Preview

Moby Big Dick

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
368 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Moby Big Dick
Moby Dick - Lessons Learned

There is much to be learned from the theme of the novel Moby-Dick. As in any book, there is a message or a sort of subliminal "moral of the story" type lesson you can learn from Moby-Dick.

The novel, Moby-Dick, can teach you many things if you can remain focused long enough. However, the most prominent lesson that can be learned from the work is not that complicated and rather apparent. This lesson can be summed up in one sentence; don't become to focused and obsessed with one goal to the point that you exclude the more important things in life. This lesson is represented with Ahab's peculiar obsession with hunting and killing a whale. By setting this as his most significant goal in life, he begins to ignore more important things such as the lives of his crewmen, and eventually his own life. This mistake wound Ahab up dead. Although the novel isn't trying to say that if you over obsess with a matter or issue in your life that you will die, it's simply trying to say that if you put minor self-centered goals before what's most important, you will more than likely regret it. This lesson is very true, and can be related to real life instances when compared to examples such as government dictatorships or social relationships. For instance, many dictatorships are lead by one person with overwhelming power over his or her nation. This, in most cases, ends up with a greedy and uncontrollable leader who leads their country to certain downfall. Also, on a much more common scale, some relationships can symbolize this lesson. For example, say one person is very much so attracted to another. If this person were to become so attracted to their "significant other" that they put aside more important matters, such as their job or academics, they would more than likely regret it if it were to overtake their life to the point where they become depressed, or in Ahab's case insane. This is the lesson that Melville was

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1. In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what? The captain wants revenge again Moby Dick who is a great white whale that took the captain’s leg.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale during a journey around the world. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael, a sailor on the Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea. He also doesn’t want to be in an important position, such as captain or cook, because then he’d have responsibilities, and that would really get him down to work and be able to have things to fill up his schedule during the day. Ishmael says that being a lowly sailor and getting ordered around does take some getting used to. He hadn’t really packed many things for his voyage just a few carpetbags and clothes. When he had entered the spouter inn he looked around being amazed about…

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eng 3 Moby Dick

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. In this video, we immediately learn of an obsessed captain who wants revenge. Why does he want revenge and against whom or what? Th2e obsessed captain wants revenge because he lost his leg to the Great Moby Dick,…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This lesson is taught through the story of Kira, the protagonist in Gathering Blue. She lives in a town which is struggling to survive after a worldwide catastrophe. People from the town are characterized as greedy, angry, and profoundly selfish individuals. Kira is born with a twisted leg, and, for this reason, she is considered useless by the villagers. After Kira’s mom, Katerina, dies, she gets dragged like other sick and dying villagers to the Field of the Living. Kira has to watch and guard her mother’s body for four days until the spirit leaves the body. After Kira comes back from the field to the town, her house gets burned down along with all of her possessions. However, she does not lose her determination and is ready “... to rebuild…

    • 208 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today every person has a reason for why they achieve and fail at their struggles. For instance, in Moby Dick, Ahab’s struggle is to conquer and kill Moby Dick. His madness and hatred drives him to continue and to complete this impossible task. Herman Melville expresses Ahab’s madness in the quote, "Aye, aye! and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up. And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out” (36.32). Ahab is driven insane to overcome his great struggle and to him the whale is his fatal flaw. What I strive for is to get accepted into Arizona State University Honors College, Barrett.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Moby GCSE essay

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Moby is a DJ, singer-songwriter and performer from New York. He was born in the USA in 1965. He plays keyboard, guitar, bass guitar and drums. He has written popular dance music tracks which uses sample music from other songs. ‘Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?’ was a single from Moby's dance music album Play in 1999. Club dance music is technology-based with the DJ playing an important role in mixing and presenting tracks. It is made up of four-to-the-floor rhythms, samples and loops, links to the club scene and layered textures.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story Moby Dick, and in the Blackfish movie trailer there are parts about hunting whales and either keeping them in captivity or killing them. In these selections there are explanations to go along with what both of the people think as to what they’re going to do when they capture the whales.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Moby Dick Passage Analysis

