The narrator, who asks to be called Ishmael, goes to sea to cure his restlessness and signs on to the whaler Pequod out of Nantucket together with Queequeg, a tattooed Polynesian harpooner he befriends in a New Bedford inn. Once at sea, the reclusive Captain Ahab finally appears on deck, his missing leg replaced by one made of whalebone, and reveals the true purpose of the voyage.
Ahab is consumed by the desire to kill Moby Dick, the great white sperm whale that maimed him, and he binds the crew to his quest. The first mate Starbuck, a cautious Quaker, questions it; the second and third mates and harpooners from around the world follow. As the ship crosses oceans, encounters with other vessels bring news and omens of the whale.
Melville interrupts the story with chapters on whale anatomy, the history of whaling, the meaning of whiteness and the workings of the ship, alongside soliloquies written like stage drama. A commercial failure in 1851, the book was rediscovered in the twentieth century and is now considered a cornerstone of American literature.
Book details
| Author | Herman Melville |
|---|---|
| First published | 1851 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Classic |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 635 |
| Setting | Nantucket and the oceans of the world, 1840s |
Themes
- Obsession
- Fate
- Man versus nature
- Good and evil
- Friendship
Who should read it
Patient readers who want an ambitious, digressive American epic about obsession and the sea.