Literature has an important function in society and
transfers values and cultural beliefs. Story telling has been part of the human
experience since the beginning of humanity. Moby Dick tells a moral story as
much as it tells the tale of a whale hunt. Encouraging people to read such stories
and think about their meanings helps to broaden their perspective.
Some of the lessons you may encounter include:
Don’t
Let Your Passions Consume You: Captain Ahab had a
mission and he was going to fulfill that mission at all costs. His passions
consumed him to the point that he no longer considered the other factors
associated with winning. All missions should use sound judgment
and reasons to balance out the decision-making process.
The
Whale Represents Greatness: At this time in society killing a white
whale represented wealth, prestige, and accomplishment. As one of the largest
creatures known to man it was difficult to find, harpoon, and bring to market.
Moby Dick came to represent man’s desire for material and social recognition.
A
Piece of American Experience: Melville used his experience
as a sailor to write the story and became a sensation. The story
represents how life was experienced by seafaring people in New England during the
19th Century. Life was
different then and economies made their money from natural resources such as
fishing, farming, mining and lumber.
Forms
of Government: The process of gathering sailors from
various walks of life is a democratic process where all members are individually
judged based on their contributing skills. In a capitalistic society each
member is focused on catching whales for economic purposes and has a positive contribution on collective action. Captain Ahab turns into the tyrant who fails to consult
with others which eventually leads his crew to death.
The
Flipping of Good and Evil: At the beginning of the story Moby
Dick is characterized as evil and must be hunted down for its savage behavior. As
the story unfolds you find that Moby Dick is only escaping the hunt and was
never a man eater. Eventually we find out that it is Captain Ahab that failed
to use sound reason and becomes the embodiment of evil in the story while he
irrationally hunts Moby Dick for his own vain egotism.
You don’t need to pay for this book. It is offered
for free on Kindle.
As an interesting side note whale attacks can still
happen. In July a crew of two people were attacked tracking whales on a picture
taking escapade. Following their target at 150 yards a second whale jumped upon
their ship capsizing both crew members and flipping the boat. The incident occurred
in the ocean somewhere off Point Loma in San Diego. You may want to watch a
little of their experiences to get a feeling for the chaos of a whale attack.
Fox News San Diego provides additional details (1).
