Moby Dick Essay

Submitted By ameyer2812
Words: 8134
Pages: 33
Open Document
Moby dick

Harpooneers[edit]

Queequeg
Main article: Queequeg

The harpooneers of the Pequod are all non-Christians from various parts of the world. Each serves on a mate's boat.

Queequeg hails from the fictional island of Rokovoko in the South Seas, inhabited by a cannibal tribe, and is the son of the chief of his tribe. Since leaving the island, he has become extremely skilled with the harpoon. He befriends Ishmael early in the novel, when they meet before leaving for Nantucket. He is described as existing in a state between civilized and savage. Queequeg is the harpooneer on Starbuck's boat, where Ishmael is also an oarsman. Queequeg is best friends with Ishmael in the story. He is prominent early in the novel, but later fades in significance, as does Ishmael.

Tashtego is described as a Gay Head (Wampanoag) Native American harpooneer. The personification of the hunter, he turns from hunting land animals to hunting whales. Tashtego is the harpooneer on Stubb's boat.

Daggoo is a tall (6' 5") African harpooneer from a coastal village with a noble bearing and grace. He is the harpooneer on Flask's boat.

Fedallah is the harpooneer on Ahab's boat. He is of Persian Zoroastrian ("Parsi") descent. He is described as having lived in China. At the time when the Pequod sets sail, Fedallah is hidden on board, and he later emerges with Ahab's boat's crew. Fedallah is referred to in the text as Ahab's "Dark Shadow". Ishmael calls him a "fire worshipper" and the crew speculates that he is a devil in man's disguise. He is the source of a variety of prophecies regarding Ahab and his hunt for Moby Dick.

Other notable characters[edit]

Pip (nicknamed "Pippin," but "Pip" for short) is a African-American youth said to be from Tolland County, Connecticut, although he is referred to as "Alabama Boy". He is "the most insignificant of the Pequod's crew". Because he is physically slight, he is made a ship-keeper, (a sailor who stays aboard the ship while its whaleboats go out). Ishmael contrasts him with the "dull and torpid in his intellects" — and paler and much older — steward Dough-Boy, describing Pip as "over tender-hearted" but "at bottom very bright, with that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his tribe". Ishmael goes so far as to chastise the reader: "Nor smile so, while I write that this little black was brilliant, for even blackness has its brilliancy; behold yon lustrous ebony, panelled in king's cabinets."[16]

The after-oarsman on Stubb's boat is injured, however, so Pip is temporarily reassigned to Stubb's whaleboat crew. The first time out, Pip jumps from the boat, causing Stubb and Tashtego to lose their already-harpooned whale. Tashtego and the rest of the crew are furious; Stubb chides him "officially" and "unofficially," even raising the specter of slavery: "a whale would sell for thirty times what you would, Pip, in Alabama." The next time a whale is sighted, Pip again jumps overboard and is left stranded in the "awful lonesomeness" of the sea while Stubb's and the others' boats are dragged along by their harpooned whales. By the time he is rescued, he has become (at least to the other sailors) "an idiot," "mad." Ishmael, however, thought Pip had a mystical experience: "So man's insanity is heaven's sense." Pip and his experience are crucial because they serve as foreshadowing, in Ishmael's words, "providing the sometimes madly merry and predestinated craft with a living and ever accompanying prophecy of whatever shattered sequel might prove her own." Pip's madness is full of poetry and eloquence; he is reminiscent of Tom in King Lear.[16] Ahab later sympathizes with Pip and takes the young boy under his wing.

