LITERATURE NOVEL

FOLIO PROJECT

NAME
ATHALIA ILISA BINTI ROSLY

CLASS
 3 KRK

AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND
The author behind the novel ‘Moby Dick‘ is Herman Melville. He was born on
August 1 , 1819. His hometown was New York City and he died on September 28 th, 1981 due
st

to cardiovascular disease. Back in the days, Herman Melville was an American novelist, short
story writer and poet of the American Renaissance period.His very well-known works are
Moby Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experience in Polynesia and
Billy Budd, a novella that was published after his death.
He was also the third child of a prosperous merchant. His formal education ended
all of a sudden after his father’s death in 1832 and left the family in financial problems.He
took over the merchant ship and the whaler as known as Acushnet as a common ship in
1839 but switched ship in the Marquesas Island.His first book, Typee and the sequel Omoo
(1847) were inspired by his experience there.These two books got successful and gave him
financial security to marry Elizabeth “Lizzie” Shaw, a daughter of an infamous Boston
family.His first book that wasn’t written from his experience, Mardi (1849) was not taken
seriously.His fictional book,Red Burn and his non-fiction White-Jacket was given better
critique but still couldn’t be furnished with financial security.His psychological novel,Pierre:
or The Ambiguities (1852) was also mocked by commentators.
From 1853 until 1856,Herman Melville published short fiction in magazines, which
in 1856 got collected as The Piazza Tales.In 1857,he travelled to England and continue his
journey to Near East, and published his last work of prose called The Confidence-Man (1857)
at the same year.He then went back to New York to take a position as Customs
Inspector.From there,he started to focus on poetry and made called Battle Pieces and Aspect
of the War which was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War.
One of his emotional incident was his eldest child Malcolm died at home caused by
a self-inflicted gunshot in 1867.Herman Melville then published Clarel: A Poem and
Pilgrimage in the Holy Land in 1876.In 1886, his other son, Stanwix died of apparent
tuberculosis and Herman Melville retired after that.During his retirement days, he privately
published two volumes of poetry, left one volume unpublished and went back to prose of
the sea.The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at the time he died but was suddenly
published in 1924.Sooner after that, Herman Melville died from cardiovascular disease in
1891.
 SYNOPSIS
Moby Dick or The Whale is a novel made on 1851 by an American novelist Herman
Melville.This book is about sailor’s narration called Ishmael of obsessive quest of Ahab,
captain of the whaling ship Pequod,to take revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm
whale that bit off Ahab’s leg at the knee on the previous journey.An offering to the literature
of the American Renaissance, the book’s genre is a classic variety from late Romantic to
early Symbolist.Moby Dick was published when reviews was a commercial failure and was
released at the time of Herman Melville’s death in 1891.The reputation as a “Great
American Novel” was only acknowledged in the 20 th century,after a century of the author’s
birth.William Faulkner had wished he had written the book himself and David Herbert
Lawrence called it “one of the strangest and the most wonderful book in the world” and
“the greatest book of sea ever written”.The opening sentence,”call me Ishmael” ,is among
the most famous world literature.
Herman Melville started writing Moby Dick in February 1850 and finished it for
about one year and a half,a bit longer than he expected.The process of the book was
interrupted by a meeting with Nathaniel Hawthorne in August 1850 and as the result of their
friendship, the essay called “Mosses from an Old Manse’’.The book is committed to
Nathaniel Hawthorne,”in token on my admiration for his genius”.
The basis for the book is Herman Melville’s four years experience as a sailor on
whaling ship, which started in 1841.The novel also dedicated to whaling literature and
literary inspirations such as William Shakespeare and The Bible.The white whale is modeled
on on the famous hard-to-catch albino whale Mocha Dick and the book’s ending based on
the sinking of the whale ship Essex in 1820.The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale
hunting and extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among culturally diverse crew
are mixed with exploration of class and social status,good and evil and the existence of
God.In addition of narrative prose, Herman Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging
from songs, poetry, catalog to Shakespearean stage directions,soliloquies and asides.
In October 1851 , the chapter “The Town Ho’s story” was published in Harper’s New
Monthly Magazine.On the same month, the whole book was first published(in three
volumes) as The Whale in London ,under its specific title in a single-volume in New York in
November.There are hundreds of differences between the two editions ,most slight but
some important and illuminating.The London publisher, Richard Bentley censored or
changed sensitive passages, Herman Melville made revisions as well, including a last-minute
change to the title for the New York edition. The whale, however appears in the text of both
edition as Moby Dick without the punctuation mark.One factor that caused the British
reviewers to mock the book was it seemed to be told by a narrator who fallen with the
ship:The British edition that seemed to be lacking with the Epilogue,which recalls Ishmael’s
survival and almost 3,200 copies were sold during the author’s time.

