Moby Dick, By John Steinbeck

At the end of the novel Ishmael is no longer the naïve man he once was, as he informs the reader, "a whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard"#. The beliefs he possesses at the point of his rescue by "The Rachel" seem reminiscent of transcendentalism, an idea that was prominent in 1836 and one that inspired not only Melville himself but also Henry Thoreau.

    One might say we are presented with two fish stories in looking at Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, a marlin in the former and a whale in the latter.  However, both of these animals are symbolic of the struggle their hunters face to find dignity and meaning in the face of a nihilistic universe in Hemingway and a fatalistic one in Melville.  While both men will be unable to conquer the forces of the universe against them, neither will either man be conquered by them because of their refusal to yield to these insurmountable forces.  However, Santiago gains a measure of peace and understanding about existence from his struggles, while Ahab leaves the

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Steinbecks novel, Of Mice and Men portrays the

What is dialogue? Dialogue is when characters speak to one another in a book, play, or movie. Dialogue is very important to many books, movies, and plays and Of Mice and Men is no exception. The things that characters say shape their personality in the story. On way dialogue serves a purpose in Of Mice and Men is it reveals more about the characters. Another way is it allows the reader to experience the action as the character is experiencing it. One last way dialogue affects a story is it generates an impression of reality.

Once a person becomes attached or obsessed to a specific person, place, or even an idea, it is extremely difficult to expel this obsession. Ishmael becomes attached to Moby Dick. He does not execute a single action or take a simple breathe without thinking of this whale. Ishmael’s obsession with this whale is to taken to such an extent that he is willing to venture through extreme obstacles out on the sea just to murder the whale that is responsible for his missing leg. As always, the power of nature overcomes the ignorance of man. Nature does what nature wants. No one gets to tell nature what to do, it is one of the only aspects of life we truly are incapable of controlling. When we hear a hurricane warning, and most sensible people will take precautions, those who do not,

The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now. He was ever

In Steinbeck’s ‘of mice and men’ set in 1930’s, both Crooks and Curley’s wife are defenseless victims of social prejudice which leads to their sadness and depression. Crooks, being a black man is discriminated and segregated towards by all the other ranchers “They play cards in there but I can’t play because I’m black- Crooks” whereas Curley’s wife being a woman is expected to stay at home and take care of the house “Why don't she get the hell back in the house where she belongs- Carlson”. Furthermore Steinbeck as well as the ranchers view Curley’s wife as “trouble” in Candy’s words and she is later referred as ‘jail-bait’ and ‘tramp’ by other men. Consequently both Crooks and Curleys wife choose to express their hurt in different ways: Crooks holes up in his room with his books in order to escape the harsh reality where he is treated as an outcast while Curley's wife does so by clamoring for attention and desperately trying to be noticed either by creating ‘trouble’ or flirting with the ranchers.

This is not the first time Ahab has spoken to himself as he often paranoidly talked to himself about what he would do if others tried to hurt him, then proceed to tell himself how crazy he is. These are Ahab’s last words. It’s funny how these are not only his last words, but the first time Ahab said anything with true feeling in the book. Though he may have not killed Moby Dick like he truly wanted, Ahab found the whale again and threw in a few last punches while cursing it and fate before his demise. I feel that, though Ahab did not kill Moby Dick, he was ready to die because he had closure since he found the whale again and was able to throw one final spear and give it his all. Following his death there was silence because the only

During the Great Depression, it was not uncommon to become morosely secluded while working. Men would go far away from their families in search of any jobs they could get, with only themselves to confide in; colleagues only filling in the void of friends and family partially. Naturally, John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, written during this period, would reflect this fact as a major aspect of the story. Loneliness would become the sinew of Of Mice and Men, manifested in some of the story’s main characters: Candy, Crooks, and Curley’s wife. These allusions to loneliness are found throughout the book, mimicking the rampant disease of isolation at the time.

A vengeful man, a native, and a man seeking enlightenment board a whaling vessel; this isn’t a joke, this is the United States of America throughout history and the members of the Pequod. Moby Dick is not just a tale about a whaling venture gone awry, it is a metaphor for what America was and is. The Pequod represents the country and government, while the 30 crew members (Melville 430; ch. 126) represents the United State citizens. This would have not been possible to consider in Melville’s time, but it is a true testament to literature being a living text. Melville wasn’t only writing about America in the 1800’s, he was writing about the natures of humanity, and the future of our society.

Stubb decides to give Old Fleece a lecture on religion after waking him to complain about his overcooked whale steak. Not only does Stubb ask Fleece to "preach" to the sharks who are making a considerable din eating the dead whale chained to the ship, but he compares Fleece's inability to "correctly" cook a whale steak to Fleece's un-Christian ways. This passage is an excellent example of the theme of the hypocrisy of religion in Moby Dick.

Analysis: Returning to his theme of respecting, even revering whales, Melville gives an image of opulence when he references creamy milk and marble in connection with the white whale. The trunk was made of marble, not flesh or any less expensive stone. The imagery here is purposefully placed to make the reader see Moby Dick as more then just a whale or a monster. He wants to show the white whale as something great and almost beautiful. Ishmael’s image of the whale, in all of its glory, is shared with his audience. This helps readers to understand the greatness this whale in particular commands.

While the topic of slavery is never discussed explicitly in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, racial disparities and Melville’s attitude towards them are portrayed both subliminally and prominently throughout the novel. By creating a parallel to the slave industry with the whaling industry, Melville is able to indirectly criticize the injustice of slavery. Moby Dick was published at a time where the country was on the brink of the Civil War and whaling and the slave trade were the most profitable industries. The narrator of the novel; Ishmael, openly mocked white and Christian supremacy in America. It can be understood by a modern reader that the novel entails a metaphor comparing slavery to the whaling industry and gives insight to Melville’s standpoint on racial inequalities. Throughout the entirety of the novel, the inhumane tactics of whaling is used as an extended metaphor of slavery and the pursuit, capture, and killing of runaway slaves to help readers understand the brutal and unethical nature of slavery.

In the novel, A Moby Dick, Pip is a young African American boy, who has almost no power on the Pequod. Pip only makes a handful of appearances in the novel, which leads the reader to ask: why does Melville include him in this novel? Pip normally serves as an entertainer for the crew and cleans up the ship. However, after being left in the ocean for hours, he forms a special bond with Ahab. Through their time spent together Pip positively affects Captain Ahab, which is why he is included in the novel.

Melville believes that mankind are the only truly divine beings in the universe and that they must all look to each other, and not God, for comfort and support. Queequeg and Ishmael’s relationship is a significant point in the story because it is such an ironic and strange friendship between and cannibalistic savage that has a good heart, and a philosophical white man like Ishmael looking to find his own truth at sea. Their relationship is so strong that they are inseparable until death and they represent Melville’s first argument of the true nature of man. In the cook’s sermon to the sharks, if the sharks are taken as an analogy of mankind, he is saying humans’ hearts all have a shark nature within them but if one governs that nature, then that person will become an angel like and pure. The cook after being ordered by Stubb to tell the sharks to stop their racket says that he doesn’t “blame [them] so much for;