The theory, paradigm, worldview (whatever it should be called) used for the purposes of this essay is the aforementioned “rhizome” of Deleuze and Guattari, from their daunting A Thousand Plateaus. This paradigm is known by many names, and while each incarnation has its variations, they all can find a root (or several!) in Melville’s record of the Galapagos. The elimination of hierarchical, “vertical” boundaries between organisms of different classification is used by Melville to promote a worldview that is reflected in many contemporary philosophical discourses. This mingling puts these organisms on a horizontal (or, as Deleuze and Guattari put it, rhizomatic) playing field, which promotes a more just treatment of these organisms and of the environment that humanity is, at most, an equal part of. Rather than conforming to this paradigm, Melville’s parody subverts such a hierarchical power structure that justifies humanity’s Machiavellian appropriation of the environment, in favor of a way of thinking that values all organisms as individuals, each with traits that mingle and play with classically imposed structures of identification.
Darwin’s taxonomical approach to classification of the island’s inhabitants is itself a constricting form of domination that the Western world utilizes to conquer and dominate these islands, supplanting its natural, nonhuman beauty with the ugly and restrictive language of humanity. These two criticisms are, of course, linked. Herman Melville’s sketches of the Galapagos Island, known as The Encantadas, while satirizing Darwin’s droll classification of the island’s inhabitants, also serve to subvert colonialist practices that use rationality as justification of the unfair domination of more “primitive” worlds.
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