Streszczenie książki Redburn. Jego pierwsza podróż

The story in 11 parts

1. Key idea 1 · free to read

   Sea dreams grow from newspapers and a glass ship

   Redburn's wish to go to sea grows from childhood memories and dreams of foreign places. He grows up in a village on the Hudson River, short of money after his father's bankruptcy and death. He longs to be a traveler whom people stare at in the street.

   He reads old newspapers for the ship advertisements. A coppered brig bound for Bremen seems to him a poem, and every word suggests silks and sunburned captains. His father told of towering waves, and French engravings of warships hang in the dining room.

   The strongest spell is a glass ship called La Reine, kept under a glass case in the sitting room.

   The older narrator smiles at the boy while still loving him. A dream built from pictures leaves no room for hunger, cold or insult. Dreams of adventure are made from pictures, and the real voyage tests them.

2. 2

   A poor boy learns the cost of seeming rich

   Redburn leaves home on a cold, wet morning in his brother's gray shooting jacket, with his brother's gun in his hand.

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3. 3

   The ship teaches by insult, hunger and work

   On sailing day Redburn is faint with hunger when the chief mate renames him Buttons, after the big buttons on his jacket.

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4. 4

   The forecastle is ruled by a sick, bitter tyrant

   On the first night, a sailor wakes in terror in the forecastle, runs up the hatch shrieking, and jumps into the sea.

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5. 5

   A smiling captain is a stranger at sea

   Redburn thinks of Captain Riga as his last link with home.

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6. 6

   Fog, a wreck and a stowaway mark the crossing

   Redburn's first great test aloft comes in the middle watch.

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7. 7

   His father's old guidebook leads him astray in Liverpool

   Liverpool arrives with small shocks.

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8. 8

   Poverty beside the docks shames easy pity

   Redburn spends six weeks in Prince's Dock, and Melville describes the vast docks with real wonder.

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9. 9

   A charming friend leads him to London

   Harry Bolton enters the story at the boardinghouse.

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10. 10

    The homeward ship carries hope, hunger and music

    For the voyage home, the Highlander is made ready for about five hundred emigrants.

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11. 11

    A young voice, an older eye, and symbols of change

    The book is told by Redburn looking back, and Melville uses two voices.

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