Moby Dick

Moby Dick

by Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)

Author:

Melville was born in 1819, the son of an established New York family (his ancestors included Revolutionary War officers and participants in the Boston Tea Party). After his father died 1832, leaving a widow and eight children, Melville's family fell on hard times. Herman dropped out of school at the age of 12, and tried his hand at a number of odd jobs in and around New York. Finally, at the age of 17, he decided to seek fortune and adventure at sea, and signed up as a cabin boy on a ship bound for Liverpool, England. Upon his return several months later, Melville tried again to find work on land, but by 1841 he was ready to set sail again. Like his character Ishmael, Melville set sail out of New Bedford in late December on a whaling ship bound for the South Seas. Melville certainly found adventure on this voyage; not only did he participate in the kind of whale hunting later described in Moby-Dick, but he also abandoned ship in the Marquesas Islands, and lived as a prisoner of the native people there for several months. Melville escaped to Tahiti, where he spent time as a laborer among the natives, and finally enlisted on another ship that returned to Boston in 1844.

(Facts about the author is found other places. Not written by me)

Characters:

Ishmae: a teacher/seaman (and narrator). Talks a lot

about whale hunting in the book. You learn much about this.

Queequeg: harpooner, he is a savage and a hardened man.

Ahab: captain of the Pequod, a man who doesn't want to give up his mission, before it kills him or others. A very hard man.

Starbuck and Stubb: Ahab's first and second mates, they are under ahab's direction. They command him, even when they dont want to.

Fedallah: Captain Ahab's servant at sea.

Plot:

The story begins with Ishmael heading out to find a whaling ship to join. On his way to Nantucket, a American city of whaling, he meets Queequeg, a harpoon man. And the two become quick friends. They find their ship, the Peqoud, and despite warnings, they board with the rest.

However, things are not what they seem, because when the head of the boat, Captain Ahab, make his first appearance, there is something about him. Things become even more wrong when Ahab says he wishes to hunt down the White Whale, Moby Dick, the whale that took his leg. Nothing can prevent him from achieving this goal. The majority of his crew is all with him on this adventure. All the men except Starbuck and Stubb were enthusiastic about the Captain's challenge

The Peqoud sails over distant seas, in order to reach the equator. Because this is a known place for Moby Dick to be, at the right season. They meet various ships, and some of them have stories to tell of the White Whale. Their stories describe only death and destruction.

Moby-Dick is unable to be killed by humans, it is an immortal creature. Moby Dick takes on mythical