The Seas in The Bible and (Early) Modern Literature—Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick and The Life of Pi

Abstract

The connotations of religion and literature of the Bible have been greatly expressed by the image of water which contains multiple meanings and fickle qualities. There are lots of forms of water, such as the drop, vapor, river and ocean, presented in the British and American literary works. Although different forms of water in different works are endowed with all kinds of implications due to the writers’ unique creative backgrounds and purposes, they are based on the implications or symbolic meanings of the water in the Bible. This paper, based on the implications of the image of water in the Bible, by horizontal contrast and longitudinal comparison, is going to analyze the image of water in Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick and The Life of Pi which contain similar psychology, religion concept and social problems with the Bible, and the symbolic meanings of image of water in (early) modern British and American literary works under the influence of the Bible is going to be explored.