Melville's careful assembly of the characters for the crew of the "Pequod" was done with a specific purpose in mind. Through the wide range of characters, Melville was able to represent the American society, possibly even the world, and furnish it with contrasting figures that would set the scene for all the episodes that Melville will create in "Moby Dick" to set forth his ideas. Basically, the "Pequod" is a miniature of all sections of society and civilization. It is actually broken down based on social stature, race, ethnicity, as well as on personal values.

It is obvious that whatever "Moby Dick" is, it is not a mere adventure story. It is

However, by ascending the ladder of business, Ahab continuously finds himself seeking to challenge his work, his personal life and the opinions of the people around him. Personally, I view Ahab not as an unstable personality, but rather as a product of the life that he lives. His "rise to stardom" has in turn led Ahab to personal misery. Devoting the best years of his life to work, he has isolated himself from the rest of humanity. Ahab's meals with his officers are a direct symbol of such isolation. The rigid discipline Ahab is forced to maintain as a captain severs his ties of social contact. Furthermore, by spending only three years of his life ashore, Ahab had not been able to marry till late in life and the drive to work has separated him from his wife and son. "When I think of this life I have led; the desolation of slitude it has been; the masoned, walled-town of a Captain's exclusiveness, which admits but small entrance to any sympathy from the green country without - oh, weariness! heaviness!...Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her, Starbuck; and then, the madness; and then the madness, the frenzy, the boiling blood and the smoking brow - more a demon than a man! - aye, aye! What a forty years' old fool - fool - fool, has Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? why weary, and palsy the arm at the oar, and the iron, and the lance? How the richer or better is Ahab now?" (Moby Dick, Chapter 131) It is this anguish over the years spent whaling and over the bitterness of his reward that Ahab's malcontent boils over and becomes an obsession. The loss of his limb is merely the final straw that pushes Ahab in pursuit of Moby Dick.

Free enterprise should produce goods for sale. By working for as much money as possible men made themselves and their country great, as it was their duty to do so. These were the virtues of American civilization in 1851. Arguably, these rules would apply to this very day. However, in Ahab, we are presented with a character that defies the notions, casting them aside and following his own path. In a similar fashion, Ahab scorns other American material philosophies. As Starbuck implores the captain to repair an oil leak, suggesting that the owners of the "Pequod" will not be happy, Ahab angrily admonishes the rights o

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Approximate Word count = 1533
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)