Moby ('s) Dick

Question 1

1.Plot of Moby Dick

Answer 1

-protagonist is the captain Ahab who sails the whaler called PEQUOD

-he wants revenge on a sperm whale, Moby Dick, that bit his leg off (he the revengeful kind ngl)

-different people make up the crew= STARBUCK first mate who is cautious and wise
QUEEQUEG= superstitious
PIP= cabin boy
ISHMAEL= narrator joins them before the departure of the ship

-story is based on the hunting of the whale = they see it and hunt it for 3 days

-The whale is injured and she gets mad and sinks the ship with its crew =) only Ismael survives to tell the story

Question 2

2. Can you describe the character of Ahab?

Answer 2

• he is the “villain” of the story who is so blinded by hatred that commits crazy things , like following a fucking whale into the ocean

-He is so blinded by hatred that he identifies the whale with all kind of evil in the world =) he sees the world as a mask with nothing but emptiness behind it

-towards the end he is not sure humans can control the tyranny of nature =) so he invokes fate to drive him on and end up killing his crew blinded by hatred

Question 3

3. Can you describe the character of Ishmael?

Answer 3

-he is the first person narrator( duh he was the only survivor )

-he searches for meaning ( idk life’s meaning I guess )

-Ahab is not only fighting the whale, but what hides behind it which is God (I guess meaning of life that’s what they mean )

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Question 4

4. What can the meaning of the whale be ?

Answer 4

-the whiteness of the whale is described as an absence of color which could signify the absence of meaning that the whale represent

• the whale embodies an active and impersonal force that men have to deal with

-could also represent man’s quest for reason for his existence ( that u have to find a meaning for everything, even if it ends up destroying u )

-the whale also symbolizes the powerful and mysterious forces of nature which are fascinating, but also destructive

-It is opposed to the idea of nature of the time where it was seen as an object that could be used for economic and industrial reasons ( aka oil of whales, meat etc)

Question 5

5. What is Melville’s style ?

Answer 5

he uses various registers from everyday speech to highly figurative language.

dramatic techniques like asides and soliloquies