PLOT
The narration begins with the famous simple phrase which is “Call me
Ishmael”.Ishmael is a sailor ,describes a typical scene in New York City with large groups of
men gathering on their days off to contemplate the ocean and dream of a sea.He explains
that he went to the sea by himself because like these men ,he was feeling a “damp ,drizzly
November in his soul” and craved for adventure.Avoiding anything that is too “respectable”
or expensive, he always sails as a common sailor rather than as a passenger.
Ishmael travels from New York to New Bedford, Massachusetts ,the whaling capital
of the United States.He arrives a little too late to catch the ferry to Nantucket, the original
whaling center of New England.However,for now,he has to stay a few nights in New
Bedford.He wanders around the streets looking for an inn but after a long search, all he finds
are those that seemed to be too expensive.He come across a church full of wailing and
weeping Africans Americans where a sermon is being preached on “the blackness on
darkness”.Ishmael finally roams into the Spouter-Inn, owned by Peter Coffin.The
inauspicious name and the owner satisfy his mood and the place is abandoned as well as at a
affordable price.
The moment Ishmael enters The Spouter Inn,he notices something like a mysterious
oil painting which he finally determines to be a description of a whale attacking a ship.On
the other side is a collection of “monstrous clubs and spears”.Since the inn is almost full,
Ishmael realized that he has to share a room with “a dark complexioned” harpooner named
Queequeg.He spends his evening in the bar with “a wild set of marines” waiting for
Queequeg to arrive.Out of concern, Ishmael decides that he would rather sleep on the
bench rather then to share a bed with some peculiar stranger that could possibly be
dangerous.Unfortunately,Ishmael is unable to bare with the bench as it is too uncomfortable
and decides to deal with the unknown harpooner who Peter Coffin reassures he is not as
dangerous as Ishmael thinks because he pays regular.Even after hearing Peter Coffin’s
words,he’s still not convinced about the harpooner especially when Peter Coffin says the
harpooner has recently arrived from the South Seas and is currently peddling shrunken
heads.When Queequeg finally comes in the picture,the anxious Ishmael stares him from the
bed, noticing the harpooner’s scary tattoos and tomahawk pipe.Queequeg sets up and
worships a small, dark-colored idol.When his prayers are over, he realizes Ishmael in his
bed.He threaten Ishmael with his tomahawk pipe as Ishmael yells for the inn’s owner.After
Peter Coffin gives an explanation of the situation,Ishmael and Queequeg sleeps in for the
night, Ishmael has come to decision that it’s better to share a bed with a “sober cannibal”
rather than a “drunken Christian”
When Queequeg and Ishmael wake up in the morning, Queequeg’s arm is lying on
top on Ishmael affectionately as if the latter were “his wife”.Ishmael observes Queequeg as
he don a fancy hat and boots and shave himself with his harpoon.He admires at the
“savage’s understanding of civilized manners”.
The Spouter-Inn’s breakfast table is occupied with whalers but to Ishmael’s surprise,
the meal isn’t filled with sea stories or dirty talks. Instead they eat very quietly. Queequeg
uses his harpoon to cut himself more meat.
Ishmael roams around New Bedford, admiring at the town and the people.Because it’s
maritime industry centered, there are tons men from all around the globe from the South
Pacific to the remote mountains of Vermont.
Ishmael discover the Whaleman’s Chapel in which consist of plaques commemorating
lost or killed at sea.He stares at the contradictory message engraved in the chapel:if heaven
is a better place, it doesn’t make sense for dead man’s friendsat relatives to mourn him so
inconsolably.Ishmael is startled to find Queequeg in the chapel.
A man appears at the chapel and climbs up a rope ladder into the pulpit that shaped
like a ship’s bow.He is Father Mapple, the preacher in this chapel, the one the whalemen
adores because of his sincerity and ability to make his sermons relevant to their
lives.Ishmael wonders about the symbolic significance of Father Mapple’s dramatic climb
into the pulpit.
Father Mapple decided his theme for Sunday’s sermon from the story of Jonah, the prophet
swallowed by “a great fish” or in the other words, a whale.Father Mapple usually uses
Jonah’s story to preach about a man’s sin and his willful disobeying of God’s commands, but
Father Mapple claims that the story also speaks to him personally, as if it is urging him to
fulfill God’s will by “preaching the Truth in the face of Falsehood”. drained by his emotional
sermon,Father Mapple ends up kneeling with his hands covering his face as the crowd flies.
 SETTING
Nantucket, North America
Port for whaling ships where Ishmael meets Queequeg and finds work on board the
Pequod as a whaler.

