his readers. Through having done this, he has provided a bridge between fantasy and reality.
             Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st 1819 to Allan Melville and Maria Gansevoort Melville. His father was a middle class merchant and his mother was born to a wealthy family. Melville's father had become bankrupt due to the depression that had taken place at the time. Soon after his bankruptcy, Allan Melville died in 1832. His father's death would greatly affect him and he would reflect upon it in his writing of Pierre.
             Following his father's death, Herman abandoned his position at the bank and moved to Pittsfield where his uncle had owned a farm. During winter of 1835, Melville leaves the farm to assist his brother in the fur business. He had served as a clerk and attended classes at the Albany Classical School and had earned a membership of the Albany Young Men's Association which was a club for reading and debating.
             By 1837, Herman's brother, Gansevoort had fallen into bankruptcy like his father. Herman was forced to move back to Pittsfield where he took a position as the schoolmaster where he had taught until Christmas when he had moved back to Albany. Upon his return, the Melville family had lost a significant amount of money and moved from Albany to the neighboring town of Lansingburgh. Melville began to take steps toward a career and would attend the Lansingburgh Academy for surveying and engineering. Melville would produce his first known composition for the Democratic Press and Lansignburgh Advertiser on May 4th and May 18th, 1839.
             Searching for a direction in life, Melville joins the crew of the St. Lawrence and sets sail on the adventure that would inspire some of his most celebrated writings. Four weeks later, the St. Lawrence anchored in Liverpool and would set sail again on August 13th for New York. The ship would dock in New York on October 1st.
             Upon his retu...