By Mdm Chan Yee NingSMK Elopura Sandakan

HERMAN MELVILLE 1819 - 1891

• 1819 born in New York• 1830 family bankrupt• 1832-3 family falls apart and Herman drops out of school • 1839 1st voyage at sea• 1841-1848 experiences at sea

and 37 books about them• 1851 Moby Dick• 1866-1886 Job in Custom

House; sons die• 1886 Inheritance• 1891 H.M. dies • 1920 H.M. rediscovered as an

author

Whaling• In the days before the discovery of

petroleum, whale oil supplied the fuel lamps

• In addition, the whale was the source of a bony substance called baleen used various household products.

Whale Ships• Voyages would often last for four years.

Life on board a whale ship was hard and killing whales was extremely dangerous.

• Once the harpooners had speared the whale their boats would be dragged along by the whale trying to escape.

• Once the whale was dead, it would be brought on board and its blubber (layer of fat) would be cut off and all the valuable parts preserved.

• A whaling ship would typically kill about 40 whales on a four year voyage.

• If you survived the journey, you could make a lot of money.

Moby Dick or The Whale (1851)

SettingPlace Key Events

Nantuckets, North America Port for whaling ships where Ishmael meets Queequeq and finds work on board the Pequod as a whaler.

The Pequod Whaling ship where most of the drama takes place

Atlantic Ocean Many whales are caught and killed Moby dick is spottedThe Pequod comes across many ships

Pacific Ocean Moby dick battles with Captain AhabThe Pequod sinks and everyone on board drowns except IshmaelIshmael is saved by the Rachel

Setting • Time• 19th century, maritime era- seamanship

was popular as a trade and profession because it offered exciting opportunities for travel and for earning an income.

• Electricity was not discovered yet at this time. The people relied on oil lamps for light.

• Whale oil was the cleanest and the best.

Setting• Social• Maritime era – a period when the shipping

and whaling industry was important, because whale oil brought in immense profits.

• Middle class – the owners of the ships and the captains

• Lower class – the sailors and the local and foreign whalers

THE PLOT

• The struggle against Moby Dick lasts THREE DAYS

• On the first day, Ahab spies the whale himself, and the whaling boats row after it. Moby Dick attacks Ahab’s boat, causing it to sink, but Ahab survives the ordeal when he reaches Stubb’s boat.

Despite this first failed attempt at defeating the whale, Ahab pursues him for a second day. On the second day of the chase, roughly the same defeat occurs. This time Moby Dick breaks Ahab’s ivory leg, while Fedallah dies when he becomes entangled in the harpoon line and is drowned.

• When Ahab and his crew reach Moby Dick, Ahab finally stabs the whale with his harpoon but the whale again tips Ahab’s boat.

• However, the whale rams the Pequod and causes it to begin sinking. In a seemingly suicidal act, Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but becomes entangled in the line and goes down with it.

• Only Ishmael survives this attack, for he was fortunate to be on a whaling boat instead of on the Pequod. Eventually he is rescued by the Rachel,whose captain is still looking for his only son, lost at sea.

• Moby dick lives on in the ocean.

Chronology of events in the storya. Ishmael decides to go to sea.b. Ishmael meets Queeqeg.c. A man named Elijah warns Ishmael against joining the crew of

the Pequod.d. Ishmael sees a group of mysterious men join the ship.e. The Pequod meets a ship (the Rachel) sailed by Captain

Gardiner that has lost a boat during the hunt for the white whale.f. Ahab sees Moby Dick for the first time.g. The Pequod is struck by an electrical storm.h. Fedallah is pulled from his whaling boat by Moby Dick .i. Moby Dick attacks the Pequod.j. Queeqeg’s coffin floats to the surface of the sea.

Characters

Ishmael .- He survived the fight against Moby Dick. Captain Ahab .-He wanted to kill Moby Dick. Queequeg .-He was Ishmael’s good friend. Starbuck .- He opposed to Ahab’s quest for Moby Dick

and had the chance to kill Captain Ahab, but he didn’t. Stubb .- He always laughed and told funny stories. Fedallah .-He was one of Captain Ahab’s men. He

could see the future, too. Captain Gardiner .-He was looking for his son.

• Ishmael  - The narrator, and a member of the crew of the Pequod, not playing a major role in the events of the novel, but much of the narrative is taken up by his eloquent, verbose, and extravagant discourse on whales and whaling.

• Ahab  - The egomaniacal captain of the Pequod. Ahab lost his leg to Moby Dick. He is single-minded in his pursuit of the whale, using a mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join him. As a captain, he is dictatorial but not unfair. At moments he shows a compassionate side, caring for the insane Pip and musing on his wife and child back in Nantucket.

• Moby Dick  - The great white sperm whale. Moby Dick, also referred to as the White Whale, is an infamous and dangerous threat to seamen, considered by Ahab the incarnation of evil and a fated nemesis.

Characters

Ishmael

narrator

mysterious

fascinated by whales

intelligent

Moby Dick Moby Dick

Symbols in Moby Dick

• Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

• The Pequod: a symbol of doom. It is painted a gloomy black and covered in whale teeth and bones, literally bristling with the mementos of violent death. It is, in fact, marked for death.

Symbol of Moby Dick – It has various symbolic meanings for various individuals. – To the Pequod’s crew, it is a concept onto which they can

displace their anxieties about their dangerous and often very frightening jobs.

– Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic evil.

– In its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example, the White Whale can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable God.

– As a profitable commodity, it fits into the scheme of white economic expansion and exploitation in the nineteenth century.

– As a part of the natural world, it represents the destruction of the environment by such hubristic expansion.

Queequeg’s Coffin

– Queequeg’s coffin alternately symbolizes life and death.

– Queequeg has it built when he is seriously ill, but when he recovers, it becomes a chest to hold his belongings and an emblem of his will to live.

– The coffin further comes to symbolize life, in a morbid way, when it replaces the Pequod’s life buoy.

– When the Pequod sinks, the coffin becomes Ishmael’s buoy, saving not only his life but the life of the narrative that he will pass on.