The Pequod
Whaling ship where most of the drama takes place.

Atlantic Ocean
Many whales are caught and killed
Moby Dick is spotted
The Pequod comes across many ships.

Pacific Ocean
Moby dick battles with Captain Ahab
The Pequod sinks and everyone on board
Drowns except Ishmael.
CHARACTERS
Ishmael
The narrator and a member of the crew of the Pequod, not playing a major role in the
events of the novel, but much of his narrative is taken up by his eloquent, verbose, and
extravagant discourse on whales and whaling.

Captain Ahab
The egomaniac captain of the Pequod. Ahab lost his leg Moby Dick. He is single-minded in
his pursuit of the whale, using a mixture of charisma and terror to persuade his crew to join
him. As a captain, he is dictatorial but not unfair. At moments he shows a compassionate
side, caring for the insane Pip and musing on his wife and child back in Nantucket.

Moby Dick
The great white sperm whale, Moby Dick, also referred to as the White Whale , is an
infamous and dangerous threat to seaman, considered by Ahab the incarnation of evil and a
fated nemesis.
Queequeg
He was Ishmael’s good friend
Starbuck
He opposed to Ahab’s quest for Moby Dick and had the chance to kill Captain Ahab, but he
didn’t

Stubb
He always laughed and told funny stories

Fedallah
He was one of Captain Ahab’s men. He could see the future too.

Captain Gardiner
He was looking for his son

THEME
6 Major themes Man's Search For Control Over Nature
: Ahab represents the human desire to control the universe. It's a desire that has been
around since people built the first fire or speared the first animal, but in Melville's view it is a
particularly American desire, as Americans seek to tame a continent, the oceans, and even
Fate.

Major theme :Revenge

“Your time has come! My harpoon is ready!

The boats stand by!”

“No, Starbuck, I will never be content until I have killed the evil Moby Dick!”

“Drink, ye harpooners, drink and swear death to Moby Dick! God hunt
us all if we do not hunt Moby Dick”

Sub Theme : Survival

“The boy drowned with the rest of them last night.”

“God help you then.”

“I’ve lost five splendid men to to that cursed white whale!

You are sailing on their tomb!”

TONE AND MOOD

The tone at the beginning of the story is light as Ishmael, the narrator, gives
background information about himself and of his meeting with his future good friend,
Queequeg. His tone is thoughtful throughout the story as he writes with attention to the
feelings and experiences of the other characters. The tone turns tragic as he describes
Captain Ahab’s obsession with Moby Dick, the captain’s crazy plan to go after Moby Dick
without a thought of his crew’s safety and finally, the crew’s fight with the white whale
which ultimately causes everyone, except the narrator, to perish. Even the Pequod is hit by
Moby Dick and sinks – signifying the total destruction of Captain Ahab by the white whale.

