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Herman MelvilleA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The act of cannibalism, according to Tommo, is a moral transgression. It is a major element of what distinguishes Europeans and Americans from the inhabitants of the South Pacific islands. Languages, ethnicity, and other differences may abound, but the act of cannibalism is the major point of diversion between the colonized and the colonizers, at least in the minds of colonizers. From the opening chapters of the novel, Tommo views cannibalism as the defining trait of the Typees and their neighbors. He fears these supposed cannibals because they commit acts that he finds abhorrent. In all interactions with them, whether trekking through the woods or trading goods, Tommo cannot completely forget about the threat of cannibalism. The consumption of human flesh is a moral boundary that he cannot cross and that, through constant repetition, he uses to construct the ideological differences between Westerners and islanders, between himself and the others, between colonizers and the colonized. Cannibalism becomes the symbolic boundary between societies. Those who engage in it are, in Tommo’s view, in fundamental opposition to those who do not. Separate from the moral, religious, and ethical dimensions of cannibalism, the physical act itself symbolically divides societies into the known and the unknown. Cannibalism, therefore, functions as the symbolic foundation for the tensions between Tommo and the Typees and as the broader colonial expansion of Western forces in the South Pacific.
Although he fears cannibals, Tommo spends four months with the Typees. During most of this time, they do not come close to eating human flesh. When Toby accuses the Typees of feeding him meat from a baby, Tommo assures him that they are merely eating pork. This experience of relative peace prompts Tommo to reflect on his preconceptions about Polynesian culture. For many years, his definitional understanding of these people was that they ate human flesh. When he is among them and they do not practice cannibalism, he reconsiders his assumptions and attempts to understand them on another level. This is evident in how he reflects on the act of cannibalism and its attendant violence. Tommo compares the violence of cannibalism to the many violent means of execution in European cultures. Westerners unfairly dismiss Polynesian cannibals as savage brutes when Europeans are just as violent. Cannibalism becomes a pivot around which Tommo reflects on his racist assumptions about foreign cultures.
After a skirmish with the neighboring Happars, the Typees kill and then ritualistically consume their enemies. They seem aware that Tommo will disapprove of this act, so they try to divert his attention from their cannibalism. However, Tommo uncovers the truth and is horrified. The tension between him and his hosts, in this moment, symbolizes the tension between cultures. The Typees have seemingly practiced cannibalism for a long time yet are aware that Westerners like Tommo disapprove of it. Their desire to hide it from Tommo illustrates the extent to which they are learning about Western social expectations at the same time that Tommo is learning about Typee culture. The novel’s depiction of cannibalism shows that cultural exchange and expectation is bilateral.
In the Typee village, Tommo is shown the various sites of religious or spiritual significance. One of the most important places is the Ti, a large hut that is separate from the rest of the community. Many rules govern who is permitted to enter and remain at the Ti. Women, for example, are not allowed. Since Tommo is a man, he is allowed to enter. Once inside, he discovers that the events at the Ti are not necessarily spiritual or religious. Rather, the men sit around, smoke their tobacco pipes, and entertain one another with stories and anecdotes. Little of significance takes place at the Ti, but it illustrates the cultural parameters of Typee society, suggesting that the culture is patriarchal. The Ti symbolizes this patriarchal delineation, which is evident because women are excluded from day-to-day activities while men are permitted to go where they please. Rules, such as those governing who is permitted to visit the Ti, symbolize the cultural contours of Typee society. Thus, the Ti represents the culture’s predeterminations and expectations, physically manifesting how the culture expresses its biases.
