Moby Dick Discussion Questions

How do the play-like scenes add to the narrative of Moby Dick?

These scenes, interspersed throughout the novel, fall broadly into two categories—dramatic dialogues among several characters and soliloquies from a single character, majorly Ahab. Ahab’s monologues are designed to reveal his innermost thoughts to the reader; something that Ishmael as a narrator cannot possibly do. Ahab needs to maintain his composure and be an authoritative figure in front of his crew. It is only in his monologues that we see the dramatic tension, the impending doom, and the struggle that he is confronted with. This adds to a holistic understanding of this deeply conflicted character, reminiscent of Shakespearean tragedy. The dialogue scenes among other characters alternate with chapters which comprise long digressions. These scenes accelerate the pace of the events when the narrative had digressed and together with the authentic-seeming dialogues among sailors, these serve to add suspense, action, and thrill to the narrative.

Several characters are perceived to be insane in Moby Dick. How does insanity add to the characterization of the novel?

Ishmael calls Ahab the mad captain. It is indeed mad to challenge a veritable force of nature. The reader sees how his obsession has morphed into insanity that hounds him to seek revenge, regardless of how many lives will be lost in the process. It is also his madness that keeps the crew enthralled, terrified to challenge him despite being aware of their inevitable death. Several other characters whom Ishmael labels as insane—Pip and Gabriel—might be understood as more wise than crazy; thus, blurring the line between insanity and wisdom. Pip’s speeches in his apparent insane state often reveal actual wisdom about life and the universe. Gabriel’s seemingly absurd predictions can be interpreted as less an effort to foresee the future and more to effect changes aboard his ship, Jeroboam. He uses the crew’s superstitions to manipulate them to garner support for himself, just like Ahab. But unlike Ahab whose “madness” is self-motivated and causes loss of lives, Gabriel’s “madness” is his reaction to unjust behavior on the part of those who control his ship.

While the Pequod seemingly has an egalitarian establishment, how does Moby Dick also reveal the exploitative nature of whaling?

Amidst the racist, prejudiced, and strictly hierarchical times in which the novel is set, the Pequod initially appears as an anomaly. The men on board are from different races and religions, and they work together harmoniously. Ishmael’s friendship with Queequeg also supports this impression. However, as the plot advances, the reader sees how class and race lines demarcate the men. The mates on the ship are all white whereas the harpooners are black. Each mate is entirely dependent on a nonwhite harpooner, who performs most of the dirty or dangerous jobs aboard the ship. Flask stands on Daggoo, his African harpooner, to beat the others to a prize whale. Pip is left on the water when a hunt goes awry. Ahab is depicted as walking over Pip, who listens to Ahab’s pacing from below deck, thus attesting that his value as a slave is less than the value of a whale.

What is the symbolic significance of Queequeg’s coffin?

The symbolism of Queequeg’s coffin changes as the novel progresses. Initially, it signifies his impending death and the tradition of his native island. The coffin is shaped like a canoe as per the custom of Kokovoko, where a corpse is set adrift in such a craft. The belief was that it would float over the ocean to the sky, which meets the sea at some point, and ultimately to one of the stars in the sky. When Queequeg decides not to die, he uses this as a sea chest, representing ongoing life on the ship. This coffin later is rigged to be a lifebuoy, thereby becoming a symbol of hope and survival for the crew. Finally, when it springs from the vortex of the Pequod’s wreckage and Ishmael uses it to save himself, it becomes a medium of his rebirth; thus, effectively, the coffin gives life to Ishmael. As it is one of the few things to survive the wreckage, the coffin serves as a continuation of tradition due to the inscriptions Queequeg had made on it before dying.

How does Ishmael interpret whiteness in Moby Dick?

Ishmael understands whiteness to be horrible because it represents the unnatural and threatening—albinos, white polar bears, white sharks, or waves breaking against rocks. The whiteness of a corpse too is immensely disturbing. In its most profound, idealized significance, it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul. White is portentous because it is indefinite, not so much a color as the visible absence of color. Moby Dick is the epitome of this whiteness, the full significance of which Ishmael fails to understand.