{"id":"01KG8AJT56YCAEZPR2D7MQSJ5Y","cid":"bafkreifjk6pcg6do7za4exc3lorox5ksskp3ux3t2aknqsxpv3f4x6mice","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER\n## Overview\nThis is a chapter from the novel [Redburn: His First Voyage](arke:01KG8AJ9CVDS15WWAP46A9M4XP) by Herman Melville. The chapter, titled \"CHAPTER LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER,\" focuses on the character Jackson as he nears death during the homeward-bound passage of a ship. It is extracted from the file [redburn.txt](arke:01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF) and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is situated between [CHAPTER LIV. SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND _PIG-TAIL_](arke:01KG8AJT56X170QDPVSWQMHVCD) and [CHAPTER LVI. UNDER THE LEE OF THE LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND HARRY HOLD CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNION](arke:01KG8AJT5SDHGB7VJ4ZTE6NX8P) within the narrative of *Redburn*. The novel, found in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection, recounts the first voyage of the protagonist, Redburn.\n\n## Contents\nIn this chapter, the narrator describes Jackson's deteriorating health and increasing misanthropy. Jackson, confined to his bunk due to illness, becomes more tyrannical and outrageous in his treatment of the crew. The narrator compares Jackson to the Roman emperor Tiberius, noting similarities in their misanthropic nature and desire to bring others down with them. The chapter also includes reflections on wickedness, dignity, and historical canonization, with references to Milton's Satan and Napoleon.\n","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:10.494Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER","end_line":10955,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:38.127Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":10886,"text":"CHAPTER LV.\r\nDRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER\r\n\r\n\r\nThe closing allusion to Jackson in the chapter preceding, reminds me of\r\na circumstance—which, perhaps, should have been mentioned before—that\r\nafter we had been at sea about ten days, he pronounced himself too\r\nunwell to do duty, and accordingly went below to his bunk. And here,\r\nwith the exception of a few brief intervals of sunning himself in fine\r\nweather, he remained on his back, or seated cross-legged, during the\r\nremainder of the homeward-bound passage.\r\n\r\nBrooding there, in his infernal gloom, though nothing but a castaway\r\nsailor in canvas trowsers, this man was still a picture, worthy to be\r\npainted by the dark, moody hand of Salvator. In any of that master’s\r\nlowering sea-pieces, representing the desolate crags of Calabria, with\r\na midnight shipwreck in the distance, this Jackson’s would have been\r\nthe face to paint for the doomed vessel’s figurehead, seamed and\r\nblasted by lightning.\r\n\r\nThough the more sneaking and cowardly of my shipmates whispered among\r\nthemselves, that Jackson, sure of his wages, whether on duty or off,\r\nwas only feigning indisposition, nevertheless it was plain that, from\r\nhis excesses in Liverpool, the malady which had long fastened its fangs\r\nin his flesh, was now gnawing into his vitals.\r\n\r\nHis cheek became thinner and yellower, and the bones projected like\r\nthose of a skull. His snaky eyes rolled in red sockets; nor could he\r\nlift his hand without a violent tremor; while his racking cough many a\r\ntime startled us from sleep. Yet still in his tremulous grasp he swayed\r\nhis scepter, and ruled us all like a tyrant to the last.\r\n\r\nThe weaker and weaker he grew, the more outrageous became his treatment\r\nof the crew. The prospect of the speedy and unshunable death now before\r\nhim, seemed to exasperate his misanthropic soul into madness; and as if\r\nhe had indeed sold it to Satan, he seemed determined to die with a\r\ncurse between his teeth.\r\n\r\nI can never think of him, even now, reclining in his bunk, and with\r\nshort breaths panting out his maledictions, but I am reminded of that\r\nmisanthrope upon the throne of the world—the diabolical Tiberius at\r\nCaprese; who even in his self-exile, imbittered by bodily pangs, and\r\nunspeakable mental terrors only known to the damned on earth, yet did\r\nnot give over his blasphemies but endeavored to drag down with him to\r\nhis own perdition, all who came within the evil spell of his power. And\r\nthough Tiberius came in the succession of the Caesars, and though\r\nunmatchable Tacitus has embalmed his carrion, yet do I account this\r\nYankee Jackson full as dignified a personage as he, and as well\r\nmeriting his lofty gallows in history; even though he was a nameless\r\nvagabond without an epitaph, and none, but I, narrate what he was. For\r\nthere is no dignity in wickedness, whether in purple or rags; and hell\r\nis a democracy of devils, where all are equals. There, Nero howls side\r\nby side with his own malefactors. If Napoleon were truly but a martial\r\nmurderer, I pay him no more homage than I would a felon. Though\r\nMilton’s Satan dilutes our abhorrence with admiration, it is only\r\nbecause he is not a genuine being, but something altered from a genuine\r\noriginal. We gather not from the four gospels alone, any high-raised\r\nfancies concerning this Satan; we only know him from thence as the\r\npersonification of the essence of evil, which, who but pickpockets and\r\nburglars will admire? But this takes not from the merit of our\r\nhigh-priest of poetry; it only enhances it, that with such unmitigated\r\nevil for his material, he should build up his most goodly structure.\r\nBut in historically canonizing on earth the condemned below, and\r\nlifting up and lauding the illustrious damned, we do but make examples\r\nof wickedness; and call upon ambition to do some great iniquity, and be\r\nsure of fame.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER LV. DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’S CAREER"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ9CVDS15WWAP46A9M4XP","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJT56X170QDPVSWQMHVCD","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJT5SDHGB7VJ4ZTE6NX8P","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:43.782Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:11.765Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}