4. What is the significance of Billy’s last words? How does it connect to themes and symbolism in the text?
Billy’s last words hold a lot of significance. First of all, the words “God Bless Captain Vere” are symbolic of Billy’s dedication and belonging to the ship and its crew. He wants everyone to know that he still has respect for his captain, even on the verge of death. The words are also symbolic of Billy’s character and the kind, loving person that he has been the entire book. It shows us that Billy has always been respectful of his captain and role model, even though Vere is the man essentially responsible for Billy’s fate. Billy’s last words are also symbolic of his innocence, for many of the same reasons they are symbolic of his kind loving personality. It is his innocence that saves him from fearing death, and regretting any and all the decisions he has made before this point. His innocence is also what enables him to still respect and admire Captain Vere, even though he is pretty much responsible for Billy’s death.
8. What is the battle between the Bellipotent and the Athieste symbolic of? Who wins and why?
The battle between the Bellipotent and the Athieste is symbolic of the battle between the good (Athieste – atheist) and the bad Bellipotent (war ship). It is symbolic of the relationship between Billy and the others. Billy is good, while the others, including Captain Vere and Claggart are the bad. In the battle, the bad prevails over the good. Which is exactly what happens to Billy. The ironic part of all of this, is that Captain Vere dies because of this battle. He dies because of the good, which is what Billy represented throughout the novel. What makes it even more ironic, is that witnesses of his death say that his last words were “Billy Budd, Billy Budd”.
I chose the picture because I think it represents in our modern day knowledge, what everything that Claggart did, and everything that happened around Billy was to him. We know so little about the galaxy, and the billions and billions of stars that are part of it. It is unknown to us - about it, we are naive. This is exactly how Billy was throughout the entire novel - unsure, and naive.
http://www.utahskies.org/image_library/deepsky/messier/m031/M31-RobertGendler.jpg
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