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szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
‘Moby Dick’
    2021-05-11  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

Herman Melville’s 1851 “Moby Dick” might be an extended metaphor of human vs. nature, or of the search for God. But at its root, it’s just a plain old revenge story.

Not knowing the backstory, the book’s narrator, who opens with “Call me Ishmael,” joins a Polynesian “cannibal” named Queequeg as a hand on a whaling ship, the Pequod. They hear a sermon about Jonah being swallowed up by a “great fish,” then take ship under their captain, an “ungodly, god-like man” named Ahab.

Ishmael talks of whales and of life on the ship, under men like the realistic Starbuck, the happy-go-lucky Stubb, and Flask, all of whom have harpooners who are people of color (Queequeg, a Native American, and an African).

Ahab appears at last, declaring revenge on the white whale who took off his leg below the knee, forcing him to use a whale-bone prosthesis. He offers a reward to the man who first spots this “Moby Dick,” and later brings out a hand-picked elite crew including his own harpooner, a “Parsee” (Persian) named Fedallah.

They seek information on the great white whale from nine other ships along the way, with varying success. Some of these ships, too, have had fatal encounters with the beast. For quite some time they engage in the usual business of whaling, until, after a furious typhoon, their compass fails and they are in uncharted waters.

At last, Ahab sights the whale, and claims his own reward. As they give chase, the whale bites Ahab’s whaleboat in two, dashing Ahab and the entire crew into the water. On the second day, all three of the pursuing boats are smashed into splinters. Ahab is saved, but his ivory leg and Fedallah, his harpooner, are lost. Starbuck begs Ahab to give up, but he is more resolved than ever.

On the third day, Ahab attacks again. The whale surfaces with Fedallah still lashed to its body. Ahab sinks his harpoon, and the whale attacks the whaleboat and then the Pequod itself. Ishmael is thrown into the sea, and will be the only survivor.

Ahab stabs the whale again, but the line wraps around the Captain’s neck. The whale swims away, taking Ahab with him.

Ishmael floats on a coffin for a day and a night, before being rescued by another ship.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. person who eats people

2. artificial body part

3. cheerful

4. throwing violently

5. non-white person

6. small pieces of wood

7. tied

8. heavy spear for killing whales

9. background

10. material of whale or elephant teeth

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