When Billy is forced to leave this ship and says "good-bye to you too, old Rights-of-Man," he bids farewell to his own personal rights, which have been trumped by the navy. The Rights-of-Man, then, can be seen as symbolizing the importance of individual rights. Paine's book thus affirms the rights of individuals over the interests of society at large. Paine's book, which played an influential role in pushing the American colonies toward the American Revolution, essentially argues that political revolution is justified when a government fails to protect individual rights. He is originally a sailor on the Rights-of-Man, which the narrator notes takes its name from a book by Thomas Paine. The names of both of the ships Billy serves on are significant.
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