The mood of doom approaching is felt early in the story when an old man named Elijah
describes Captain Ahab – the captain of the Pequod, the ship Ishmael and Queequeg have
signed up to go whaling – as ‘a sick man’ and ‘the devil’. Captain Ahab also discloses his
crazy plan to go after the ‘evil’ white whale, Moby Dick, three weeks after setting sail. The
mood that tragedy is looming and that the Pequod journey is only leading towards disaster
comes across clearly.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

The language used in the story is simple and easy to understand. The style the narrator
uses is narrative. He is observant and describes the events and what is happening with the
characters. He also describes the changes he sees in the characters’ behaviour and the
emotions they show throughout the journey of the Pequod.
The narrator of the story is Ishmael, who gives a first person point of view. He is also the
lone survivor of the Pequod, therefore allowing the story to be told.
POINT OF VIEW
FIRST PERSON
Ishmael
The narrator of the story is Ishmael, who gives a first person point of view. He is also the
lone survivor of the Pequod, therefore allowing the story to be told.
Excerpt: “Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or
no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail
about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen
and regulating the circulation.”

SECOND PERSON

Captain Ahab

Excerpt: “There now is your insular city of the Manhattan, belted round by wharves as Indian
isles by coral reefs— commerce surrounds it with his surf. “

Excerpt: “Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any
path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool
in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his
deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead
you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great
American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a
metaphysical professor.”

THIRD PERSON

Fedallah

Excerpt: “they said he was in the cabin. But then, the idea was, that his presence was by no
means necessary in getting the ship under weigh, and steering his well out to sea.“
 MORAL VALUES

DETERMINATION

 Captain Ahab

 
Determined to find and kill Moby Dick for his revenge for the loss of his leg
.
Refuses to help Captain Gardiner to look for his missing boat with his son inside
because he doesn’t want to lost a day sailing

Captain Ahab said he would only feel free and have self-satisfaction if the white whale has
been killed. 

Starbuck
 
He insists to change the oil barrel even though Captain Ahab opposes it at the first place, but
at last he agreed to do so.
 
Ishmael. 

Able to endure 3 days on sea before being rescued after the deadly battle.

Still wants to be a whaler on board the Pequod after being warned by Elijah that
Captain Ahab is a devil and he has devil’s helper.
 

COURAGE/BRAVERY

Ishmael.

He is willing to challenge himself to go whaling which is a risky task despite being a former
sailor
 
Able to endure 3 days on sea before being rescued after the deadly battle.
 
Still wants to be a whaler on board the Pequod after being warned by Elijah that Captain
Ahab is a devil and he has devil’s helper.
 
He is willing to challenge himself to go whaling which is a risky task despite being a former
sailor.
 
Able to face with whale & sharks attacks every time they go whaling.
 
He finally joins with Captain Ahab in the last fight with Moby Dick .
 
Starbuck.
 
Opposed Captain Ahab’s decision to continue the voyage even though he was
threatened to be killed with a gun.

HATRED/REVENGE/ANGER
 
Captain Ahab.
 
wanted to kill Moby Dick who took his leg.
 
Refuses to stop the ship to do some repairing on the barrels. He does not want to lose a day
sailing in the term of looking for Moby Dick.
 
Will try to kill anyone who change the direction of Pequod.
 
Don’t want to help Captain Gardiner to find his child because he is too obsess to find
Moby Dick to seek his revenge.
 
Offers gold to anyone who first spots Moby Dick.

We should not allow one goal to take control of our life until we forget all the other
important things.
We should think for ourselves and not follow someone blindly as they can lead us down a
dangerous path.
We should not hold on to our anger at someone or something or desire to get even. We will
lose our peace of mind if we let anger take over our life.
email

m-6707520@moe-dl.edu.my

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