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Melville wrote his first novel, Typee, based on his experiences as a sailor. Melville directly unfolds his philosophy of civilization and nature in the novel. His notion of civilization and nature is a product of the contemporary circumstances on the American continent. And Melville’s recreation of the wilderness setting of the Pacific island is the production of American nostalgia for the disappearing wilderness. Melville’s perspective on wilderness and civilization throughout Typee has much to do with Thoreau’s philosophy. Thoreau wanted to preserve the wilderness, and his idea developed to disintegrate the hierarchical boundaries among humans. Melville’s sympathy for a cannibalistic tribe is in the same vein to Thoreau’s thoughts on civilization, nature, and race. It is true that Melville’s attitude toward the Typees is somewhat ambivalent. Melville’s view on the native is still prejudiced by keeping the Western standard. His description in the latter part of the novel strengthens his identity as a white man, and his narrow escape from the island is so dramatic that it represents his total disconnection with the “savage.” However, the value of Melville’s first novel with his philosophy of civilization and nature must not be overlooked, for it is the foundation of his great work, Moby-Dick, as well as the impressive character, Queequeg.
