Retribution
Abstract
This chapter examines retribution—the logic that harm must be answered with harm—through Batman comics and Melville’s Moby Dick . Both texts reveal how retributive thinking creates cycles of violence rather than resolution. Batman and Ahab pursue their obsessions with relentless logic that never resolves, only repeats. From nineteenth-century displacement of indigenous justice to today’s prison system, retribution has shaped American responses to harm, choosing disappearance over healing. These elaborate systems promise resolution but often deliver only repetition.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Law in Society and Culture
Criminal Justice and Penology
Literature: history
themes
analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 35–62
- Publication date
- 3 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter