The Literature Book

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conducted by Ahab, the captain

of the whaling ship Pequod, as he

searches the seas for the gigantic

albino sperm whale known as

Moby Dick that has bitten off one

of his legs below the knee. Ahab,

“a grand, ungodly, god-like man,”

who stomps around the deck on his

prosthesis made from whale bone,

sends out a satanic charisma. At a

profound pyschological level he is

engaged in a battle with God, the

ineffable presence behind Moby

Dick’s “unreasoning mask”—

Ahab’s vision of the world being

one in which all objects represent

something unknown, inscrutable,

and malign. By striking at the whale,

he strikes at God, or that unknown

agent. The story of his obsession,

as the novel relates it, is also an

inquiry into the meaning of life and

death, with insights on subjects

from religion to madness.

Ahab’s violent craving for

revenge is tempered only by his

tender feelings, toward the end,

for the young black deckhand

named Pip, and by a short interlude

of nostalgia, when he drops a single

tear into the sea. Speaking to the

Pequod’s chief mate, Starbuck, of

his 40 years of oceanic solitude,

he thinks of his wife (“I widowed

that poor girl when I married her,

Starbuck”) and of his little boy.

These regrets are overwhelmed

by his hate-filled lust (two deadly

sins in one) for vengeance.

A nation afloat

The Pequod’s voyage, and even

the name of the ship itself, has

allegorical overtones: the Pequod

(or Pequot) was a Native American

tribe that was almost exterminated

MOBY-DICK

by the British Puritan settlers

during the 17th century. The story

therefore hints at the doom of

a civilization brought about by

unquenchable thirst for material

progress, imperial expansion, white

supremacy, and the exploitation of

nature. The ship may be seen as a

microcosm of the world, and of

America in particular; and since

Ahab’s obsession infects the whole

ship, a whole society is implicated.

The crew is a mixture of

races and creeds, reflecting the

universality of Melville’s vision.

Working together, the shipmates

are mutually dependent. Freedom

of movement and communication

takes place across the hierarchical

boundaries of status and command.

The giant albino whale that gives its name to Melville’s novel is

a vivid symbol of Ahab’s quest for vengeance. However, the animal

is interpreted by other characters in various ways, depending on

their education, class, and faith—or lack thereof.

Terrible,

unfeeling

nature

A blank

canvas, yet to

be fashioned

by man

A source

of glory

and profit

The mask of an

inscrutable God

Ahab’s madness

made flesh

A mythical

beast

The embodiment

of man’s

limitations

Evil incarnate

The persona of Ahab as a hate-filled,

obsessive sea captain is at first built

through secondhand information and

hearsay; Ahab only physically appears

more than 100 pages into the novel.

And of all these

things the Albino whale

was the symbol.

Moby-Dick

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