Herman Melville’s Short Story, ‘The Lightning-Rod Man’

Fear in a Flash: Melville exposes mercenary tactics in his 19th-century short story.

A forceful salesman and an ominous thunderstorm make for a fascinating story. Den Rozhnovsky/Shutterstock

Frequently, salesmen provoke a customer’s fears: “Get it, before it’s too late!” In doing so, they demand an immediate response to override the customer’s common sense. Herman Melville wrote about this fear tactic in his short story “The Lightning-Rod Man.” Moreover, he highlighted the condition necessary to overcome such demands.

Unideal Conditions

One night in the Acroceraunian hills, a man inside his house marvels at the storm raging outside. Thunder booms all around and brilliant lightning brightens the sky.

While contemplating the storm, he suddenly hears a knock on the door. “Who is this that chooses a time of thunder for making calls? And why don’t he, man-fashion, use the knocker, instead of making that doleful undertaker’s clatter?”

A storm heads toward a solitary cabin in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Shadowmeldphoto/CC BY-SA 4.0

Yet, if the time and manner of the visitor’s visit is foreboding, the visitor’s appearance proves far worse. He steps inside dripping with water and reveals a gloomy face.

In his hand, the stranger holds an odd walking stick. Its wooden staff is topped with a four foot copper rod that culminates in tripod-like prongs. With his staff and stormy appearance, he seems Zeus-like.

Nevertheless, the homeowner remains near the hearth and warm fire. The stranger frantically warns him that fireplaces are the most dangerous in a storm, since their heat and soot conduct lightning. The stranger demands that the homeowner come away from the hearth.

Undaunted by these warnings, the homeowner asks the stranger what his business is. “My special business,” the stranger says, “is to travel the country for orders for lightning-rods.” He then presents his odd walking stick as a perfect lightning-rod specimen.

Fear in a Flash

A lightning flash! The  lightning-rod man turns to the homeowner, urging him to buy the rod before it’s too late. Again, another flash and again a frantic offer.

Yet the homeowner remains relentless. He even challenges the salesman: “For one who would arm others with fearlessness, you seem unbeseemingly timorous yourself. Common men choose fair weather for their travels you choose thunder-storms.”

The  lightning-rod man brushes off these challenges and continues his frantic pleas and urgent sales. He tells the homeowner that, unless he stands in one specific spot in the cabin, he’s in grave danger. The homeowner must listen before it’s too late.

“Horses Frightened by the Thunderstorm,” between 1800 and 1830, by Carle Vernet. Oil on canvas. Musée Calvet, Avignon, France. (Copyright Musée Calvet-Avignon/DR)  

Through this story, Melville demonstrated the clever, manipulative effect that fear can have upon its victims. It usually trumps reason and leads to poor decisions.

Melville’s story also encourages the reader to summon courage, just like Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” When feeling challenged, Elizabeth says: “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”

Thus, Melville’s story encourages the reader to resist fearful overtures and cling to reason and wit. When the storm arrives, bravery must be the priority, for fear often comes in a flash with no substance at all.

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