a. Herman Melville had a really deep friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
b. He is a writer of Naturalism which put emphasis on heredity and environment.
* Naturalism-- It was a literary movement or tendency from the 1880s to 1930s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.
c. He wrote a lot of works which are talking animals and situations in the sea. In Taiwan, we would call this kind of works "Sea/Ocean Literature", however, there isn't a category called "Sea Literature" in any Western literature.
d. The important issue in Moby-Dick-- Why would Ishmael stay for being a survivor?
*Moby-Dick-- It is a novel by Herman Melville, in which Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on the albino sperm whale Moby Dick, which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee. Although the novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, its reputation grew immensely during the twentieth century.
Herman Melville and Hawthorne
Moby-Dick 
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B. Video for Introducing Moby-Dick
* key words-- race, sexuality, and the existence of god
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C. Discussion on Midterm Exam
Topic One-- Keywords on Term Explanation
a. American Renaissance-- exact time 1850-1855 and lots of masterpiece
b. Transcendentalism-- individual, "self-reliant", 1820s-1830s, and independent
c. American Dream-- prosperity, (debated) success, opportunity, rich, fuller, and the quotation from "Declaration of Independence"- "All men are created equal."
d. Manifest Destiny-- virtue, mission, destiny, and expanding the territory
* President Monroe and Monroe Doctrine-- "With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere."
e. Inferiority complex-- lack of "self-worth", doubt, uncertainty, and a feeling of not measuring up to standards.
Topic Two-- Keywords on Essay
Q1-- memorable characters, nation, romantic, and an example: The Great Gatsby
Q2-- other lives to live, civilized life, experience, and sense and awareness of natural life
Q3-- the concept of The Scarlet Letter (Blog B-a)
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