eLibrary
  • Home
  • Sources
  • Search
  • About

The Writing of Human Subjectivity in Moby Dick

Jing Liu
Scientific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (2026), Vol.8, No.1, pp.170-176
Published: January 10, 2026
DOI: 10.54691/gxqg0x78
PDF: Download Full Text PDF
Abstract

Based on Marx’s and Engels’ thoughts on human subjectivity, this study debates with the ecological studies of Moby Dick in the academy, discusses in depth the writing of human subjectivity in the novel, and presents the underlying logic of hunting and killing of whales by tracing back to human labor and analyzing its alienation. Exploring the writing of “human subjectivity” in Moby Dick can not only reveal Melville's in-depth insight into human behavior, but also tap into the inherent problems of capitalist relations of production, provide a literary level of reflection for sorting out the relationship between human beings and nature and society, and highlight the importance of Moby Dick’s call to protect the environment by grasping human subjectivity, which highlights the significance of Moby Dick’s call to protect the environment by grasping human subjectivity.

Keywords: Moby Dick; Melville; Rebuttal of “Anthropocentrism”; Human Subjectivity; Alienation of Labor.
APA Citation: Jing Liu (2026). The Writing of Human Subjectivity in Moby Dick. Scientific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(1), 170-176. https://doi.org/10.54691/gxqg0x78

References

  1. Parker, H: Herman Melville: The Contemporary Reviews (Cambridge University Press, England 2009), p. 365.
  2. Ian, O. An Introduction to Fifty American Novels (Pan Books Ltds, England 1979), p. 79.
  3. Armstrong, P. What animals mean, in Moby-Dick, for example. Textual Practice, Vol.19(2005) No.1, p. 93-111.
  4. Krien, B. Melville’s Novel Mechanisms: Charting Anthropocene Systems in Moby-Dick. ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Vol. 28 (2021) No.4, p.1459-1480.
  5. Armstrong, Philip. Leviathan Is A Skein Of Networks": Translations Of Nature And Culture In Moby-Dick, The Johns Hopkins University Press. Vol. 7(2004) No. 4. p. 1039-1063.
  6. Guo Haiping, Vengeance, Indifference, and Concern the Ethical Interpretation of Man-Nature Relations in Moby-Dick, Journal of Cambridge Studies, Vol. 4, (2009) No. 4, P.136-146.
  7. Buell, Lawrance: The Environmental Imagination (Harvard University Press, The U.S.A. 1995), p. 4.
  8. Merville, H: Moby-Dick (Bantam Books, The U.S.A. 1981), p. 222, 457, 466, 174, 520, 129, 262, 272, 455, 469, 67, 79, 521.
  9. Nie Zhenzhao, From Anthropocentrism to Human Subjectivity: A Possible Solution to Ecological Crises,Foreign Literature Studies, Vol.42(2020) No. 1. P. 22-33. (In Chinese)
  10. Engels, F, Dialects of Nature(Progress Publishers, Russia 1972), p. 180, 170, 176.
  11. Marx, K. and Engels, F. The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto(Prometheus Books, The U.S.A. 1988), p. 76, 105, 76, 154, 105, 77-78, 154, 74.
  12. Dong Hongchuan. A Study of Anglo-American Modernist Poetry and Aesthetic Modernity(Science Press, China 2020), p. 231. (In Chinese)
  13. Ward, J. A. The Function of the Cetological Chapters in Moby-Dick. American Literature, Vol. 28 (1956) No. 2, p. 164-183.
  14. Rogers, B. J. Melville, Purchas, and Some Names for “Whale” in Moby Dick. American Speech, Vol.72, (1997)No.3, p. 332-336.
  15. Xu MeiHua, “American Whale Oil Lighting up the World”: Moby Dick and the Writing of Laissez-Faire Capitalist Economy, Foreign language and Literature, Vol. 39 (2023) No. 5, p.55- 64.(In Chinese)
  16. Dolin, Eric Jay. Leviathan: The history of whaling in America (WW Norton & Company, The U.S.A. 2008), p. 52-53.
© 2026 eLibrary · Stand on the shoulders of giants