Moby-Dick
Do me a favor. Think about Moby-Dick. Ok now I want you to do me another favor. Please curl out of the fetal position, because if you are anything like me, you are curled tighter than you have ever been curled before. Yes, when I learned I had to read Moby-Dick, I panicked. Moby-Dick is a leviathan. No, I am not referring to the size of the whale itself, I am talking about the physical size of the book. It is over 600 pages of nearly Shakespearean language with a grand total of 135 chapters. Sentences span entire paragraphs that are over 10 lines long. How could I not panic? But, I was signed up for AP Lit so I had to read it. So I sat down in my favorite chair with a glass of water on the table, the book and one hand and a noose in the other (just in case it was as bad as I had heard).
Having read this, perhaps you will now understand the weight my subsequent sentence carries. I actually loved the novel! No. You are not hallucinating. You did just read that someone actually enjoyed Moby-Dick. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I want to convince you to read it (also my teacher assigned me to).
Riddle me this: does your life suck? Do you struggle to get out of bed in the morning to go to work/ school / the unemployment line? I am not talking about clinical depression, but a general tiredness of the humdrum activities that have become so ingrained in our modern society. Before I digress into a social commentary let me say that I, for one get, a little tired of my adventure-less existence from time to time. Thus began the trend of escapism. Many modern forms of entertainment stem from an escapist philosophy including movies, television and video games. They are all designed to allow people to leave their lives and experience an entirely different universe. Well it appears that they got tired of their lives back in the18whatevers too, as Moby-Dick is one of the most absorbing novels I have ever read. Melville, the author (please tell me I didn’t have to clarify Melville’s identity),spins such an enchanting tale with so many artfully crafted details, that you feel as though you were walking on the Pequod’s deck. Not only that but you come out of the read as an expert on whales and whaling. They could use Moby-Dick as a textbook for whale anatomy classes. The bottom line is if you sit down in your favorite chair, under your favorite blanket, you will be unable to put the novel down it is so enchanting.
Still not convinced? Do you need something other than sheer detail to keep you entertained. If your answer is no then stop reading here and go seek psychiatric help; however, if you are a normal person like me read on. Moby-Dick is about the oldest conflict known to man, that of good against evil. When Captain Ahab declares his vendetta against the white whale, he believes himself to be declaring a war against the physical manifestation of evil itself. So that is a good thing right? Surely attacking and (hopefully) destroying all evil is a proud and noble goal? (Spoiler alert) Then, what is the significance of the death of Ahab and his crew at the end of the novel. Are we just supposed to take that to mean that evil is unconquerable? That good will always lose? If you answered yes then once again I ask that you seek psychiatric help, if not for you, then for those who love you. This ending actually shows that good and evil are only relative. Throughout the narrative, Melville goes out of his way to depict certain aspects of the crew as evil. Ahab quenches his personal uber-harpoon in the willingly given blood of three savages in the middle of the night. Not demonic enough for you? Then what about Ahab’s personal harpooner, Fedellah? Throughout the novel he is cast in an air of mystery from the moment he was smuggled aboard by Ahab. Eventually, on one fine morning, one of the mates comments that he does not cast any shadow. The devil is said to not cast a shadow. The two principle evil hunters cast in an evil light! What could Melville have been thinking? He was attempting to show that, though one may see their own goal as purely good, in reality their might be evil manifestations surrounding it. In other words, you might think you’re in the right, but so does the other guy. And this is why the 150-year-old 600 page monstrosity is still applicable to today’s society. In our “enlightened age” we are still constantly declaring war on “evil”. The war on terror, the war on taxes, the war on homosexual marriage the, war on abortion etc are all examples. Each aggressor considers him/herself to be the morally correct party. Each considers him/herself to be fighting evil. How can every one be right?
the embodiment of pure evil?
Moby-Dick is deep. Nope, I am not talking about the depth the whale swims at (I would have hoped you knew that by now). I am talking about the thought provoking nature of the novel. After reading it (which I hope you will want to do by now), you come away awestruck with it’s power. So, what are you waiting for? Tell your friends and family they won’t hear from you for a month or so and pick the book up. Trust me, you will thank yourself.
