Moby Dick

Moby Dick:one of the world’s greatest masterpieces It is an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, etc.

Major themes Alienation: existing on different levels: man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Whaling as a Metaphor for Life: Central to Moby-Dick is the idea that the Pequod's passage through the world's seas is in many ways like mankind's passage through life. “The world's a ship on its passage out,” Melville says. Man's Search For Knowledge: Ishmael wants to know things; for him the hunt for whales becomes a hunt for knowledge, and the lengthy discussions of whales and whaling an attempt to know a confusing universe.

Major themes Man's Search For Control Over Nature: Ahab represents the human desire to control the universe. It's a desire that has been around since people built the first fire or speared the first animal, but in Melville's view it is a particularly American desire, as Americans seek to tame a continent, the oceans, and even Fate.

Setting Setting—in mid-nineteenth century America. The story begins in Massachusetts in New Bedford and Nantucket Island, the chief centers of the American whaling industry. The chief settings of the novel become the vast and awesome Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Major characters Captain Ahab—The dark, brooding, one-legged captain of the ship, the Pequod, and the protagonist of the novel. His entire motivation in the book is to find and kill Moby Dick, the whale that has caused him to lose his leg. Ishmael—The narrator of the novel and the only sailor to survive from the Pequod. He tells the entire story and actively participates in the drama that unfolds on Captain Ahab‘s whaling ship.

Major characters Queequeg—A native of the Fiji islands and an expert harpooner. Despite his religion and customs, he is able to develop a bond with Ishmael. Queequeg accompanies Ishmael on the whaling voyage to the Pacific and dies when the ship sinks. Moby Dick—A giant and elusive white whale. He serves as Captain Ahab‘s antagonist in the novel. Ahab’s goal in life is to kill Moby Dick for having bitten off his leg.

Symbolic meaning of the names Ahab—the biblical Ahab worshipped false gods. Ishmael—the biblical connotation is wanderer and outcast.

symbols The Pequod with sailors from varied nationalities and alien lands—a symbol of microcosm of the world we are living in. The elusive 难捉摸的 white whale Moby Dick—a supreme spirit controlling the world and destinies; something that is unconquerable by man, suggesting that man cannot control or destroy everything. There are some things that are beyond human control.