White Whale in Moby-Dick
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Abstract
Herman Melville is a famous American novelist during the romantic period， and an influential figure in the world literature history. Moby-Dick， his representative work， has been a “bright pearl” in the literary treasury of the world. Moby-Dick， or The whale， Melville’s masterpiece， is the epic story of the whaling ship Pequod and its “ungodly， godlike man”. Captain Ahab， whose obsessive quest for the white whale moby-dick， leads the ship and its men to destruction. This work， a realistic adventure novel， contains a series of meditations on the human condition. Whaling， throughout the book， is a grand metaphor for the pursuit of knowledge. Realistic catalogues and descriptions of whale and the whaling industry punctuate the book， but these carry symbolic connotations. Melville uses the symbolic methods in the novel and makes the novel full of the permanent artistic charm and the literary value above time and space. This paper focuses on the analysis of the main characters―Captain Ahab and the whale Moby-Dick.
Key words：
Ahab； Moby-Dick； Heroism； Harmony； Nature
1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE NOVEL： MOBY-DICK
Moby-Dick is one of the world’s great novels， whose richness increases with each new reading. A story of monomania aboard a whaling ship， Moby-Dick is a tremendously ambitious novel that functions at once as a documentary of life at sea and a vast philosophical allegory of life in general. It is an encyclopedia of everything， history， philosophy， religion， etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry. MobyDick remained largely ignored until the 1920s， when it was rediscovered and promoted by literary historians interested in constructing an American literary tradition.
In the 19th century， whaling is an adventurous industry“bring people to the abyss of the afterlife”， mostly by the desperate poor man who willing to use their lives to fight. Under the material and technical conditions， the sea whaling entirely relied on manual labor. After the whaling ship set out on a voyage， drinking the bitter water， living in substandard whaling ships， suffering the heat of the tropical oceans， or the attack of the polar Blizzard， sailors will live a desperate life about three years. Their whaling engaging in a life-and-death struggle with whales in the Atlantic， Indian Ocean and the Pacific is for the development of capitalism.
This novel was written on the basis of Melville’s whaling experience. He saw a whaling ship of that time as an epitome of the entire United States， with top officers invariably descendants of early Puritan whites and the crew homeless men of all races and religions. Such a ship was also a floating factory， organized along industrial lines. The whales， however， were strange and mysterious， representing nature which was good and evil， beautiful and indifferent， generous and cruel.
For Melville， the white whale also symbolizes the great mysterious nature， especially the ocean. Another theme that Melville describes is the relationship between man and nature. He believes that there is an irresistible force in the Great Unknown controlling man’s destiny. This force is the force of the great mysterious nature. However， on the one hand， this mystery in the novel is embodied by the description of the ocean. The boundless ocean in a state of flux： sometimes quiet， sober and mild， leaving something to the imagination； sometimes its stormy waves make one’s head swim. No matter when is a fine and sunny day or a night sky with twinkling stars， a tremendous destructive force and quirky danger are involved in its depth. On the other hand， ill omens and predictions often occurred in the plot enhance the sense of mystery of the whole novel. For example， in Chapter Three， the inn that the sailors live is named the Spouter Inn， and its dusty entry give people a feeling of falling into the stomach of a whale. “A very large oil painting so thoroughly besmoked” hung on the wall is about a half-foundered ship in a great hurricane， “and an exasperated whale”， “is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.” Another example， “the further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den- the bar- a rude attempt at a right whale’s head”， even likes “the vast arched bone of the whale’s jaw”. All these suggest the tragic fate of whaling men live there. But this kind of fate is closed linked with the white whale that symbolizes nature. The
author hints the necessary result of the struggle between man and nature： the ruin of mankind.
