Moby Dick Essay, Research Paper

English 12 JMZ

Moby Dick

By Herman Melville

The Characters and Plot

There are legion characters in Moby Dick, but merely a few of them

hold any impact on the narrative. A common crewman named Ishmael is the

storyteller. The book, nevertheless, focuses on Captain Ahab, the one-legged

commanding officer of the whaling ship Pequod. Ahab has sworn to kill the

mammoth giant Moby Dick, who took away his leg. Starbuck is the

first mate of the Pequod. Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo are the

three harpooneers.

The narrative begins with Ishmael going restless. He decides to travel

out to sea on a whaling ship. In the port of New Bedford, he meets

and portions a room with a harpooneer named Queequeg. The two of them

become close friends, and agree to transport out together.

The twenty-four hours after they reach Nantucket, Ishmael begins seeking for a

whaling ship fixing to go forth seaport. Out of three ships ready to

leave, he chooses the Pequod. The proprietors of the ship, Captains Peleg

and Bildad are excited to hear of Queequeg from Ishmael and lief

allow him fall in the crew. They are told the captain of the ship is

named Ahab. Peleg and Bildad say that he is a good adult male, but because

of some unusual unwellness, he is confined to his cabin.

On Christmas twenty-four hours, and with Ahab still in his cabin, the Pequod sets

canvas in the Atlantic. As the conditions begins to warm up ( several

months after go forthing port ) , Ahab is eventually seen on deck. The

strangest thing about Ahab is his leg. Alternatively of flesh and bone, he

has a white tusk nog leg.

As the hebdomads wear on, Ahab starts to go friendlier. One twenty-four hours, he

calls the crew before him. He tells them that the exclusive mission of

the Pequod is to kill Moby Dick. Moby Dick is a mammoth sperm giant

with a crooked jaw and a distorted brow. He has ne’er been

defeated, and has attacked and done for full ships. Ahab admits he

hatreds Moby Dick for taking his leg off, and wants retaliation. The crew

agree to this challenge, and swear to run him down. The lone who is

non excited about runing down Moby Dick is first-mate Starbuck.

For many months, the Pequod canvass South, through the Atlantic,

around the Cape of Good Hope ( the southern tip of Africa ) , and into

the Indian Ocean. Along the manner, they kill and drain the spermaceti

oil from every sperm giant they encounter. Each clip they meet

another ship, Ahab begins the conversation with? Hast seen the White

Whale? ? .

Finally, after come ining the Nipponese sea, the Pequod encounters a

whaling ship named the Enderby. The Enderby? s captain had merely

late lost his arm to Moby Dick. Ahab becomes so excited at the

intelligence that he breaks his tusk leg. The ship? s carpenter builds him a

new one.

Once making the Waterss around the equator, the Pequod meets

another whaling ship, the Rachel. They had seen Moby Dick, and had

become separated from one of the whaling boats during the conflict.

Ahab refuses to assist them look for the losing work forces.

At last, Moby Dick is spotted by Ahab. In the first twenty-four hours of

combat, the giant is harpooned many times, but flights after

nailing Ahab? s boat. On the 2nd twenty-four hours, the giant is harpooned

once more, but still escapes. On the 3rd twenty-four hours, Ahab? s harpoon Pierces

the giant, but the rope catches him by the cervix and Moby Dick retarding force

him to the underside of the sea. An angry Moby Dick random-access memory and sinks the

Pequod. Merely Ishmael survives, and he is rescued by the Rachel.

My Response

Moby Dick was non the novel I expected. I was under the feeling

that it would be about seafaring and the whale Moby Dick. Alternatively,

Moby Dick is a narrative about Captain Ahab? s compulsion. There is really

little in the narrative about the retaliation itself, merely about Ahab? s

possession. Out of 465 pages, merely forty-two of them cover with the

existent conflict between Ahab and Moby Dick.

The fresh topographic points really small accent on existent navigation. Ishmael

ne’er even stairss on a boat until page 74. Even when the

ship eventually leaves port, the reference of anything affecting sailing

or the life of crewmans is kept to an absolute lower limit.

There is, nevertheless, plentifulness of accent is on whaling, the anatomy of

giants, and their behaviour. The book goes into great item

depicting the whalers of Nantucket, and gives in-depth accounts

of the different types of giants, citing several outside beginnings in

the procedure. The storyteller mentions the amazing size of the sperm

giant, and how few books even try to depict it. He besides shows

great regard for people who go whaling, and describes the

chumminess that forms between them. This is an raging

incompatibility in the novel, since Ishmael ( the storyteller ) tells the

reader that he has ne’er been on a whaling ship before, and has ne’er

seen a unrecorded giant.

