Moby Dick
Ahab's white quarry
Moby Dick is the white sperm whale in Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name, pursued obsessively by Captain Ahab.
The whale has become a symbol of nature's indifference, unknowable forces, or any goal pursued to the point of self-destruction: This project has become his Moby Dick.
The novel itself is often invoked as a byword for ambitious, difficult literary works.
Giant toothed marine mammal
- harpoonBarbed spear for whales
- blubberMarine mammal fat
- ambergrisWhale-produced perfume fixative
- spermacetiWhale-derived waxy substance
flensing · rendering · whale oil · scrimshaw · Nantucket · New Bedford · whaleboat · lance
Fixation on single idea
- vengeanceRetaliation for injury
- revengePunishing a wrongdoer
- fixationPersistent mental attachment
- pursuitAct of chasing something
Ahab · fanaticism · madness · hubris · defiance · fate · doom · destruction
- IshmaelCast-out firstborn son
- PequodFictional whaling ship
- coffinBurial container for remains
- doubloonHistoric Spanish gold currency
Queequeg · Captain Ahab · Starbuck · whiteness · chapter · narrative · prose · allegory
Fictional whaling ship
- sailingWind-propelled water travel
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- oceanMassive saltwater body
- AtlanticOcean bordering Europe
Pacific · Cape Horn · equator · crew · forecastle · quarterdeck · masthead · crow's nest
U.S. written works
- American Renaissance1850s literary-philosophical flourishing
- nineteenth centuryYears 1801-1900
- 1851Four-digit date
- canonAccepted authoritative works
masterpiece · epic · Penguin Classics · first edition · Hawthorne · dedication · revival · rediscovery
sperm whale
Giant toothed marine mammal
spermaceti · flensing · rendering · whale oil · scrimshaw · Nantucket · New Bedford · whaleboat · lance · leviathan
monomania
Fixation on single idea
Ahab · pursuit · fanaticism · madness · hubris · defiance · fate · doom · destruction · relentless
Herman Melville
Queequeg · Captain Ahab · Starbuck · doubloon · whiteness · chapter · narrative · prose · allegory · symbolism
Pequod
Fictional whaling ship
- sailingWind-propelled water travel
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- oceanMassive saltwater body
Atlantic · Pacific · Cape Horn · equator · crew · forecastle · quarterdeck · masthead · crow's nest · lookout
American literature
U.S. written works
- American Renaissance1850s literary-philosophical flourishing
- nineteenth centuryYears 1801-1900
- 1851Four-digit date
canon · masterpiece · epic · Penguin Classics · first edition · Hawthorne · dedication · revival · rediscovery · scholarship
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby
- Maritime BooksMaster and Commander, Treasure Island, Captains Courageous, The Sea Wolf, Billy Budd
- sea lorekraken, mermaids, mermaid, sea serpent, sirens
- Sea Storiessea voyages, Odyssey, nautical tales, Robinson Crusoe, shipwreck story
- Voyage StoriesOdyssey, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Life of Pi
- American ClassicsThe Scarlet Letter, Walden, Leaves of Grass, Little Women, Huck Finn