TRANSGRESSING CULTURAL AND ETHNIC BORDERS \ BOUNDARIES ° LIMITS AND TRADITIONS Cy AMPIE COETZEE PO eg INA GRABE“The ’Gees”: Herman Melville’s Quarrel with Racism Although not sufficiently acknowledged, the Portuguese (more specifically the Azoreans and the haf-breeds from the Cape Verde islands) Volume 3 402 “The”Gees”: Ferman Melvile's Quire with Ra existence of which the ave resulted ina hybrid breed. As Jack D. Forbes has noted when discussing differences between a “mulato” anda “mestigo” a tendency existed by the 1590s to distinguish between part-Aftican part-Indian mixed-bloods by the selective use of mulato and mes ‘Another Italian merchant, Careti, noted at the Cabo Verde Islands the Portuguese there were intermixing with nere (blacks) and mulate, Forbes 1993-1 With the advent of postcolonial, cultural, and ethnic studies, issue of hybridity has received much scholarly attention. In Colonial De, Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race, Robert J. C. Young (1996) expl that the term hybridity ‘was scarcely in use until the nineteenth (century). “Hybrid” is nineteenth century's word. But it has become our own again. In nineteenth century it was used to refer to a physiological phenomeno the twentieth century it has been reactivated to describe a cultural one. ‘(Young 198 ‘Young also notes that ‘marks the rise of the belief that there could be such a thing as a ho hybrid, ‘CYoung 19%Reinaldo Franciso Silva Melville's story, published during this period, is a fine discussion of the theme of human hybridity as well as an intriguing literary representation of the issue at stake. Hybridity, Melville seems to argue, was an undeniable reality in America even if most of its citizens had adopted an attitude of alienation about it. The "Gees in the whaling centers in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachussetts, as well as the mulattoes in Southern plantations, ay be Seen as Melville's willingness to discuss this issue openly. Young, also points out that the races and their intermixture circalate around an ambivalent axis of desire and aversion: a structure of attraction, where people and cultures Contemporary theories of hybridity lean more towards the issue of cultural hybridity as opposed to the physiological one prevalent in Melville's story. Homi K. Bhabha, for example, pointed out: ‘Anzaldia, Patell goes on to claim, “describes herself as the product of two different cultures’ Volume 3 404 “The “Gees”: Herman Melville's Quarrel with Rs magazines, It has received little critical attention and no one ha bothered to assess its potential as a work of literature. While Volume 3‘Reinaldo Francisoo Silva Melville readers are likely unaware of its existence, the Melville scholar uses discourse, and ideology, Melville examines the ways in which human bodies have bocome written and overwritten with racial meaning (Otter 1998:12) Having published “The ’Gees” in 1856, itis evident that Melville's obsession with racial matters went far beyond the dates suggested by Otter. What kind of critical reactions, then, has “The 'Gees” generated? Kaplan, for example, accepts the statements made by the narrator literally, equates them with Melvlle’s own perceptions and attitudes towards race and slavery, and dismisses the entire sketch as “the ugliest, most tasteless thing Melville ever wrote” (Kaplan 1957:31), It should be mentioned that Kaplan is somewhat of a “loner” in this respect. The advocates of the opposing viewpoint have by far outnumbered those sharing Kaplan's ideology. Karcher (1975), for instance, reads “The “Gees” as a satire on pseudoscientific racism and unveils the punning used by Melville to attack Southern ethnologists’ who supported the very existence of slavery through their scientific research which they hailed as the absolute truth, ‘Young has pointed out that Types o was the “standard American ada Not and Guee R On, pclae wok cl Types tnd a5, “The ‘Goes Herman Melile's Quarrel with different ies and prove that white and black really were different, = mm ‘(Young 1996:123- One of the reasons why Types of Mankind, at the time, bece ‘very successful work, is that it contained the discourse Ami slaveholders subscribed to and needed to justify their beliefs and prac ‘As Young has, once again, shown: ‘The suocess of Nott and Gliddon’s volume was doubtless the resu particular combination of skills that united both these areas: Nott physician (Professor of Anatomy at the University of Louisiana, ‘As. pro-slavery anthropologists, Nott and Gliddon con: rmiscegenation as a practice that would culminate in the “inevitable & ‘of those who had been the object of “the mixing of the races” ( 1996:144). In other words, they endorsed the pure, unmixed race ‘When writing about this aspect, Otter argugs that American ethne manipulated science to support the institution of slavery and the rem Native Americans from their ancestral lands: ‘Aligned with the justifications for African American slavery ant ‘American “removal”, American ethnology transformed scientific 1 ‘and political and popular culture, What was “American” ab “American schoo!” was the obsessive nationalistic insistence on physical evidence for the “fact” ofthe separate and unequal capab‘Reinaldo Francisco Silva Jhuman beings. As the result ofthe meticulous, encyclopedic efforts of such cethnologists as Samuel George Morton, Josiah Nott, and George Gliddon, by the 1850s the claim that American racial grougis were inherently unequal ‘and thatthe physical characteristics of the body specifically, literally, and permanently revealed hierarchical differences in racial character’ was approaching the status of fact. (Oter 1998:13-14) for example, Bickley. The emphasis e pus onthe narafor, whom he views as ironical, also supports Karcher’s point of view. Finall ground, He at first argues that he identifies the speaker ofthe sketch as Melv explanatory: ‘The speaker i sara (or exsenman) refering beet the yas et ‘Dilingham 1978359) “The "Gees" is Melville's way of capturing the social debates and the conflicting stances concerning the issue of slavery. This is also the opinion of Eric Sundquist, who contends in his introduction to To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of AmeRican Literature, that ‘Melville, along with Douglass, is probably the foremost analyst of “The ‘Gees Herman Melville's Quarrel with of the racism the white captains directed atthe Cape Verdeans on bot hes exempt from harboring such feelings. The sketch was wien in ‘when slavery was evidently a “hot” topic and anticipates the Civil just few years. Otter tells us: Race helped to shape Melville's literary career, “Race” not only ga ‘personal, family, and political content, it also provided him with th forewarning inserted in the very beginning ofthe sketch? The narrato itclear that Volume 3Reinaldo Francis Silva fall men seamen have strong prejudices, particularly in the matter of race. They axe bigots here. But when a creature of inferior race lives among ‘them, an inferior ta, there seems no bound to their disdain, (Melville 1987-347; my emphasis) ‘The phrase “But when a creature of inferior race lives among them, an inferior tar” a priori may suggest that the narrator himself is a racist too. This mode of writing is clearly a deliberate parodying of the crew's prejudiced jargon on the part ofthe narrator. The narrator ends the sketch by ‘way of telling the reader that ihe wishes to know more about racism and the relationship between white crewmen and the °Gees, the best person to contact is Captain Hosca Kean, of Nantucket, an expert on such matters: FFor further and fuller information apply to any sharp-witted American ‘whaling captain, but more especially 10 the before-mentioned old Captain ‘Hosea Kean, of Nantucket, whose address at present is “Pacific Ocean’. (Melville 1987351) ‘The first question anyone may ask is why has Melville chosen to Athenaeum (June 2 1855) comment on Israel Potter. The columnist notes that Melville Volume 3 410 “The “Gees”: Herman Melville's Quarrel with becomes wilder and wilder, and more and more turgid in each sv reader, who does not object to small type and a style the glories ¢ are nebulous. (Leyda 1951:Vol.2 Or the one in the Dublin University Magazine (January 0 about Mardi which high order in the English language. (Leyda 19: No wonder his shorter fiction written between lamentations, all of which were charged with an overwhelming, er poignancy. He told Hawthorne: speaking crew membe ”, reported to have encountered many sailors from ora the Volume 3Reinaldo Franiso Silva Islands and fom the Cape Verde sands ding is seafaring years His In WhitesJacket, Captain Jack Chase is referred to as “an ardent admirer of Camoens. Parts of the Lusiad, he could recite in the original” (Melville 1970:14). In this work there are also scattered references to sailors from the Cape Verde islands and to Antone, a