Examples Of Juxtaposition In Moby Dick

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Herman Melville’s Moby Dick utilizes both indirect characterization and juxtaposition to create an untrustworthy narrator, Ishmael. Ishmael is portrayed as arrogant and having a “holier than thou” mindset. While displaying these feelings of self-importance, he is also suicidal. The juxtaposition created by Ishmael believing he is better than everyone while also being suicidal shows the inner conflict he is battling with and displays him as untrustworthy because of his unstable self-image and sense of the world. In the entirety of chapter 1, Ishmael is speaking to the reader. This allows Ishmael to be portrayed through indirect characterization. This first sentence, “Call me Ishmael” immediately characterizes Ishmael as arrogant (Melville 1).

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