Moby Dick, or the Whale

Description

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is said to be a strange, disturbing and at the same time beautiful novel, and it certainly is. Though the novel failed to raise public interest when it was first published in 1851, it was – and still is – considered to be one of the Great American Novels.

The story of Moby Dick and Captain Ahab is told in the novel by a sailor called Ishmael. The Captain became obsessed with hunting down the whale after the animal had destroyed the Captain’s previous ship and had injured the captain himself, severing one his legs under the knee. Ahab’s obsessive quest for the white whale is long and dangerous, claiming lots of lives and sacrifices and it is also unsuccessful. Captain Ahab’s ship is eventually destroyed by the whale and Captain Ahab himself becomes not only mentally and emotionally, but also physically attached to the creature, pursuing his quest till his last breath. Moby Dick is an incredibly dense text that opens up immense possibilities for interpretation, raising profound questions that have as many answers as there are readers. The novel can be read at many levels – it provides interesting and useful information about how whaling was done in Melville’s time as well as about what life was like on a whaling ship and how whale oil was extracted and preserved in liquid form; it also provides a detailed account about whale anatomy and lots of useful details on other marine life forms, but what is most striking about the book is its account of passion turned into obsession, of man’s struggle against forces much more powerful than himself.

Moby Dick is a complex and difficult read, but it is also highly entertaining and enjoyable, with its long descriptions that have nothing to do with the plot itself, with the suspense it generates and with its philosophical and theological implications.
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