Portuguese sailor. Coincidentally, in Omoo, there is also a reference to a certain Antone, but this one from the Cape Verde islands. In Moby-Dick, too, there is among the rhe Literature of England, America, and Southern Afi is ‘wort quoting here (Of Herman Melville's interest in the life and works of Luis de Camdes there exists ample evidence. First, there continues to sing out from the pages of his novel WhiteJacket (1850) the cries of the “matchless and ‘unmatchable Jack Chase”, who appears to have been the young sailor “The Gees" Herman Melvile's Qua with sade up of paired sonnets ented “Camodns” and “Caméens Hospital”, (Monteiro 19* ‘The point here is that this brief exposition supports the view that Melville had nothing in common with the racist tirades preval “The "Gees”. ‘This argument is further highlighted when the narrator reque inexperienced captains to inspect the "Gees they are about to carefully, especially their eyes: For the rest, draw close to, and put the centre of the pupil of youre) any, will be floated out ‘(Melville 198, cis precisely inthis ambiguous and somewhat camouflaged p Maatew 725 whee He gives veluble ight on how one aban le (Karcher 1975:438): ‘own eye, and then sal thou see clear o cast ct the ote out Drother’s eye. (Che Holy Bible:Matthew jk close inspection of bth pessages immediately reveal the practically all readers tend to miss the point, Melville is here delib Volume 3Reinaldo Franciso Silva {esting the extent to which supposedly white devout Bible readers of his time effectively put into practice Christ’s teachings. ‘This is not the only passage in which Melville alludes to the Bible in “The "Gees”. When the narrator reminds the inexperienced captains to check ‘American States’ slave system, (Young 1996:127) As far as the references to the Bible are concerned, they undoubtedly 4have a point to convey. It seems improbable that Melville had incorporated them into the texture of the sketch with no deliberate purpose on his mind, Volume 3 aa “The ‘Gees Herman Melville's Quarel with Racism ‘an institution which takes advantage of and totally dehumanizes a specific group of individuals, black slaves, and by analogy, the ‘Gees. That the sketch is fall of commercial language is no mere coincidence. “Cheaply”, “business”, “Wages”, and “negotiate” are just a few terms that immediately come to one’s mind. Melville deplores an economic system that takes advantage of the ‘Gees" ignorance. They, like the black slaves, are easily exploited; the “reward” for their work is corporal punishment: over gets his due, (Melville 1987-348) From the viewpoint of the captains and owners of the whalers, the {deal situation would be to hire such workers who can easily handle the job and receive little or preferably no pay. Melville seems to argue that it is not the American crew members but simply the "Gees who can fulfill this motive since their docile services being thus cheaply to be had, some captains will go the length of maintaining that "Gee sailors are preferable, indeed every way. physically and intellectually, superior to American sailors—such captains ‘complaining, and justly, that American sailors, if not decently treated, are apt to give serious trouble, (Melville 1987:348) atthe first taking in of sail the "Gee hung fre. Come to look, both trowser- legs were full of clephantiasis. It was a long sperm-whaling voyage Useless as so much lumber, at every port prohibited from being damped Volume 3 as‘Reinaldo Prancisoo Silva ashore, thatclephantine ’Gee, ever crunching biscuit, for three weary years ‘was trundled round the globe. (Melville 1987-350) Itis as if in this passage we can listen to Melville openly criticize the ‘women because he believes that pregnancy and child rearing drastically reduce the level of productivity. The callousness and indifference shown to the ‘Gees by the white emotional blackmail when they momentarily acknowledge the ‘Gees’ ‘manhood. The narrator tells us that {here is no cal o which the "Gee will with more alacrity respond than the °Gees ennobled with the human name. (Melville 1987:350-51) Melville also makes clear that not all "Gees qualify as job recipients, mastered the “ricks ofthe trade”, The hotest commodity is a grecn "Gee, one who is utterly ignorant, easily manipulated, and ultimately exploited. ‘The captains note that notwithstanding the general docility of the "Gee when green, it may be otherwise with him when ripe. Discreet captains