Billy Budd
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were perfect. They were innocent and ignorant, yet
perfect, so they were allowed to abide in the presence of God. Once they partook of the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, however, they immediately became unclean as well as
mortal. In Billy Budd, the author, Herman Melville, presents a question that stems directly from
this original sin of our first parents: Is it better to be innocent and ignorant, but good and
righteous, or is it better to be experienced and knowledgeable? I believe that through this book,
Melville is telling us that we need to strike some kind of balance between these two ideas; we
need to have morality and virtue; we need to be in the world, but not of the world.
To illustrate his theme, Melville uses a few characters who are all very different, the most
important of which is Billy Budd. Billy is the focal point of the book and the single person whom
we are meant to learn the most from. On......
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