vocabulary quiz on words from our reading.
The following is the from 1956 film version of Moby Dick starring Gregory Peck
If you are absent, please make sure you watch it
Symbolism (The following is from Prentice Hall's The American Experience)
A symbol is a person, place or thing that has a meaning in itself and also represens something larger than itself. For example, a flag symbolizes the character, attitude and values of the country it repesents.
While some symbols are easy to interpret, others are complex, having a number of possible meanings. The white whale of Melville's Moby Dick is an example of an extremely complex symbol. Only by examining all the meanings suggested by its appearance and behavior do we realize that the whale ultimately represents all that is paradoxical, unexplainable and uncontrollable in nature. Like nature, Moby Dick is a massive and threatening but beautiful and awe inspiring. Nature is nourishing and destructive, powerful and graceful. Nature is also unpredictable and mindless; yet it is controlled by natural laws. Like nature, Moby Dick seems indestructible and immortal, and at the same time indifferent to human mortality.
Another quality that contributes to the whale's symbolism is its color. Like the other aspects of the whale's appearance, its whiteness conveys contradictions. It suggests purity and goodness, but at the same time signifies emptiness and death. Becasue of the whale's blank whiteness, each crew member attaches a different meaning to the whale--just as each person attaches a different meaning to the mysteries of nature.
class discussion questions: note the one page written assignment at the end. This is due Monday November 9
MOBY DICK by HERMAN MELVILLE
1. What makes the narrator feel uncomfortable at the entrance to the Try Pots?
2. What does Ahab offer to the man who kills Moby Dick?
3. How do the men respond to his offer?
4. Why is Ahab obsessed with killing Moby Dick?
5. How does Starbuck interpret Ahab’s obsession?
6. What does Ahab tell Starbuck
right before his whale boat is lowered into the water?
7. What follows Ahab’s boat as it pulls away from the ship?
8. What happened to Captain Ahab?
9.What happened to Moby Dick?
Respond to one of the following in a one page essay.
9.What happened to Moby Dick?
Respond to one of the following in a one page essay.
DUE MONDAY NOVEMBER 9
1. In his speech at the beginning of
‘The Third Day,” Ahab expresses his
belief that people are guided by instinct
and intuition rather than reason. React to
Ahab’s view.
or
2. Given the fact that the crew of the
Pequod symbolizes humanity and Moby
Dick symbolizes everything in nature that
is paradoxical, unexplainable and uncontrollable,
what do you think the voyage of the Pequod
symbolizes?
1. In his speech at the beginning of
‘The Third Day,” Ahab expresses his
belief that people are guided by instinct
and intuition rather than reason. React to
Ahab’s view.
or
2. Given the fact that the crew of the
Pequod symbolizes humanity and Moby
Dick symbolizes everything in nature that
is paradoxical, unexplainable and uncontrollable,
what do you think the voyage of the Pequod
symbolizes?
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