Life in the fore-top well
agreed with Billy Budd. There, when not actually engaged on the yards
yet higher aloft, the topmen, who as such had been picked out for
youth and activity, constituted an aerial club lounging at ease
against the smaller stun'sails rolled up into cushions, spinning
yarns like the lazy gods, and frequently amused with what was going
on in the busy world of the decks below. No wonder then that a young
fellow of Billy's disposition was well content in such society.
Giving no cause of offence to anybody, he was always alert at a call.
So in the merchant service it had been with him. But now such a
punctiliousness in duty was shown that his topmates would sometimes
good-naturedly laugh at him for it.
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Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Chapter 9
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Reading this passage, a person cannot help but notice how much description there fills it. The second sentence has eight prepositional phrases and a simile which makes it in the reader's mind either seem like it goes on for forever or that it is so detailed and insightful. Herman Melville tends to fill his reader's with excitement or bore them to sleep with his colorful words in his text. Personally, I enjoy the story of Billy Budd, but the description is almost too much for me. Billy is a young sailor who hardly says a word. His antagonist is the gunman who uses his words to make it seem like he likes Billy. Speaking in this book is considered something that can make you evil while hardly saying a word because you stutter can get you in trouble, but it can also mean you are a better person. Because the main character rarely mutters a word, Melville is forced to replace the dialogue with adjectives and adverbs.
~Alayna~
