Redburn: His First Voyage: Analysis of Major Characters
"Redburn: His First Voyage" is a novel that explores the coming-of-age journey of Wellingborough Redburn, a young American who leaves his family behind to embark on a maritime adventure from New York to Liverpool and back. Throughout his voyage, Redburn encounters various characters that shape his understanding of life at sea and the complexities of human experience. Among them is Harry Bolton, an Englishman who, despite his privileged background, struggles to fit in aboard the ship and whose pride leads to conflict over his meager wages. Captain Riga, the shrewd and tough master of the Highlander, serves as a stern authority figure, exemplifying the harsh realities of seafaring life as he dismisses Redburn without payment due to perceived failures. The narrative highlights themes of personal growth, the nature of joy and sorrow, and the challenges of defining one’s identity in a challenging environment. The interactions between these characters provide insight into the contrasting backgrounds and experiences that shape their lives at sea, presenting a rich tapestry of human emotions and relationships.
Redburn: His First Voyage: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Herman Melville
First published: 1849
Genre: Novel
Locale: New York, the Atlantic Ocean, and England
Plot: Bildungsroman
Time: Mid-nineteenth century
Wellingborough Redburn, a young American who leaves his widowed mother and his brothers at home on the Hudson River in New York to go to sea. He learns, during a voyage from New York to Liverpool and return, that a sailor's life is a good but rugged one, that each generation makes its own world, and that true joy and sorrow are components of the human condition.
Harry Bolton, a young English prodigal son of good family who becomes Redburn's friend during the voyage from Liverpool to New York. Bolton is a misfit aboard ship, thus belying the stories he tells of his voyages as a crew member on other vessels. His pride is so injured when the captain pays him a dollar and a half as wages at the voyage's end that he throws the money back on the captain's desk.
Captain Riga, the tough, shrewd master of the Highlander, Redburn's first ship. He pays Redburn three dollars a month for his work on the voyage, but when the ship returns to New York, he dismisses Redburn without a penny because he says Redburn had left the ship for a day at Liverpool and, furthermore, had lost tools overboard.