Moby Dick short summary & analysis

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Moby Dick Analysis

Moby Dick Short Summary

The feelings you have within you until the all eternity will always be your end. Just like Captain Ahab.

Ishmael is a lonely and an outcast man who spend all of his life in the sea. Being in the land, does not give him peace. He was used to the crazy joggles of the ocean. Walking and breathing on a land straight as a line was meaningless for him. And he was going to search for a job in ships as soon as possible but this time the job he wanted was a little different.

He wanted to whaling. In that era, the lamp was not invented yet so he used a candle to brighten to darkness of the night. And of course, candle was made out of whale oil. Whaling is one of the hardest job. At any minute there was action, tension. That is why Ishmael, who wanted to make changes in his life wanted to be a whaler.

Ishmael, who was thinking of staying in an inn in the evening of his stay in Bedford, had found a room in a ruined inn but had to share that room with another man. Because of the darkness, he did not see the guy, he was in the same bed with and when the candle illuminated a part of his face, Ishmael see the bulky guy with the interesting lines on his face and he screamed because he was afraid. Not only Ishmael. Everyone was giving the same reaction to Queequeg, the man with the interesting lines on his whole face. Queequeg was used to it. That is why he curl to the side of the bed quietly. In the meantime Ishmael was hardly sleeping out of fear.

The next day, Ishmael wanted to spend his last days wandering, he firstly went to a church. When he saw Queequeg in the church he was surprised. He did not think Queequeg was this type of man, but the owner of the inn also said that he was nice and kind.

When he went back to the inn, he found Queequeg in front of the fireplace and reading a book. He went to his side and apologized for his behavior for last night and they started talking. He asked Queequeg if he was literate and when he said that he was not, he even read the book to him. Their friendship started and they became best friends.

Thus, it was time for them to find a job on the ship, and Ishmael and Queequeg went looking for a job on the same ship. They find a ship where they can fit into but the ship was full of secrets.

The moment they get on board to the ship, they did not see the captain of the ship. They saw either the second captain Starbuck, third captain Stubb ot fourth captain Flask.

Ishmael realized very late that Captain Ahab was missing a leg. And it was because of the legend of the ocean Moby Dick. Whaling was not the main reason they sailed. The main reason was to kill Moby Dick which Captain Ahab was obsessed with. Because of the big reward for it nobody was complaining, other than the second captain Starbuck. All of them gave up their lives because of the legend of the ocean Moby Dick.

Ishmael was one them. Captain Ahab was worried. He was not eating or drinking because he was wondering where Moby Dick was. They saw them a couple of times, they were immediately chasing Moby Dick but they could not catch the giant whale. They caught a couple of whales but the only focus was on Moby Dick.

Other than these situations, Queequeg was really sick. Everyone knew that he was going to die. They even made a special coffin for him but Queequeg did not died. The opposite he was getting better.

Captain Ahab was asking everyone that he met about Moby Dick but other captain’s only sentence was that; “When you see that whale, run.” Thus, everyone except Ishmael was dead when they met Moby Dick. That was thanks to the special coffin that was made for Queequeg. Everyone lost their lives because of Captain Ahab’s grudge, anger and revenge.

They say hanging onto the past is useless, that is really true. If we live in the past, we live the pain of the past too. The past can pave the way of today but today will pave the way of tomorrow. That was the biggest mistake that Captain Ahab did. That was a whale and it is the most dangerous animal of the ocean. Being vicious is in its nature. Moby Dick even ran away from Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab should not let the yesterday pave the way of today. The mistake that he did, cost him his life and other people’s life too.

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