There is a special purpose for the author about why he selects the color white as Moby-Dick’s color. White represents the mystery of the universe. From the very beginning Ishmael admits “what scares me most is it white skin”， which leaves him numerous imaginations. Let him fear the symbol white universe is its uncertainty， emptiness， and infinite. That color is not only the representatives of purity and beauty， but also on behalf of death and soul. Ishmael thinks it is elusive and formidable. At the same time， white symbolizes purity and innocence. The author believes that white is very quiet， very peaceful， very friendly. As long as human beings are able to understand the mutual existence between human and nature and not to bother it， it will not destroy human. Otherwise， people will inevitably be destroyed. In the novel sailors’ struggle with the white whale symbolizes the struggle between man and nature. Moby-Dick is freely living in nature who never takes the initiative to get close to humans， and never take the initiative to attack humans， but the evil sides of sailors’ humanity are doing everything possible to conquer and destroy it， so finally destroy themselves. In addition， Moby-Dick also is on behalf of the mystery of the universe. For humans， the universe is like a secret white， apart from a piece of white， they do not see anything. This is also one of the author’s pessimism： in front of the powerful nature humans’ nature are powerless and tiny. They will never discover the mystery of nature.
What on earth does Moby-Dick symbolize？ It is like Moby-Dick’s “white abnormal forehead” “Pyramid-like white hump” is very elusive. It not only represents peace and noble but also symbolizes evil and horror， or it is simply the embodiment of contradictions and conflicts. It is not only a symbol of evil and terror， also on behalf of kindness and innocence. That makes it as a combination of contradictions. It is a symbol of the mysteries of life， the objective reality of human existence as well as the fate and future of mankind. In short， Moby-Dick has multisymbolic meaning， so it is mysterious.
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STORY
4.1 Conflict between Good and Evil
But he has the soft side in him； He misses his wife of ten years and his only child. When he tells his bitter experience of 40 years whaling to Starbuck， he mentions his wife and boy several times， and even requests Starbuck who also has wife and son not pursue MobyDick. It was not hard to see that though Ahab has become a crazy man in his pursuit of Moby-Dick， he doesn’t lose depersonalization completely. We have a glimpse of his true feelings in his depth of his heart. Besides， Ahab， who always with a cold face， shows his sympathy for poor pip. He said to Pip， “Here， boy； Ahab’s cabin shall be Pip’s home henceforth， while Ahab lives. Thou touchest my inmost centre， boy” （Melville， 1851）. He prays to God to bless the poor boy sincerely. When Moby-Dick smites the Pequod， Ahab shouts， “The whale， the whale！ Up helm， up helm！ Oh， all ye sweet powers of air now hug me close！ Let not Starbuck die， if die he must， in a woman’s fainting fit. Up helm， I say―ye fool， the jaw！ The jaw！ Is this the end of all my bursting prayers （Melville， 1851）？” From his words， we can find that he is a good man.
People who show active attitude toward life are those who know what is right and do as well. In their nature exist both good and evil， but they would rather let the good predominates in them and guides their deeds. Sometimes they may show their weaknesses in real life. However， just as the saying goes， a horse stumbles that has four legs. Regardless of their shortcomings， they enjoy a meaningful and fruitful life in general. And Ishmael， Starbuck， Quietude and Pip belong to this category. It would be easy for Ishmael to foresee the ultimate fate of the ship under the directions of Captain Ahab， and he openly admits on several occasions that the deadly fate awaiting its crew is inevitable. But for Melville， it seems slightly too specific and simplistic to cast judgment on a man of such power as Ahab outside the societal norm in which the typical Uses of the terms “good and evil” can be applied. For Melville， good and evil are human creations that do not exist in the grand scheme of the earthly reality. In other words， MobyDick， the white whale， is not inherently evil or even capable of being inherently evil. He is a simple animal. Instead， this is a concept created and assigned to him by mankind because mankind misconstrues the animal’s actions as some kind of personal offense. It is interesting to note that throughout the work， references are made to Moby-Dick and all the whales the Pequod encounters， as being majestic and wonderful animals. Melville， in fact， seems to admire the animals for their inability to do good or evil. Just at the very beginning of the novel， Melville employs a clever trick to explore nature of evil， one he plays on both Ishmael and the readers： the true nature of the antagonizing force of the novel remains hidden within Ahab， not the white whale he demonizes.