I skimmed Preface up to Chapter 11 first to get it done in the amount of time given to me (I am a slow reader) so I already have a general idea of what goes on in the story and what it's about. Then I decided to go back and read Preface to chapter 11 at my own pace to make sure I get the story in full.
I'm writing this Let's Read blindly because I managed to lose my copy of the book. In your hand one second, gone completely missing the next.
Update: I've finished reading the entire book in depth.
But I digress.
It's a self-explanatory passage in which Melville analyses the events around the period in which the story takes place. That is, year 1797, during the French Revolution. Writing roughly around 1888, Melville understands the Revolution as a wrongdoer, as bloodshed, only based on a good idea. (Which is a fair assessment. During the revolution, about 16,594 prisoners were sentenced to death for counter-revolutionary activities, and perhaps as many as 40,000 were executed without a fair trial.)
Infused with the Revolutionary Spirit of the age (blame it on the Americans), it is kind of ironic that the Revolution should by damaged by yet another Revolution, the Great Mutiny: a successful overthrow of the abusive commanders and captains of the day, later a successful reform of the British Navy.
Billy Budd is about the events of the Great Mutiny, and how it affects the life of a good-natured, innocent man.
A much longer passage, introducing Billy Budd, and how he entered the British Navy's service.
The chapter begins by describing what in the day would have been an ideal sailor: that is, an extremely tanned, tall fellow surrounded by his many shipmates. Our Billy Budd is nothing like this Handsome (so far as they were concerned) Sailor, but he is otherwise remarkable for his skill and ability to keep peace.
Billy was originally crewmember of a merchant ship, and as the Navy used to do freely in those days, he was sort of randomly semi-officially drafted. As in, a lieutenant showed up on the ship, saw Billy, and decided to take him. Of course, Billy has no idea what's going on so he makes no qualms, described effectively in this excellent line:
"To the surprise of the ship's company, though much to the Lieutenant's satisfaction, Billy made no demur. But, indeed, any demur would have been as idle as the protest of a goldfinch popped into a cage." - Herman Melville, Billy Budd.
Come on, you just gotta love the goldfinch part, that is excellent. But again, I digress.
So the name of this new ship on which he is drafted is the HMS Indomitable. An interesting name for a ship. An even more interesting name for a ship is the Rights-of-Man, which is actually the name for the merchant's ship from which Billy was taken. Apparently the captain of this ship was a huge fan of Thomas Paine, so he named it after one of his essays.
The ship's captain protests the drafting of Billy, insisting that the kid's very presence keeps order, much "like a Catholic priest striking peace in an Irish shindy." (Since a shindy's supposed to be a sort of Irish dance, Billy sucks the fun out of everything? Don't Melville intended to suggest that. Maybe the captain just doesn't like the Irish.) Apparently he established order with one particularly rude sailor by punching him in the face after he gave Billy an inadequate cut of meat. Don't know how that works, but okay. An interesting note: Billy did much more damage with his punch than he intended. Poor kid doesn't know his own strength.
When Billy makes his good-natured farewell to the merchant ship, he says "And good-bye to you too, old Rights-of-Man." A very interesting farewell, as his boarding the Indomitable will literally mean goodbye to his rights as a man, though he may not know it.
What does an innocent young man do, after having unknowingly walked into a cage? Will he find a way out? Will he learn to recognize his own bars?
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