Moby Dick

Moby Dick Essay

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Chapter 108- Ahab and the carpenter- is drawn out as a play with Ahab going

on deck to his carpenter to be fitted for his wooden leg . Ahab abuses the carpenter about

his wooden leg . He asks the carpenter if he understands that he still feels his flesh and

bone leg even with the sperm whale jawbone he is going to be fitted with . His phantom

leg , which he feels is still there and has never gone away . He asks the carpenter if he

can

drive the presence of the phantom away and then tells him no of course he cannot

Captain Ahab , Captain of the Pequod 's is an overly obsessive man . He

represents an old and modern type of hero who 's overconfidence and arrogance disregard

all his common sense . He believes he is a God and is immune to the nature of things and

above everyone else . Captain Ahab believes he is the sole person to drive out all the evil

in the world (The White Whale ) and is driven to do so . It is his fate to die while driving

out this evil in the world . This drive makes him seem mad to others such as the

carpenter , and his crewmates

Captain Ahab is a tragic figure that suffers from psychological and physical

damage caused by the unfairness of a cruel and evil world . He is a tragic anti-hero as well

as the arrogant , mad aggressor . He 's made himself to be a symbol or savior between the

evil (whiteness ) of the world (The White Whale ) and what is good in the world . He feels

he must propel himself against this evil for the world Captain Ahab 's is tyrannical and pompous keeping his ship as a hierarchically

structured world . His crew includes men of all races and from all over the world . They all

interact in harmony together and are paid and promoted according to skill . The white

members of his crew are the non-whites

Moby Dick

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are given the hardest , more dangerous jobs of the ship

Ahab is monomaniacal only caring about his pursuit for the white

whale . Ahab doesn 't care that his crewmembers think him mad or is driving them to

their deaths with this pursuit . He exploits his crewmembers loyalty by convincing them it

is their destiny , as well to pursue this white whale when he nails a piece of gold doubloon

to the mast for anyone who catches first sight of the whale . This entices the character of

Flask , the third mate of Pequod 's stands on Dagoo 's shoulder (An African harpooner ) to

Beat his other shipmates to the prize whale . This way Captain Ahab selfishly involves his

crewmembers by making them compete against each other . This only helps Ahab in his

maniacal quest to conquer evil that eventually kills him in the end -Works Cited-

Herman Melville , Moby Dick- Chapter 108- Ahab and the carpenter . Penguin Classics 1851...