Moby Dick Dualism

Published in 1851, the story of Moby-Dick is not just the tale of one mans search for control over nature, but also the story of friendship, alienation, fate and religion that become intertwined amidst the tragedy that occurs upon the doomed Pequod. The crew itself are an amalgamation of cultures, from the cannibal Queequeg, to Starbuck, "a native of Nantucket." The Pequod can thus be seen as a microcosm for immigrants and whaling within America. In Moby-Dick Herman Melville examines both the exploitation of whaling and the reality of being born outside of America.

Throughout his novel, Moby Dick, Herman Melville will often devote entire chapters to the thoughts and actions of specific characters. Two specific examples of this type of chapter are Chapter 36, The Quarter-Deck, and Chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale. The first of these chapters depicts Ahab addressing his crew for the first time in order to convince them to hunt down Moby Dick. The second offers insight to the fear that is brought upon by the mere mention of Moby Dick The significance and effectiveness of each of these chapters are enhanced by Melville’s use of rhetoric and style respectively.

Stories often crop up in the news about people following some crazy leader, usually concerning groups like cults, fanatics, or even fan bases that appear to blindly shadow and support their idol or superior. A casual observer will most likely look down on these groups, assuming that they could never be swayed like those people; but can one really resist so charismatic a leader? History has proven that the right person with a gift for persuasion can convince anyone to do something against their normal values. In Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, monomaniac Captain Ahab cajoles the crew of the Pequod into supporting his mission to through his incredible powers of persuasion. Obsessed with Moby Dick, a white sperm

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.

The whiteness that coats the whale represents to Ishmael all that is unnatural and frightening. It conveys meaning on the extremes. Either the whiteness conveys a lack of any meaning, or people are unable to comprehend its excess meaning. The whiteness of Moby Dick represents for different people different things. To Ahab, the lack of color on the whale represents his evil nature. To Ishmael, it represents an unnatural being. Ishmael failed to ever bring about scientifically the nature of the whale, so it is to him,

"Do human beings have free will or free choice and if not who or what shapes human destiny?" (McSweeney 9) Herman Melville utilizes Father Mapple's sermon in his nineteenth century epic novel Moby Dick, to illustrate the duality of mankind. Mortal man pursues his own singular interests with selfish intent; however, God has prevailing intentions, which are often beyond the comprehension of the individual. Melville expands and elaborates this theme throughout his epic work. The sermon is an omen for the dynamic action of the novel, which is revealed in Captain Ahab's megalomaniacal pursuit of the white whale. No person, ship or force of nature can sway Captain Ahab from his selfish ambition. He is willing to risk his crew, career, and even

Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819 in New York, New York. He favored many books and later in life wrote poetry. One of Melville's best novels is call Moby Dick, about a great white whale. He was honored as one of america's greatest writers after his death on September 28, 1891.

    Among the numerous themes and ideas that author Herman Melville expresses in Moby Dick, one of the less examined is the superiority of the primitive man to the modern man. As an undertone running through the entire book, one can see in Moby Dick the same admiration of the "noble savage" that is so prevalent in Melville's earlier tales of the simple and idyllic life of the cannibals, even though the focus has been shifted to the dangers of seeing things from only one point of view and to the struggle between good and evil.

In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, whiteness or the lack of whiteness plays a significant role. The whiteness of Ahab, Ishmael, and other sailors, and the lack of whiteness of Queequeg, and the whiteness of nonhuman components, like the whale and the ship, address the subject of race. Melville uses the motif of whiteness and the lack of whiteness to convey the theme that the white man’s reign in American is ultimately doomed.

Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick is about a man called Ishmael seeking a new life as a whaler and working under Ahab, a man who has dedicated himself to killing the whale Moby Dick after it ripped off his leg. Moby-Dick is a male-dominated novel focused on the male-dominated workforce of whaling. During the nineteenth century, women were not allowed to be whalers. Melville accurately depicts women not being allowed on a ship, and the only women in the book are minor characters. Even in marriage during the nineteenth century, women did not have any power and were supposed to be dependent on their husbands. However, Melville does not abandon the idea of feminine qualities and embeds various stereotypical feminine characteristics in his male characters. Melville abolishes the idea that believed feminine characteristics of the nineteenth century cannot be a part of male relationships through the “marriage” and interactions of Ishmael and Queequeg.

Herman Melville uses sea creatures and nature elements to demonstrate the transcendental view of God. Melville uses the concepts of color to illustrate white as the unknown fate, and as the whale’s tie to God. Melville shows the squid as a creature more terrifying than Moby Dick to represent the character Ahab’s madness and his fate. Melville describes the sharks as ferocious to illustrate them as an uncaring and vengeful God. Herman Melville uses the different qualities of the sea creatures to posit the ideas of fate, the unknown, and the power of

Can a whaling adventure provide insight into the shadows of fate and human nature? The white whale in Herman Melville’s, Moby Dick, is a dominant mark of human nature. The symbolism Moby Dick procures provides insight to the enigmatic decisions of Captain Ahab and his crew. Ahab’s pigeon-holes himself into believing his purpose for existence is a suicide mission to kill the whale; he is insistent that the whale represents everything wrong in the world. Melville’s reasoning for Ahab’s obsession with the whale is an analogy for seeking the meaning of existence. The motivations behind human behavior aren’t directly stated, however, Melville crafts the white whale as an allegory for vengeance, uncontrollable fate and perception of the natural world open to literal and figurative interpretation.

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.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is full of many symbols foreshadowing doom, but the one that stood out to me was the Pequod. The Pequod is the whaling ship and it helps provide a symbol of doom or failure by a couple things: Ahab directs the ship in an unorthodox way and doesn't use it for it’s main intended purpose, the way that the boat is decorated and portrayed in the painting at the Spouter Inn makes it seem dark and gloomy, and the place that the name of the boat doesn’t come from good history. All these contribute to the theme and help define the characters as the story goes on.

Moby Dick is an 18th century novel which is about a whaling journey by the protagonist Ishmael on board The Peuquod. Unfortunately, the novel fails to replicate its potential of an action packed whaling journey. Instead it is a tedious read due to its constant rambling of analogies to the whales and little relevance to the whaling journey, which is Melville’s main purpose for the novel. Hence the book will be an eyesore for future readers and is thus not encouraged even for the most avid whalers.