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Herman Melville's Moby-Dick

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Moby-Dick is one of the most controversial and entertaining books known. Along with the book the themes are also extremely entertaining. Herman Melville is the outstanding mind behind this masterpiece. Herman Melville included the powerful theme of defiance, the worshipping theme of duty, and sorrowful theme of death. This book showed both respect for nature along with respect-less people. Throughout Mr. Melville showed his great mind along with his writing skills. Defiance is one of the numerous major themes of this book. One of the most defiant of all of the characters is Ahab. Ahab want to be so much more of a person than what he really and truly is (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). This fact that he can not be drives him crazy throughout the …show more content…
The most important and overrunning duty would be the duty to God. This was the very first duty to most of the shipmates (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). The main person to see that this duty was always carried out is Father Mapple (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). However not all of the people agreed with this point of view. One of the main ones who did not agree is no other than Ahab (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Starbuck though was like Father Mapple and agreed that God should always be his first duty. Second to him he had more important duties. This duty would be to his family (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). There is another duty that is very famous at this time. That duty would belong that to the Quaker beliefs. The Quakers always believed, like Father Mapple and Starbuck, that God should be first. Also besides just being loyal to God they always would be loyal to the ones who are above them in “rank” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). There also is the captain’s duty belonging to Ahab. Himself being the captain would not listen to anyone else. He always goes for what he believes is best for all but mostly himself (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Ahab the entire time went after the whale and would not hold up despite warnings (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). He has no cares for the owners wishes although the owner is the one paying him. He again follows his own duties and does what he wishes …show more content…
One showing of the theme is the picture that is in the inn. The picture is described as, “a boggy, soggy, squinty, picture,” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). The inn’s owner himself is named Coffin. Therefore foreshadowing itself of death. The Pequod’s voyage itself shows death. The voyage seems to be itself a voyage of death (Harold Bloom). The prophecies itself even tells of the future of the ship. Gabriel , whom is apart of another crew, is the one who prophecies of the future of the ship and its members (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Ahab himself seems to be unfortunately familiar with death itself. He is even described throughout the book to take on the view of death (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Ishmael strangely enough is the only one who actually does in the end survive the horrible ship wreck (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Everyone in the end does become very familiar with the theme as they all taste the horrible taste as they all become apart of it as them all and the ship is sunken by Moby-Dick itself (Houghton Mifflin

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