The first 23 chapters focus on Ishmael? s ideas and

actions. He introduces the reader to whaling and describes the

Pequod. After the ship Se

T canvas, he seems to disappear from the narrative.

At certain intervals, nevertheless, he plays minor functions, and it is

Ishmael that survives to state the narrative.

From chapter 24 onward, the novel is about wholly

about Ahab runing for Moby Dick. He has the blacksmith concept a

particular harpoon, made from the finest Fe, and soaked in the blood

of the three harpooneers. The forging of the harpoon is slightly

ironic, since the rope attached to that same harpoon is what retarding force

Ahab to the underside of the sea.

Despite Ahab? s evident lunacy, he still seemed able to ground

clearly. He carefully and methodically located the part of the sea

that Moby Dick is most likely to be in ( an about impossible undertaking,

sing the size of the Earth? s Oceans ) . When he foremost set canvas,

Ahab? s original program was to run merely Moby Dick and disregard other

giants. Once he realizes that his work forces will abandon him if they do

non do some kind of a net income piece at sea, he encourages them to

Hunt other giants and boosts the morale of the crew.

Ahab is decidedly the hero of Moby Dick, but he is a tragic hero.

Everyone in the novel who knew Ahab prior to losing his leg

considered him to be a great adult male, and one of the finest captains

of all time. After the loss of his leg during the first conflict with Moby

Dick, Ahab? s tragic defect appeared. He was obsessed. He wanted

retaliation, and nil else. Ahab considered Moby Dick to be the

incarnation of all that is evil. This possession is what sent the

Pequod halfway around the universe to the Pacific Ocean, where Ahab ( and

about everyone else on the Pequod ) died.

Ahab becomes focused on his one position of the giant. Ahab? s preceives

the giant as the incarnation of immorality. The giant? s white colour lends

an ambiguity to the image of the giant as immorality.

The great White Whale, Moby Dick, symbolizes many different things.

The first thing it represents is Ahab? s choler. The giant? s organic structure is

deformed, as is Ahab? s. The giant is driven by animalistic fury,

mirroring the choler in Ahab. Ahab thinks Moby Dick is a monster, but

it is truly Ahab who has become the monster. The whale serves as a

whipping boy for Ahab? s suffering being.

Another thing Moby Dick can stand for an unapproachable end. He is a

legendary giant, and the object of a wild and exciting pursuit through

three oceans. And, despite the attempts of the Pequod, they ne’er

defeated him. The giant was a end that no 1 could accomplish, but

people still destroyed themselves seeking.

One uneven thing about the novel is that despite all the hurting, decease

and devastation Moby Dick has caused, I do non see the giant to

be evil or monstrous. In fact, I was about happy to see the giant

bend on his huntsmans and destruct them. I can non to the full appreciate all

the feeling about giants that the novel efforts to make.

When Moby Dick was written, giants were thought of as dense beasts.

They were found in big adequate Numberss that people hunted them

infinitely, and ne’er worried about killing them all. Whaling was an

admired profession. Peoples needed whale oil for their lamps.

Spermaceti oil was used to do aroma and other cosmetics.

In today? s society, things are radically different. Giants are

thought to be merely as intelligent & # 8211 ; if non more intelligent & # 8211 ; than

worlds. Some scientists believe they have a complex linguistic communication,

something non mentioned in the book at all. Giants are an endangered

species, about hunted to extinction. In fact, many states have

outlawed whaling. Most people consider whaling to be barbarous and

inhumane. The Japanese are despised worldwide for go oning to run

them. Television plans portray them in a positive visible radiation. Whale

are mammals that nurse their immature and breathe air, merely like human

existences. They are non elephantine fish. Today? s kids are taught to

regard giants, and are taken to aquariums to be educated about them.

After the innovation of the electric visible radiation bulb, whale oil lamps were

no longer used. Modern decorative merchandises contain no spermaceti oil.

Their makers proudly make claims that no animate beings were harmed

while doing the cosmetics.

The existent? dense beasts? in the novel are non the giants, but the

whalers. They are uneducated about the true nature of their quarry.

In a sense, Moby Dick was merely demanding retaliation for the centuries

of hurting and decease world has inflicted on giants.

In the clip of Herman Mellville, adult male? s laterality over nature was

idealized. Today, we are taught to esteem and continue our

environment. This different frame of mention makes it really

hard to appreciate the symbolism in this novel. The chief focal point

of the novel, nevertheless, is on compulsion and its destructiveness.

One of the most of import elements in a great literary work is

catholicity. The chief thought of the novel ( destructive compulsion ) is

universal, even though the symbolism is non. Moby Dick was clearly a

great novel, although it was nil like what I expected.