"The Monkeyrope"

At times analyzing a piece of writing is easier than other times. When reading “The Monkeyrope” it turned out to be a piece that was a little more difficult. The writing style of Herman Melville is very complex and can be difficult to read. He uses a lot of diction and word choice to describe what is going on but making it very complex of the other hand. There is also a lot of descriptions and imagery he uses things like “the blubber-hook” or even the mokeyrope as a whole. How one man is standing on the boat tied onto the other sailor who is on top of the whale killing it. The description of the man standing on the whale “down there, some ten feet below the level of the deck, the porr harpooneer flounders about, half on the whale and half in the water, as the vast mass revolves like a treadmill beneath him” this is very good imagery that lets you see exactly what is going on trying to stand on this rolling whale and kill him before he kills you. Another good place of imagery is “It was cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard- scrabble scramble upon the dead whales back.” This is neat because it is contrast between the “cheerful duty” and the “scramble upon the dead” usually these are things that wouldn’t nescassarly be associated together. Also in this image Melville uses an the alliteration “scrabble scramble.” He also uses symbolism with a simile of “the rabid creatures swarmed round it like bees in a beehive” this also create a great image of how the sharks are enclosing and now instead of just staying alive on top of the whale if you fall the sharks are there to get you. In all I think this is a neat piece of writing that is very intricate but all Melville’s work makes it fun to read because you can picture everything that is going on.