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Billy Budd

Brandon Anderson


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......

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Approximate Word Count: 1302
Approximate Pages: 6 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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