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Moby Dick Dialectical Journal

597 Words3 Pages

In Moby Dick, the chapter that titles “the Cabin Tale,” discusses the division of life on the whale ship in connection to the popular dance, “the Harlem Shake,” in which there exists a clear separation in the way a group of individuals behaves towards a certain situation. In the beginning of the chapter, it describes the dinner habits of the ship’s officers in the cabin. During dinner, the atmosphere is solemn in which none of the men spoke nor helped themselves to anything on the table. No one seemed to enjoy the food because “they were as little children before Ahab,” (Melville 164) as they did not feel comfortable in the cabin as it was the lair of Ahab, who had specific rules on the ship. After the officers were done, the harpooners got to eat. In contrast with the officers, the dinner for the harpooners were lively and they ate heartily. Ishmael describes how their “barbaric” manners such …show more content…

The differences in behavior between the two groups on the vessels are quite divided as one group feels that they must act formal and serious while the other are care-free even though they both live under the same roof and have the same leader. This contrast shows a similarity to how people in society reacted towards the popular-crazed dance “the Harlem Shake.” “The Harlem Shake” starts with one person, who is usually masked, dancing to the song, while others around the individual go about their business as if nothing is happening. The bass then drops and then it’s mayhem; everyone has costumes on and are dancing outrageously. There are no set of rules to this dance, which made it easy for anyone to join in, nevertheless, this social phenomenon pointed out the division in society. Those who participated in the dance, can be interpreted as the harpooners, who did not care who were around them and behaved wildly as they

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

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In Herman Melville’s lifetime his writing was not popular or well known. It wasn’t until after his death that his literacy work showed more and more promise to who he was at a writer. While knowing that he wanted to be a writer, Melville did not write about the things that interested his surrounding society. Instead he wrote about the adventures he had on his voyage and wrote about the elaborate experiences he endured.

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

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983 Words | 4 Pages

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979 Words | 4 Pages

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1731 Words | 7 Pages

Ishmael view on whales contradicts Ahab’s perspective, which can indicate how different Ishmael is compared to the rest of the characters. Ishmael’s main reason to go on a ship and set sail was to escape from the world, “But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm…there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy” (Melville 433). Ishmael can find peace and joy in the middle of the ocean, even in the midst of chaos, he enjoys being out in nature. This can be a reason why Ishmael can see the tranquility in whales

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As the whaling ship, the Pequod, sets sail. The Crew doesn’t see Captain Ahab for a few days of being aboard the ship. When they finally see him he makes the three harpooners and his three mates take a blood oath to killing Moby Dick. After a few months of being on the journey they see the white whale and go after him. After hours of hunting him it becomes dark and Ahab is still going after him while all the crew is trying to get him to give up.

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At first glance, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick appears to be a novel about whaling. Moby Dick is a novel regarding whaling, yet Melville uses whaling aboard the Pequod as an allegory to illustrate larger themes regarding humanity. Melville’s Moby Dick features a cast of a variety of races and cultures, and Melville’s depiction of the cultures are central to the thematic purposes of the novel. Initially, Melville, through the sailor Ishmael, appears to view people of foreign cultures from a white American perspective by providing condescending attitudes, yet the attitudes toward foreigners and even Christianity begin to change. Melville reverses the traditional associations of foreign savages and white Christians in order to convey that morality,

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