When characters in The Confidence-Man meet up here and there on the ship, they nearly immediately fall into philosophical debates or semi-formal disputations. Real talk: you can't be part of those debates and disputations if you're not educated.
What's a disputation, by the way? Disputations were assignments schoolchildren earning a classical education would have to complete. They were basically argumentative essays that these kids would have to be prepared to recite on command. That's a very specific skill. And guess what? In this novel's world, once you've got that skill, you've entered at least one kind of old boy's club. Education is a class issue.
Melville also examines the most important aspect of education: the ability to change your nature through training. This is a thought as old as (and rooted in) humanism. In this novel, education is the way up, and it's the way forward.
Questions About Education
- Who is the most educated character? Who is the most intelligent?
- Do any other characters learn throughout the course of the novel? If so, how do they learn, and what do they learn?
- Does this novel consider education a right?
- What are some pitfalls of a bad education, as suggested in the text?
Chew on This
Melville doesn't value traditional education.
For Melville, education is necessary for morality to flourish.