Journal Article

Commerce, Exchange and Interaction in \the Confidence-Man, his Masquerade\

2020

Overview

In The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), Herman Melville, grounding his work deeply in the American experience, problematises the inter-relation between charity (a metonymy for religion) and business (a signifier for capitalism) through this question that reveals an oxymoron: \"Then you have not always been in the charity business?\" Physical and verbal interactions of characters in The Confidence Man: His Masquerade occur on board of the steamboat Fidèle where almsgivers meet with charity seekers, the Confidence Man preaches confidence to either catch off guard the incredulous or exploit the empathy of credulous Christians, and his different masquerades transform the ship into a \"floating theatre\" engaging all passengers in a role play (Ronan Ludot- Vlasak 2003, 333). Therefore, concerning the tricks that the Confidence Man plays on his victims, commerce best describes the situations when he proposes to sell his services as an herb-doctor (chapters 16 and 17) or offers an investment opportunity as he makes others believe they are conducting an actual business transaction with the President of Black Rapids Coal Company (chapters 9 and 10). On the other hand, exchange describes all interactions involving benevolence, geniality or charity. For instance, the \"plump and pleasant person\" who exchanges twenty dollars with the Confidence Man for the satisfaction of a Christian-charity like contribution to the cause of the Widow and Orphan Asylum \"recently founded among the Seminoles\" (53). Through these interactions with the impostor, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade criticises what the text calls \"the pitch-penny game\" (19) as hypocritical form of charity and also questions the notion of confidence based on physical appearance and artefacts like a transfer book. Confidence and charity constitute two major themes that the novel deals with by analysing social relations under three closely related categories: commerce, exchange and interaction. Is the Black Rapids Coal Company transfer book a metaphor for the Bible? Is charity a purely merciful action or does it hide an economic investment? Are not charity and business mutually exclusive? In the following analysis, the first part will explore how, in the American context, charity and business present a religious discourse and a Wall Street spirit that compete with each other. It will also reveal the hypocrisy of the charity game. If the lie is part and partial of the truth, looking for authenticity is a \"wild goose chase.\" And finally, the third part will consider the narrator as the Confidence Man par excellence.

• Publisher: جامعة الجزائر 2 - كلية اللغة العربية وآدابها واللغات الشرقية
• Subject: الأعمال الخيرية / الروايات الأمريكية / العلاقات الاجتماعية / مفهوم "الثقة"