A common refrain that Tommo hears around the Ti is the word “taboo.” This word appears throughout the novel in numerous different ways. With regard to the Ti, the word taboo expresses regulation of behavior at a site of cultural significance. The Typees accuse anyone who deviates from cultural expectations of being taboo, leaping to their feet and throwing the word at the offender. If a woman visited the Ti, for example, or if Tommo performed a ritual at the Ti in a slightly incorrect manner, the men there would use the word taboo to police and correct this infraction. The use of the word taboo in and around the Ti illustrates how Typee society polices itself. The social expectations are ingrained in the people; typically, only Tommo acts in a taboo manner. Every other member of the community learned long ago what is taboo and what is not; their behavior has already been modified and corrected through communal deployment of the word taboo. At the Ti, Tommo’s taboo actions symbolize his adjustment to Typee society. In essence, he does what he thinks is right until someone accuses him of being taboo. His visits to the Ti become symbolic of his integration into Typee culture, as the accusations of taboo gradually modify his behavior until he acts as though he knows the rules. Tommo never learns the rules of the Ti, but through the constant refrain of taboo he learns how to act there. The Ti thus becomes a metaphor for his broader integration into Typee culture through trial and error.
At the end of his stay with the Typees, Tommo is keen to learn more about their religion. Since he has only a vague grasp of the language, the more abstract ideas are difficult to convey to him. He talks to his friends and neighbors in the village, but they are unable to inform him about the wider spiritual meaning of the Ti and other significant sites. As a result, Tommo’s understanding of Typee culture is devoid of abstract or spiritual meaning. To him, the Ti is just a hut where the men spend their days, separate from the women. He cannot understand the significance (if any) of the hut itself or the time they spend there. Therefore, Tommo’s portrayal of the Ti illustrates his inherent barriers to understanding Typee culture. Since he cannot comprehend the more profound elements of the language, he cannot fully understand the culture. The symbolism of Tommo’s portrayal of the Ti is, ironically, that he cannot understand the symbolism of the Ti as the Typees conceive of it.
When Tommo describes the people of the Marquesas Islands, he often mentions the local predilection for tattooing. Men and women of the local culture practice the art, though Tommo is unable to understand the full symbolic meaning of the individual tattoos. Furthermore, he considers many of the tattoos ugly and without any worth. Tommo thus views the tattoos (specifically those done in the local art styles) as a signifier between cultures. Most Westerners who arrive on ships are largely free of tattoos, while all the local people have them. To Tommo, the existence of these tattoos symbolizes involvement in the local culture more starkly than language, ethnicity, religion, or other, more abstract ideas. In the simplest way, Tommo sees the world in terms of those who have tattoos and those who do not. The people with tattoos are the locals, while those without tattoos, such as Tommo, are the Westerners.
For the Typee people (and many other South Pacific peoples whom the novel does not necessarily portray), tattoos mean something quite different. They are a fundamental part of the Typee culture, something that is shared among every member of the community. Tommo tries to discern the meaning of the tattoos: He notes that women only have tattoos in certain places, while men have tattoos in many places. He does not comprehend the full significance of the art, however, and does not particularly try. The difference in understanding of tattoos between Tommo and the Typees symbolizes his struggles to understand their culture. He speaks a little of their language and lives with them for four months, but some elements of the Typee culture remain inaccessible to him.
The Typee people encourage Tommo to receive a tattoo, but he refuses. Although the tattoo signifies, to some extent, an effort to integrate into the local culture, Tommo cannot overcome his inherent cultural biases. He is living with the Typees but still considers himself a Westerner. He can never overcome his view of tattoos as ugly, unnecessary, and meaningless. He runs away from the tattoo artist and refuses friends’ offers of tattoos in the Typee style. In his refusal, Tommo is symbolically rejecting a deeper connection with the Typee culture. He imagines himself returning to Europe with these tattoos and how they would alienate and ostracize him; Tommo believes that people in American and Europe would have the same attitude about the Typee tattoos that he does. His refusal to receive a tattoo is the symbolic shifting point in his relationship with the Typees. From this point on, his integration hits a barrier and goes no further. A short time later, he escapes, free of tattoos. Tommo never receives a Typee tattoo or fully comprehends the cultural significance of tattoos to the Typees. This symbolizes his ultimately failed efforts to understand Typee culture, which hit a barrier because of his refusal to abandon his Western preconceptions.
By Herman Melville