Moby Dick Ishmael

In Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick”, Ishmael, Captain Ahab, and the rest of the crew are on the hunt for the notorious Moby Dick. Throughout this journey, the book slowly reveals symbolic representations of not just Moby Dick, but whales in general. Each character reveals what it means to them individually, and to the crew as a whole. The whale may be the most complex mammal on earth, but there is still questionable reasoning for the motive of Melville to untangle every detail during the Pequod’s quest in Moby Dick. The way that Melville develops the story, he hints at the whales representing the Pequod’s search (especially Ahab) to unveil the meaning of life. Although Ishmael describes how others feel towards the whale, Ishmael keeps

Aside from simply narrating, Ishmael plays a significant role in the story. Without Ishmael having an open mind to new ideas and all ideas towards Moby Dick, then the reader may come to their own conclusion of what Moby Dick means instead of envisioning many different meanings of the whale. It is a good thing that Ishmael was the narrator, because if it was someone else, then the whole entire story would be different, and the reader’s opinion would be changed, and would maybe even be as dark as Ahab’s. Through Ahab’s eyes, all there would be is a broken man who sees nothing but evil and only purpose of living is to destroy it. But with Ishmael, the journey on the Pequod is different. He is hunting the whale in order to find the meaning of life and simply to gain wisdom. Ahab and Ishmael are doing it for reasons other than money- personal reasons. Although those two things are similar, the personal reasons behind their voyage are completely the opposite. The hunt for Moby Dick for Ishmael is this life- changing, eye-opening experience, and Ishmael went into the voyage with a clear head, yearning for new parts of life he has never experienced before. On the other hand, Ahab’s journey is just a close minded, avenged, anger spree with the intention of killing the whale. The whale seems to be representative of each character depending on their personality. Moby Dick represents concealment of what each individual being is. Ahab sees violence in the white whale because that is the essence of his own being. He is naturally angry and has a personal history with the whale which has made him desire vengeance for a long time. What begins as a voyage in search of whale oil, ends with the discovery of purpose with relation to nature. Ahab perceives only violence as the powers which make the world go ‘round. The method of his quest determines that he should