Dough Boy is the pale, nervous steward of the ship. The Cook (Fleece), Blacksmith (Perth), and Carpenter of the ship are each highlighted in at least one chapter near the end of the book. Fleece, a very old, half-deaf African-American with bad knees, is presented in the
Show More

Related Documents: Moby Dick Essay

Moby Dick Essay

Moby-Dick The definition of madness is “mental delusion or the eccentric behavior arising from it.” In Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, the character Captain Ahab perfectly suits the definition of madness. After losing his leg to the great, white whale, Moby Dick, Ahab developed a potent desire to seek revenge and kill the whale for taking not only his leg, but his dignity and human rights. Ahab believes the whale is a manifestation of all that is malicious in world and obsesses over the thought…

Words 901 - Pages 4

Essay about Moby Dick

James Wiedeman Prof Rock Neelly ENG 251 American Lit. December 8, 2014 Moby Dick Movie Review I'm going to go out on a limb and say Moby Dick doesn't lend itself to film and TV adaptations. The tale is dramatic, it's action-packed, it's visual and it's exciting, but there's an awful lot in the original text that you have to leave out in order to film it coherently. Melville's book is encyclopedic. It tells you a lot about whales and whaling; the motivations of the whalers, the camaraderie on board…

Words 815 - Pages 4

Ishmael In Moby Dick

The story Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, tells the story of a “simple sailor” who goes to the ocean for money, exercise, and to catch the big white whale. Although Herman Melville describes Ishmael as a “simple sailor”, Ishmael is quite the opposite. In the first chapter Ishmael shows the reader that he is anything but simple. It can be inferred from his knowledge of history, religion, and his diction, that Ishmael is more than simple. If Ishmael were truly simple, then he would not imagine the…

Words 548 - Pages 3

Moby Dick Letter Essay

Moby Dick Letter Dear Captain Ahab, There have been rumors going around the ship that we are continuing to look for the Great White Whale, Moby Dick. You are respected greatly but this conflict is starting to get out of hand. We must discontinue our search and go back to land because you are starting to become obsessed with this hunt and that will lead to chaos, it is getting too dangerous for the crew, and you are doing this more for vengeance than for the job. To begin with, you were fine…

Words 641 - Pages 3

Moby Dick Rhetorical Analysis

repeats throughout Moby Dick. I focus on alliteration at the beginning, stating things like “groggy groan” and “frigid floor” to parallel Melville’s alliteration in description. I also inserted a few longer sentences (50+ words) in order to imitate those that are seen in Chapter 41 and 42 in Moby Dick, where Ishmael is describing the White Whale. (My sentence “As I walked across the frigid floors…” compared to Melville’s “Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick…” In Chapter 42)…

Words 224 - Pages 1

Moby Dick Ahab's Actions

Moby Dick is a story about a dangerous journey to catch and kill a whale. The protagonist Ahab pursue's this whale solely based on his vengeance. With this goal of capturing said whale Ahab and his crew go on the trip to find it. Ahab is desperate, his passion turned into an unhealthy obsession where his unethical decision making, contorted values, and mistaken symbolism of the whale lead him to his death. Moby Dick was written in 1851 by Herman Melville. Melville was a writer of novels and poetry…

Words 921 - Pages 4

Moby Dick Research Paper

The Epic is a genre that spans across time and culture. A few titles include from Dante’s Divine Comedy, to The Lord of the Rings, to The Epic of Sundiata . The influence of the Epic was intended as Melville wrote Moby Dick. Melville uses several choice elements of an Epic story to create a new American form of it to suit his time and his viewpoints. Although there are some variations among readers and critics on what defines a story as an “Epic” story, there is a general agreement on certain literary…

Words 1660 - Pages 7

Essay on moby dick analysis

Moby Dick Book Review 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…

Words 342 - Pages 2

Moby Dick And Hawthorne Analysis

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville to try and grasp the full meaning of our meaning, the gravity behind humanity, and the ineffable struggle to comprehend the significance of society and ourselves. Both Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Melville's Moby Dick attempt to solve this enigma of life and civilization, looking into the hearts and experiences of those who inhabit it; either aboard an eccentric whaling ship or on the outskirts of 18th century Boston. The two authors present in their works a means…

Words 2019 - Pages 9

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville Essay

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…

Words 1071 - Pages 5