Moby Dick Rhetorical Analysis

Moby Dick Synthesis

The title of the novel which I read is “Moby Dick”. The genre of this book is fiction and it is written in novel form. The story takes place in 1851 on the northeastern coast, mainly set in the Atlantic ocean, but also in New York City, and Pittsfield Massachusetts. It tells the story of Ishmael, the protagonist, who is seemingly lost in the world and is trying to make sense of his life. In his opinion, men who board whaling ships are choosing the alternative to suicide. Although Ishmael is the protagonist, and we don’t know as much about him as we do the other characters. A reason for his could be because he is the story’s narrator and doesn’t necessarily talk about himself as much as he talks about what is going on around him.

A tattooed man he meets in an inn, named Queequeg keeps Ishmael company throughout his journey. At first, Ishmael is alarmed by Queequeg’s tattoos and brute like habits, but eventually he becomes fond of him. Together the two get on a whaling ship, known as the Pequod. The captain's name is Ahab. He is a rather strange character. The primary conflict of the story is that Ahab holds a grudge against Moby Dick, the great

white whale which bit off his leg while he was on a previous whaling voyage. When we first meet Ahab, he says to all of the crew members that whoever spots Moby Dick first, will earn themselves a golden coin. This sparks Ishmael’s interest. A few white whales are spotted here and there, however all attempts at capturing them are unsuccessful. The action of the story starts rising when out of nowhere, a new group of sailors appear on the ship. The new sailors identify themselves as “Ahab’s private harpoon crew”. As the voyage continues, a few whales are caught. The Pequod comes into contact with many other whaling ships. Ahab asks for information about the great whale from all the captains he meets. One particular captain warns Ahab not to offend the Whale, because anyone who does will suffer death.
The leader of Ahab’s strange personal harpoon team makes a prophecy that when Ahab dies, he will first see two hearses. Ahab misinterprets this to mean that he will not die while on the ocean. By this time, many strange things are happening to the men on the ship. One cabin boy has gone insane and tried to jump off, while another man, while cleaning a whale and processing it for oil, fell into the whale, and the whale then fell of the boat. Men are getting hurt and dying, but this only drives Ahab’s want to kill the whale even more. When the ship reaches the equator, they find Moby Dick.
Each time a harpoon boat tries to kill the whale, Moby Dick goes after Ahab’s boat. On the last attempt, Ahab sends the Pequod thrusting at the whale. The ship gets more damaged than the whale and in turn begins to sink. Before it has sunk completely, Ahab attempts one more harpoon at the whale. Ahab’s death is the first climax of the story. He accidentally gets caught on the harpoon which drags him out into the ocean and dies. The second climax describes the sinking boat which causes a whirlpool and sucks down all of the men on it. Ishmael is the one and only survivor, due to the fact that early on in the whale attack, he had been thrown off the boat, far enough away to avoid all of the excitement. During the resolution, Ishmael floats atop a wooden coffin until he is rescued by another whaling boat.
I least liked the book because it was such a strain to read.

It was worth the stress because it is a great literary work. I think everyone should at least attempt to read it, however, in order to fully understand what exactly was going on, I had to search for help on the internet. I do feel like it helped me become a better experience reader, and also might have widened my vocabulary. On the other hand, My favorite part was the connection it had with the sea. The first time I ever visited the ocean, I fell in love with it and became curious about it. I hope to oneday live near a coast, so I can be closer to its the sea’s tranquility. All and all book has made me fall even deeper in love with the sea and its many wonders, and I would recommend it to anyone else who finds themselves engulfed in

wanderlust.