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The story of the Essex’s begins in an innkeeper's house. This is where the great journey will start and then end it. In one night the story of Moby Dick will be told, from the great adventures, to its turmoils, to the never ending pain but in the end truth will rings out.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lost Thing is the story of a curious boy who discovers a gigantic, red, machine-like animal that appears to be lost. The boy pities this “lost thing” and therefore, decides that it is his personal responsibility to attempt to find out where this creature belongs. Shaun Tan wrote this book primarily to entertain and amuse his audience; however, he also included various controversial comments on the power of bureaucracy and various other social concerns. Although, the simple sentences and an even simplistic storyline suggest this book is set for the older primary aged children, however, the complex issues and concerns raised by the book allude to the fact that it can also be read by the adult audience.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Honey Pot Vs Frogs

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page

    I think the theme of the two stories "The Flies and the Honey Pot" and "The Frogs and the Well" by Aesop is, You should always think before you act, or you will have to deal with outcome you chose. In the poem "The Flies and the Honey Pot" it talks about how an animal that is driven by greed, acts without thinking and dies a horrible death because of it. In the article it says “With many a twitch and pull in vain they gasped to get away again, and died in aromatic pain” (Aesop). This shows that the flies died because, they were greedy with the honey and got stuck when they were eating it. In conclusion, you should think about what you are doing, and also think about what the consequences could be, and if the bad ones out way the good…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Symbolism In Moby Dick

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through the symbol of the wind as a microcosm for the natural world and Ahab’s interaction with the wind, Herman Melville argues that human will will never been able to subvert the natural world long term, and short term attempts will be at the cost of the individual. Throughout Moby Dick, Melville characterizes Ahab as ambitious and charismatic, a leader who constantly internally and externally compares himself to a god. The wind acts as a symbol, an object that represents a greater intangible motif, for the natural world. Through Ahab’s monologue about his interactions with the wind, his own helplessness within the natural world becomes evident. Ahab begins by stating “Were [he] the wind, [he]’d blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world” (Melville, 337),…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Through his novel Moby Dick, it is obvious that during his life Herman Melville experienced conflicts in his religious beliefs, an understandable outcome stemming from the intellectual background of the nineteenth century. There existed during Melville’s time, a contradiction between the Calvinist theory of predestination, with its idea of inborn immorality and original sin, and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s concept of Transcendentalism, which emphasized the idea of inherent goodness and self-reliance. Critics have long debated Melville’s shared beliefs with Emerson and Transcendentalism and his faithfulness to the Calvinist religion. Moby Dick reflects the conflict between Calvinism and Transcendentalism as, through the characters and the biblical…

    • 1817 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Chapter 73, “Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale” of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”, Captain Ahab decides that he wants to catch and kill a Right Whale. He believes that if you have a Right Whale head and a Sperm Whale head dragging of the back of the ship, then good luck will come. In this chapter, Ahab reveals more of his desperation to kill Moby Dick. Ahab feels like he has to kill Moby Dick in order to put his soul at peace. This is where philosopher Immanuel Kant plays in. Kant believes that knowledge is innate, but also is gained through experience. He also believes a person is good or bad based on their motivation and reasoning for action. Kant does not believe that actions make someone a good person, but their devotion to morality…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Lord of the flies taught me a lot on how human beings will act under pressure. In the book lord of the flies young boys were killing and harming each other. Human beings are suppose to help one another and stay together. But we learn how to act from watching people and reading books about how other people reacted to certain situation and they ended bad. So the way we are is not natural to us under hard situation and so we have to learn to do thing and learn how to cope with things by watching other people by how they do it or learn on our on. The way we feel comes from nurture because we have to learn how to feel when we are alone or how to feel when we're sad and if you are taught to love then you'll teach your self happiness and sadness.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Take This Fish and Look at it*” by Samuel H. Scudder is the most compelling essay for this week’s reading assignment because the author wrote in an organized, laughable tone; therefore, allowing its audience to perceive the lesson as the professor intended it to be learned. Likewise, Scudder used three different apparent modes in his essay, these include: comparison / contrast, narrative, and description. I particularly liked this essay because it relates to the great significance that in every scenario, even writing, that things can be overlooked and need to be re-examined to find better, more sufficient details. Scudder also uses humor throughout his narrative, which compared to some essays, is quite enjoyable. Overall, every individual…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays