Herman Melville's "Pierre" offers readers a world both driven by and struggling with its relationship to the past. Personal and ancestral stories dramatically influence the current interactions and psychology of the book's main characters, especially Pierre and Isabel. The link between present and past events appears in the motif of the sins of the father, Pierre Glendinning the Elder, passed down to the second generation. The past binds Pierre and Isabel in a close blood bond, but the illicit and ambiguous circumstances surrounding the alleged affair with Glendinning imbue the present with an atmosphere of mystery and decadence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The bizarre brother-sister affiliation alludes to a recurring proposition in the novel: namely, that a character's self-definition and his subsequent self-projection into his environment depend largely on the clarity of his perception of the past. Pierre, in particular, relies on family history to construct his basic personality and the face he shows to the world. He appropriates the legends of Glendinning as a guide to behavior. The only troubling aspect of Pierre's character at the beginning of the book: his mildly incestuous feelings towards his mother can be explained in part as a reaction to Pierre's alienation from his past. The loss of Pierre's father, a mature patriarch and cornerstone of Glendinning tradition, leaves Pierre lost in deep uncertainty. Suddenly, he has to act as both son and father. Role shifting clouds his definition of acceptable filial affection. In all other respects, Pierre appears to be a perfect representative of the Glendinning race, prompting Mrs. Glendinning to predict a bright future for her son, the "noble boy, of good family and noble mind." According to her, he is suitable for an eminent position. Considering the immense wealth of the Glendinning dynasty, it is not surprising that Pierre's memories of the past are largely tied to specific material artefacts, heirlooms passed down from generation to generation. From early childhood, Pierre was surrounded by the possessions of his grandfather, a celebrated major general of the Revolutionary War. Pierre drives his ancestor's antiquated phaeton, often tries on the old man's military jacket, and regularly contemplates his grandfather's portrait, prominently displayed at Saddle Meadows. These actions constitute Pierre's attempt to identify with this figure of epic proportions within the Glendinning family. Indeed, Pierre's mother furthers such comparisons, frequently alluding to her ancestor's martial exploits and often addressing Pierre in similarly lofty and gallant language. Clearly, young Pierre is raised to view his grandfather's mantle of nobility as his birthright; at this stage of his life it comes to him casually as he picks up the Major General's ancient silver-tipped staff. The painted image of his grandfather projects all the positive qualities that Pierre imagines in himself or hopes to emulate:Could Pierre ever look at his handsome military portrait without an infinite and sad desire to encounter his living appearance in real life? The majestic sweetness of this portrait had truly marvelous effects on every sensitive and generous-minded young observer. For them that portrait possessed the celestial persuasiveness of angelic language; a glorious gospel framed and hung on the wall. In this passage, Melville connects Pierre's thoughtful nature to the vigorous and spiritual traits exemplified by the ancestral figure,Christian model of kindness and charity, as well as a courageous soldier. Melville's selection of church-inspired terminology suggests that the portrait has an influence on Pierre not unlike that of a religious icon. As a devout worshiper who dedicates his life to Christ, Pierre seems determined to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Through the painted image, his family's story acquires the solemnity of a religious ideal, worthy of repetition and emulation. The novel places even greater emphasis on multiple portraits of Pierre's father: one in which he is a carefree bachelor, and another, in which he is a quieter, married man. Melville indicates that Pierre prefers the latter image. This partiality arises from the close link between image and memory. The postnuptial portrait more exactly resembles Pierre's childhood memory of his father's appearance and behavior. Although Pierre does not completely reject the bachelor portrait, it does not reflect the father figure he knew from birth until the age of twelve and, therefore, holds less truth for him. The postnuptial image, on the other hand, approaches the iconic status of the Major General's portrait in the Glendinning ancestor cult. Melville's language in describing the portrait of the father echoes the characterization of the elder patriarch's "kinder husband and gentler father." The later representation of Pierre's father seems to "correctly report in detail his features and above all their truest, most beautiful and noblest combined expression". Although not a great military hero like his grandfather, Pierre's father, whether through the natural aging process or a trick of the artist's brush, seems to have grown into his role as dignified head of the family, a pattern laid out for Pierre. . Once again, the visual arts act as an emotional and psychological stimulus for the young man, giving concrete meaning to Pierre's memories. Melville uses an architectural metaphor to suggest the result of an image transformed into a monument. With solid visual proof of his father's virtue, to Pierre's mind "his father's shrine seemed as spotless and still as new as his tomb of Arimathea." The reference to the tomb invites a comparison with Christ; although Pierre is semi-aware of the potential inconsistencies between the art and the living subject, the tomb image emphasizes the prevailing permanence of his family's historical constructs. Memory is intimately linked to Pierre's character throughout the book, and particularly in a visual context. Isabel's shocking revelation seriously challenges Pierre's memories of the past. Much of her torment is based on the fact that, aside from the evidence of her sweet face, Isabel can offer no visual evidence of her lineage. The many ambiguities have serious implications for Pierre's sense of place in the world. As a result, it moves further and further away from the Glendinning line. Pierre's loss of identity is strongly expressed in the scene where he meditates on his grandfather's bed, shortly after arriving at the Church of the Apostles. Melville's narrator, probing Pierre's thoughts, sighs, But ah, Pierre, when you go to that bed, how humiliating is the thought that your most extensive length does not measure the proud six feet four of your great father John of Gaunt ! Despite early reports Due to his extraordinary athleticism, Pierre cannot physically compare to his grandfather, much less conform to the high expectations imposed on him by his family's collective memory of the Glendinning lineage. The reference to the historical John of Gaunt, proud knight and progenitor of a royal lineage, underlines the elevation of Pierre's grandfather from a man to a myth: protector of the colonial frontier, founder of a, 1971.