Ekofeministički pristup iskorištavanju kitova u Melvilleovu Mobyju Dicku
An Ecofeminist Approach to Whale Consumption in Melville’s Moby Dick

»It is pleasant to read about whales through their own spectacles«

Author(s): Sanja Kajinić
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Social history, Social Theory, Human Ecology, 19th Century, Theory of Literature, American Literature
Published by: Durieux
Keywords: Herman Melville; Moby Dick; ecofeminist theory; Carol J. Adams;
Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I will approach the celebrated masterpiece of nineteenth century American literature — Melville’s Moby Dick using the critical concepts developed by feminist and vegetarian critics within ecofeminist theory. Thus, we will first look at the cultural production of the texts of meat, which are developed by emptying out of animal subjectivity and treating animals as referents absent from the sphere of human morality. Next, we will look at the background of the Nantucket society and whale fishing industry, and its role in strengthening the texts of meat embodied in whaling. Also, the romanticizing of violence and myth making connecting the whale men with the hunters and pioneers venerated in the myth of the American frontier are then examined. The factory function of the whale ship is analyzed in terms of industrialization encroaching upon the world of nature, and of treatment of animals as consumable commodities. Lastly, the concept of »Manifest Destiny« is read through the spectacles of extinction of whales and other species.

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