Adventure, Pastoral, Quest
Want an adventure? Well Typee is it. With cannibal threats, soaring spears, bathing beauties, and dramatic landscapes, this book has everything you need. There is an inexact threat of danger around every corner, and Tommo—largely ignorant of the Typee life—often sees shadows where only light is present.
In chapters added in order to prove the book's "truthiness", the novel turns full-on pastoral, romanticizing the lush beauty of the valley and its inhabitants, "surrounded by all the luxurious provisions of nature, enjoyed an infinitely happier, though certainly a less intellectual existence than the self-complacent European" (17.5). In between close-calls and thwarted escapes, you can really get the vibe of a tropical vacation, accompanied by a pretty judge-y tour director.
This brings us to the "quest," which Typee indeed depicts. Tommo seeks not only freedom from his sailing contract, or the Typee people, but also his own limitations. And isn't discovering the nooks and crannies of The Self the greatest quest of all?