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Moby Dick or White Whale. Ishmael, the narrator, announces his intent to
ship aboard a whaling vessel. He has made several voyages ...
... When Ahab encounters Moby Dick, “ The White Whale swam before him as a monomaniac
incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel ...
... On the day that Ahab threw his harpoon into the White Whale and Moby Dick ate his
leg, Ahab decided that the Great White Whale meant only one thing, evil. ...
... On the day that Ahab threw his harpoon into the White Whale and Moby Dick ate his
leg, Ahab decided that the Great White Whale meant only one thing, evil. ...
... "The Spirit of all Beauty, which ubiquitously possesses men of genius" (Melville
2261) is demonstrated in Moby-Dick as the white whale. ...
Submitted by Dragosani on August 28, 2005
Category: Book Reports
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Ishmael, the narrator, announces his intent to ship aboard a whaling vessel. He has made several voyages as a sailor but none as a whaler. He travels to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he stays in a whalers' inn. Since the inn is rather full, he has to share a bed with a harpooner from the South Pacific named Queequeg. At first repulsed by Queequeg's strange habits and shocking appearance, Ishmael eventually comes to appreciate the man's generosity and kind spirit, and the two decide to seek work on a whaling vessel together.
They take a ferry to Nantucket, the traditional capital of the whaling industry. There they secure work on the Pequod, a savage-looking ship adorned with the bones and teeth of sperm whales. Peleg and Bildad, the Pequod's Quaker owners, drive a hard bargain in terms of salary. They also mention the ship's mysterious captain, Ahab, who is still recovering from losing his leg in an encounter with a sperm whale on his last voyage.
The Pequod leaves Nantucket on a cold Christmas Day with a crew made up of men from many different countries and races. Soon the ship is in warmer waters, and Ahab makes his first appearance on deck, balancing gingerly on his false leg, which is made from a sperm whale's jaw. He announces his desire to pursue and kill Moby Dick, the legendary great white whale who took his leg, because he sees this whale as the embodiment of evil. Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the mast and declares that it will be the prize for the first man to sight the whale.
As the Pequod sails toward the southern tip of Africa, whales are sighted and unsuccessfully hunted. During the hunt, a group of men, none of whom anyone on the ship's crew has seen before on the voyage, emerges from the hold. The men's leader is an exotic-looking man named Fedallah. These men constitute Ahab's private harpoon crew, smuggled aboard in defiance of Bildad and Peleg. Ahab hopes that their skills and Fedallah's prophetic abilities will...
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