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1 Introduction
Moby-Dick was created by taking the American whaling fishery life in the early 19th century as background, under which The United States made fast industrial development and material progress during the upturn of American capitalism. Through unfolding the plot of Moby Dick, this paper intends to help people understand the consequences and destruction derived from the human-centered activities due to the historical anthropocentric concept. By analyzing the different results caused by different attitudes from human on nature and different nature species, this paper will criticize the existence of human-centered action and arouse humans’ awareness of the significance of the ecological balance between human beings and nature via the theory of Eco-criticism to further explore the proper relation between human and natural world.
1.1 The Author’s Personal Experiences Background and the Creation of the Novel
The author Herman Melville was born in 1819 in New York merchant family. With the experiences as farm worker, bank clerk, primary school teacher, in 1839, he had been harpooner and sailor on the boat of whaler and cruise ship back and forth between New York and Liverpool for five years at sea. Meanwhile he lived on the island of Tahiti and the Marquesas, a culture of indigenous cannibal tribes over a period of time. These experiences provide a wealth of material for his future novel creation.