3.06 Moby Dick
3.06 Moby Dick Questions: 1. The obsessed captain wants revenge on Moby Dick, or the great white whale because he caused the captain to lose his leg 2. The narrator of Moby Dick is Ishmael. The first line of the novel is “Call me Ishmael.” 3. One biblical allusion is that in the bible King Ahab goes against God and in Moby Dick, Captain Ahab goes against the great white whale. That can be viewed as God or the Devil. 4. For Captain Ahab, he sees Moby Dick as all that is evil in the universe, and believes he needs to be killed. For Starbuck, he has gone to sea “simply to hunt whales” he only wishes to kill the whale for oil, not for revenge for his captain. To Ishmael, Moby Dick is
“nature in all its wonder, beautiful yet terrifying.” 5. Melville chose to write about whaling because it was huge in the industry when he wrote Moby Dick. This was a significant industry because whale oil was the oil of commerce. 6. When Melville was 21, he did what most men did and sailed for the South Pacific. 7. When Melville was writing Moby Dick, he met an established writer known as Nathaniel Hawthorne. 8. The 4 harpooners of the Pequod each represented a different culture and race. It is sometimes called “A little democracy” because it’s coming from every side which would help them be politically significant. 9. At the end of the book Ahab continues to be obsessed with killing the white whale while Ishmael realizes himself as a “Catskill eagle” and that he must separate himself from captain Ahab and not follow his obsession. Also, the Pequod sinks and Captain Ahab is pulled off the boat and dies. Only Ishmael remains. 10. In the final years of Melville, he wrote 15 more books. He took a job as a customs inspector in New York. He was so forgotten that when he died, the New York Times got his name wrong.
Interview:
Ally Renee Post 1. Ahab, Moby Dick had already cost you a leg, was your obsession with him really worth losing your
“nature in all its wonder, beautiful yet terrifying.” 5. Melville chose to write about whaling because it was huge in the industry when he wrote Moby Dick. This was a significant industry because whale oil was the oil of commerce. 6. When Melville was 21, he did what most men did and sailed for the South Pacific. 7. When Melville was writing Moby Dick, he met an established writer known as Nathaniel Hawthorne. 8. The 4 harpooners of the Pequod each represented a different culture and race. It is sometimes called “A little democracy” because it’s coming from every side which would help them be politically significant. 9. At the end of the book Ahab continues to be obsessed with killing the white whale while Ishmael realizes himself as a “Catskill eagle” and that he must separate himself from captain Ahab and not follow his obsession. Also, the Pequod sinks and Captain Ahab is pulled off the boat and dies. Only Ishmael remains. 10. In the final years of Melville, he wrote 15 more books. He took a job as a customs inspector in New York. He was so forgotten that when he died, the New York Times got his name wrong.
Interview:
Ally Renee Post 1. Ahab, Moby Dick had already cost you a leg, was your obsession with him really worth losing your