Moby Dick Research Paper

Herman Melville had an interesting life, that came with many troubles and challenges. He was born on August 1st, 1819 to Allen and Maria Melvill of New York (Maxwell, D.E.S.). His family was a well-respected one, then their import business fell through and they moved to Albany, New York. Their finances were desperate. During this time they changed the spelling of their last name and added an e, to be spelled, Melville (Maxwell, D.E.S.). In 1835 Melville was already beginning to write, and while he was discovering writing, his family went bankrupt and moved to Lansingburgh.

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.

Progress is key to living life, but if one is advancing through life with the motivation of revenge, then, in actuality, he or she is truly regressing. Revenge is an extremely corruptive trait. It causes people to do uncharacteristic things that normally would not be done. The perception of right and wrong is blurred and one takes inadvertent actions that may cost friendships, possessions, and even lives. Revenge is often a major motivating factor in the characters that are in the works written during the Dark Romanticism period. One of the most celebrated and influential American authors in history, Herman Melville, was born on August 1, 1819; his reputation was not quite

     Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a book which can be read as a general metaphor for the battle between the evil powers of the Devil versus the divine powers of God and Jesus, both try to obtain the souls of mankind in order to assist in each other's destruction. In this metaphor, the Devil is shown through the person of Captain Ahab, God becomes nature, Jesus is seen as the White Whale, and the representation of mankind is the crew. The voyage of the Pequod, therefore, is a representation of a similar voyage of mankind on earth, until the death of Jesus, during the whole thing the influences of these three “supernatural forces” are connected. Thus, the basis of this idea is that

Melville was born on August 1, 1819, and he had no idea what he was going to go through in his life. Once he turned about six years old, he contracted scarlet fever, which caused permanent vision damage. His family had a lot of money, and that was because Melville had a wealthy merchant for a father. When Allan Melville, Herman’s father, tried to branch off into the

To fully understand Melville’s view on whiteness and race, one can look towards other literary authors and their personal descriptions of Herman Melville. Toni Morrison describes Melville as an “African Americanist…on white supremacist culture” (Levine 9-10). Because Melville did not believe in the supremacy of the white man, one can determine that Melville also did not believe the white man should be above all other races. Moby-Dick has been considered a “radically anti-racist text by several scholars (Andriano 141). D. H. Lawrence, after reading Moby-Dick, writes that Melville predicted the doom of the white man in America. “Melville knew. He knew his race was doomed. His white soul, doomed. He great white epoch, doomed. Himself doomed” (160). Lawrence supports his argument with the sinking of the Pequod because this ship belonged to Ahab, the white American man. The white man failed in the end and was killed by his own obsession with whiteness.

       Herman Melville was born in Manhattan on August 1, 1819. H was the third child of Allan and Maria Melville. His ancestors were Scottish settlers of New York. In 1826 Allan Melville wrote about his son saying '' Backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension...of a docile and amiable disposition''. Before he wrote novels and other things he worked as

A well-known author Herman Melville grew up with a very large family in New York; he was one of eight children (Merriman). The Melville family was very famous along with being well respected (Merriman). Herman’s father enjoyed telling stories to his children, from terror to sea life, along with adventure, there was never a dull moment in story time. In Melville’s story there is definitely a sense of adventure, from temples as large as a city, to the Woedlor Mountains of New England (Merriman). After his father’s passing Herman and his family moved from New York to the banks of the Hudson River. Giving Melville the peace and quiet needed to write several chapters and essays (Merriman) He continued to write to the very end of his life not limited to the above, but included short stories (Merriman). Moving back home he later began writing poetry.

Stubb is a man who loves to smoke his pipes and laugh in response to fear. His little opposition to going after Moby Dick shows how he believes in predestination and that all things in life are planned already, so he might as well make the most of them with a laugh and good smoke. This can be interpreted as a nervous reaction to what he knows will truly occur and the death that may ensue. He is afraid and the greater his fears become the more he smokes and frequently he laughs. This can be seen in the dream he has about Ahab kicking him and becoming a pyramid. His reaction when he awakes is to smoke off the anxiety and fear. He attempts to make his surroundings less fearful by interpreting them in different ways. He “presided over

Herman Melville has become a well-known classic novelist in today’s society, most popularly known for his novel Moby Dick. This book, taught in many high school classrooms, has been critiqued and analyzed in several ways, the characters and story line becoming familiar throughout academia. However, what many high school classrooms do not address is the sub-textual homosexual references made throughout the book. In fact, several books authored by Melville, once viewed upon closer inspection, can be read as a testament to the queer tendencies of the novelist. Much of the works produced by Melville focus specifically on the interactions between men and allude to the possible homosexual relationships between the characters. Although Melville

