to better illustrate the Galapagos Islands to the common reader.

Mellville assumes that the reader is unfamiliar with the Galapagos islands, or 'Encantadas,' as he chooses to refer to them as and paints a picture of the Galapagos Islands using everyday terms. An important part of Mellville's style is that the he never directly describes the islands. 'Take five-and-twenty heaps of cinders dumped here and there in an outside city lot' is how Mellville's description of the Galapagos Islands begins. This reduces the Galapagos islands from a large, nearly inconceivable place to objects of which most any reader can create a mental picture. When Mellville describes the flora of the Galapagos Islands, he compares it with drying 'Syrian gourds,' aching for water. Mellville discusses the solitude of the Galapagos Islands in comparison with Greenland, a familiar place of solitude, the clear water in terms of Lake Erie, and the 'azure ice' in terms of malachite. "They know...