Moby Dick
or The Whale
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3.7 • 27 Ratings
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Publisher Description
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, first published in 1851. It is considered to be one of the Great American Novels. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab has one purpose on this voyage: to seek out Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg, which now drives Ahab to take revenge.
In Moby-Dick, Melville employs stylized language, symbolism, and metaphor to explore numerous complex themes. Through the journey of the main characters, the concepts of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God are all examined, as the main characters speculate upon their personal beliefs and their places in the universe. The narrator's reflections, along with his descriptions of a sailor's life aboard a whaling ship, are woven into the narrative along with Shakespearean literary devices, such as stage directions, extended soliloquies, and asides. The book portrays destructive obsession and monomania, as well as the assumption of anthropomorphism.
Customer Reviews
Moby Dick
I love it! It’s hard to understand but its fun.
Not the best book
What I liked about this book was the story of how Ishmael met this former cannibal, and together they sailed on a incredible voyage, all throughout the Pacific, the Indian, and the Atlantic oceans, from north to south. What I didn’t like about this book is their encounters with other ships. Adding all the descriptions of cultures, and whaling ships, definitely not needed. To me, I felt like the book was drawn out to that epic conclusion of Moby Dick sinking their ship. Another thing that I didn’t like was how they didn’t explain how the captain died, the only explain it by saying that he was thrown overboard, off the boat he was on. It’s good to read it once, but never again.