Moby dick is a story of Character Ishmael bored of life on the land, get on a ship to hunt a great whale. The Captain (Ahab) is eager to hunt Moby Dick (the whale), he wants to revenge since his leg is bitten off by the whale. After multiple difficulties and disaster, the crews finally found Moby Dick’s trail. The ship is in contact with Moby Dick for 3 times, each time Captain Ahab and his crew failed, but he never give up. And finally Moby Dick destroyed “Pequod”. Killing everyone on the ship with Ishmael the only survivor.
The story of Moby Dick is about man fight against nature. Captain Ahab is a contradiction with multiple personalities. He violated the Christian commandment of "arrogance". He took "self" as the center, abandoned the mission of whaling to obtain whale oil, and he abandoned the safety of crew. In this sense, he was totally a tyrant. However, as far as he dared to fight against evil (seems to be in the writer’s mind: It said that Moby Dick killed a lot of people) and the symbol of power, he was also a symbol of human resistance to heroes. On the other hand, he is also a brave man who perseveres in exploring the mysteries of the universe. It can be seen that Ahab also embodies the multiple meanings of coexistence of good and evil and both harmers (killing whales) and victims(leg bitten of by Moby Dick). The symbolic meaning contained in this image is as complex, profound and difficult to grasp as Moby Dick. It is difficult for readers to find an absolute and only correct conclusion. This is a part where I really is amazed by the writer, it is just… so real. There isn’t just plain protagonist or antagonist, it is a mixture. The writer mixed the characteristic together without abnormal parts. It is just amazing.
Moby Dick also symbolizes the mysterious and unconquerable power of nature. The beluga whale is extremely powerful. It can control people's lives at will. One tumbling is enough to sink a ship to the bottom of the sea. The white of the beluga whale is also symbolic. It symbolizes the purity of human nature and nature. To fight the beluga whale is to fight against nature and fate, and the result will be doomed. People are small in front of nature, and they can never defeat the power of nature.
This book also is related to a serious problem of Whaling. The characters on the boat are all experts of hunting whales, also, in the history background, the character seems to like or even praise the act of whaling, there are extracts that compare them to colonies’ ruler, saying that whaling people are great and are heroes. On that background, maybe there is a deeper understanding that Moby Dick is the revenge of nature and animals. It is unstoppable and undefeatable for humans. Moby Dick brings fear and revenge to people who hunt whales and breaks the environment. But Captain Ahab able to harm Moby Dick at last and not allow it to kill more people might also represent that people can damage the environment but will also cause destruction to human ourselves.
This book is an absolute masterpiece, it written out multiple characters with extremely realistic characteristic and deposition. And it used multi-le foreshadow: like name of ship and people, making the ending linking with parts it foreshadows, creating effect that makes reader eyes bright. It is a pretty good book that I recommend.
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