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Moby Dick: Subheading Of The American Dream

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A mythology is traditionally a legendary story that promotes cultural values, fears, and ideas. In the novel, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, the harpooning of a great white Sperm whale is the focal point. It is arguable that Moby Dick may have been a myth but in all perspectives, the story reveals certain fears and values that are parallel to a culture specifically familiar to Americans. Those values include, but are not limited to, the American Dream which includes subheadings of equality and equal opportunity, determination, and fellowship. The term American Dream, originally introduced by the American historian James Tuslow Adams in his book, “The Epic of America” published in 1931, highlighted the importance of hard work to achieve personal goals and that every human, despite differences, should compete for success. This important value in America’s culture that is still seen in today’s society, and is incorporated into Melville’s eventful novel throughout the journey of harpooning the albino whale, Moby Dick. …show more content…

With the help of his crew, and the lingering possibility of failure, Captain Ahab continues the voyage aboard the Pequod to kill Moby Dick. Since the Pequod’s journey is supposed to last a few years, it is evident that the hard work and determination of the crew kept the voyage alive. With that, Captain Ahab evidently refused to aid another ship, Rachel, for he was goal oriented towards the harpooning of the rare whale. Additionally, the entire crew contributes their best effort to support the captain towards his goal, as they are also willing to sacrifice a portion of their lives aboard this ship with the inevitability of disaster, making Captain Ahab their

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“This bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood; and simultaneously feeling that etherial thrill, the submerged savage beneath, in his death-gasp, kept his hammer frozen there; and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it”, the author vividly portrays a picture of “after-war” scene, by using simile of Satan and symbolism of the flag of Ahab, to states his opinion of that hate results in chaotic ending of all people dying. Moreover, Melville also writes in the end, “Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago”, which is a peaceful image after the “war” between the haters and the “criminal”. The Ahab achieved his goal of killing the whale, but he also lost his and all his sailors’ lives. After all, no thing left. Thus, this peacefulness correspondingly affirm that the revenge would only cause chaos, but nothing

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Initially led on by the promise of wealth and stability, Ahab’s characterization and personification of Moby Dick influences the crew in such a way that they share his desire to purge the evil that is Moby from the world, perhaps wanting a taste of the power and sense of self that would be gained from killing the beast. The crew’s desire to kill Moby only furthers Ahab’s own desire; perhaps there was a time when Ahab could have been convinced that his cause was hopeless, but by the time his crew accepts their destiny is to kill Moby Dick or die trying it’s set in stone. According to Caleb Crain, a graduate student and writer for the prestiged Leviathan journal dedicated to the study of Herman Melville, Ahab’s cause somehow creates a spark in members of the crew, especially in Ishmael who suffers from the same unfortunate identity crisis as Ahab, “Despite Starbuck’s appeal to Ahab’s humanity, Ahab feels compelled to act “against all natural lovings”(545); despite Queequeg’s Massachusetts marriage to Ishmael, “a wild, mystical sympathetical feeling” involves Ishmael, too, in “Ahab’s quenchless feud” (179)” (Caleb 11). Ahab’s adamant determination and troubled history gives the crew something to pour their faith and goodness into, something to work towards, although unbeknownst to them the very thing they’re working towards is

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