The Melville extraordinary legend with a remarkable life was born August 1st, 1819. His parents were Allen Melville, and Maria Gansevoort Melville. Melville was 3rd of 8 children. Melville and his brothers and sisters attendended the Columbia Preparatory school for a short period of time. Melville 's family were too poor to afford the schooling they sent their children to, and eventually moved to After his father died, Melville became ill of scarlet fever. After his illness, he was left permanently impaired. Shortly after, Melville and his brother Gansevoort were pulled from school to support their family. (“Herman Melville Biography”). Melville was forever embarrassed about his lack of formal education. He had only gone to school during his early years, Melville was thirteen years old when his father passed away, so Melville only had only eight years of formal education prior to his school amandomence.

There are many key themes and words in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. One of the more interesting words found repeatedly is the word surface. There are several ways to interpret this word; it is the veil under which the unknown resides, it is the dividing line between the limits of human knowledge and that which is unknowable, it is the barrier that protects the soul from falling below, and it is a finite form . The first and most easily recognized is the repeated use of the word, appearing twenty-one times in the text from chapter thirty-two to one hundred thirty-five. In each of these instances the word is used in the physical sense, the surface of the water or the substantive surface

It is not everyday that a man is able to write himself into history, only the greatest and most daring writers are able to break the threshold of humanity and ascend into the history books. Growing up with two of the most influential grandfathers who were both Revolutionary heroes, Herman Melville grew into a great writer. Bankruptcy and the loss of his father at age 12 had such a big impact on Herman that he was taken out of school and forced to work. He self-taught himself and briefly went back to school to study Engineering (Reiff 9-11). During his early 20s, Melville was unable to get a job in engineering. He faced economic hardships which influenced him to go on voyages as an escape from his problems. Sailing consisted of relaxing and romanticizing with beautiful islanders despite the horrors of military punishments he experienced (Reiff 13). From 1844 to 1857, Melville spent his years as a full time writer to gain prestige and money while supporting his family (American Experience). Melville became known for one of his novels, Moby Dick, which was dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Moby Dick is known as one of the Greatest American Novels because the story had an exciting plot, philosophical statements, many comparisons, and symbols making the novel very complex. The complexity of the literary writing symbolized romance, particularly the romance of the sea. The novel was based on the life of a sailor who experienced a tragic voyage and a white whale named Moby Dick.

Sailors, Navy men, and other sea faring people all have their share of superstitions relating to the ocean, including the belief in curses. Many sailors believed in certain oceanic animals either brought curses with them, or they themselves were the curse; the Albatross falls under this umbrella. They can, however, be seen as good luck, or bad, particularly the death of one can be seen as a curse. Bad luck comes in troves on the open ocean, and the most famous bout of bad luck belongs to Captain Ahab. Ahab’s obsession with the destruction of the white whale in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick represents one of many key elements of the book and certainly the books most well-known feature. However, many dismiss Ahab’s rage at the creature as the ravings and delusions of a madman seeking revenge. Ahab’s reasons are, in fact, far more complicated. Moby Dick represents Ahab’s loss of control over his actions. The moment that he lost his leg to the whale, Ahab lost control over his own actions: “Then, in darting at the monster, knife in hand, he had but given loose to a sudden, passionate, corporal animosity” (Melville 156). Ahab’s obsession with destroying Moby Dick only grew with time, and on several occasions Ahab would put his crew in danger even for a single piece of news on his whereabouts, let alone when they attempt to kill the animal, loudly declaring that he “fear[s] not thy epidemic…” (Melville 252). Ahab’s obsession deals with more than mere revenge. Everyone who comes

The crucial effects that influenced Herman Melville to write his famous novel, The Moby Dick. From here on, Herman Melville had many life experiences that gave him ideas to write a novel about this tragic experience he had heard before. This tragic experience was the main influence in his life to compose his famous novel, “The Moby Dick”. Speaking about this, Herman was impressed by the fact he heard about this tragic incident that occurred on November 20, 1820. In fact, the ship or American whaler where everything happened was named The Essex. The Essex was Herman’s main influence to write the novel due to the fact this novel is based on the real-life experiences Herman went through. Anyhow, Herman was not part of this incident even though he was stuttered and was shocked by this. Eventually, the crew and the captain, George Pollard Jr, were able to survive and later on return to Nantucket with the hope of finding another ship to captain. However, all of this