won't have such a "Gee. “Away with that ripe ’Gee!” they cry “that smart "Gee, dhat knowing "Gee! Green 'Gees for me!” (Melville 1987349) Volume 3 416 “The Goss Herman Melile's Quarrel with Racism Not ony ae the "Goes depicted as mindless bodies throughout the ‘seem to argue, are one and the same, This idea is conveyed through a ‘metaphor: His teeth are what are called butter-teth, strong, durable, square, and ‘chile 1987348; my emptasis) References to parts of the the skull of slaves or haif-breeds resonate ‘withthe research experiments conducted by S. G. Morton: [J an American anatomist and Egyptologist, whose Crania Aegyptica appeared in 1844, five years after his influential Crania AmeRicana, in ‘which he had published his measurements ofthe diferent skull sizes ofthe different races, a method which was regarded as having enabled for the frst time a precise scientific measurement of racial difference. Young 1996:128) Jn the many scenes of cranial contemplation, which restage the scrutinies of phrenology, physiognomy, and craniometry, Melville gets inside the head of antebellum ethnology. He criticizes the obsession with defining, ranking, and separating human types and analyzes how cetlnology composes its objects. (Otter 1998:15) If the reader had somehow missed the implications of such ‘metaphorical language, the narrator makes this comparison explicit by way of stressing that [tJo know *Gees—to be a sound judge of ”Goes—one must study then, just as to know and be a judge of horses one must study horses. Simple as for the most part are both horse and ‘Gee, in neither case can knowledge ofthe Creature come by intuition (Melville 1987-349; my emphasis) Volume 3 417Reinaldo Francisco Silva ‘that jeer of theirs, that monkey-jacker was originally so called from the ircumstance that that rude sort of shaggy garment was first known in Fogo. They often call a monkey.jacket a" Gee-jacker” (Melville 1987:350; my emphasis) “The ‘Gees Herman Melville's Quarel with Racim the intellect of the "Gee has been litle cultivated. No wellsattested and/or a Portuguese-Creole dialect, and, obviously, not Spanish. The point ‘that Melville is trying to make here is that these allusions may a priori give ‘the impression that they are grounded in reality whem in fact they are totally misleading, . In “The 'Gees” the attentive reader gets a fair grasp of a complex mind at work. The question is whether everyone, especially his mid- nincteenth-century audience, was able to read what is so provocatively hhidden in between the lines. Reinaldo Francisco Silva University of Aveiro PortugalReinaldo Francisco Silva ‘Bibliography ‘Anzaldis, Gloria, 1999 (2" ed.) Borderlands/la Frontera: The New Mestza. Sen Francisco: “aunt Lute Books, ‘Bhabhe, Homi K. 1994, The Location of Culture, London & New York: Routledge. Bickley, Robert Bruce 1975. The Method of Meule's Short Feton. Dutharn, NC: Duke Univesity ress. Davis, Menell William H, Gilman. 1960. The Laters of Herman Mehille. New Haven: Yale University Press Dilngam, Wiliam B. 1977. Melville's Short Fletion 1853-86, Athens: University of oorgia Pres. Newbery Library. The Holy Bible ad), New York: American Bible Society. Kaplan, Sidney. 1957, Herman Melville snd the American Nations Sin; The Meaning of “Benito Cereno”. Journal of Negro History 42. ‘Karche, Caolyn. 1975. Melville's The "Geex: A Forgotten Satie on Scientific Rasim. AmeRtcan Quarterly 27 ‘Levine, Robert 8. (6d) 1998. The Cambridge Companion to Harman Mehille. New Yor: Cambridge Univesity Press Ley, Jay. 1951, The Melle Log A Documentary Life of Herman Melville. 2 vols. New ‘York: Harcourt. ‘Melville, Herman. 1988. Moby-Dick. In: Heyford Montiro, George. 1996. The Presence of Cambes: Influences onthe Literature of England, ‘America, and Southern Africa Lexagton, Kentucky: The University Pes of Kentucky (tier, Samuel. 198 “Race” in Typee and Whitelacket In: Levine (1998) Patel, Cyrus RK. 1999. Comparative American Studies: Hybriity and Beyond. AmeRcon ‘Literary Hit 6-185 Young, Robert IC. 1996, Colnial Desire: Hyridtyin Theory, Cultre and Race. London & "New York: Rowtedge, Vohume 3 Une écriture postcoloniale au temps colonial: renversement du discours anthropologique dans U nagre @ Paris (1959) de Bernard Dadié Si dans son ensemble la lttéranure mondiale comporte bien « ‘cvres traduisant des regards “périphériques” portés sur Europe TOccident,' Ia littérature africaine francophone, dés I'époque coloniale, n Volume 3 4