America aboard the Pequod
A deceiving ship sailing through the ocean appears to be an island of equality but is actually a symbol of doom. “...then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul ” (Melville). In Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick”, Melville creates an image of America and its qualities through a ship called the Pequod while also creating a sailing coffin for his crew.
In Moby Dick, Melville writes about a ship called the Pequod. The Pequod is a melting pot, just like the country it is created in the image of, with its crew of mixed races and religion. Also like America, the crew was made of 30 men, while America had 30 states in the union. The Pequod was named after an American Indian Tribe that was located in Massachusetts. “PEQUOD, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians; now extinct as the ancient Medes” (Melville). The boat is named after the tribe because it is an illusion to destruction. …show more content…
The tribe it is named after was attacked by the Puritans, which is why it is a symbol of destruction. “It is clear that Melville means for Ahab and the mariners to stand for all the nations of the earth "federated along one keel"; the doomed Pequod, in this sense, represents the world. The Clootz reference also suggests that the mariners have a grievance against the existential order of the world and are in sympathy with a rebellion against the providential scheme of things. Also important in this novel is Ishmael, a naive young American sailor who has gone to sea to rid himself of a recurrent melancholia that tends toward suicide or violence toward others” (Tuttleton 3). The doom and destruction in the story just show Melville’s gothic romanticized style of
A deceiving ship sailing through the ocean appears to be an island of equality but is actually a symbol of doom. “...then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul ” (Melville). In Herman Melville’s novel “Moby Dick”, Melville creates an image of America and its qualities through a ship called the Pequod while also creating a sailing coffin for his crew.
In Moby Dick, Melville writes about a ship called the Pequod. The Pequod is a melting pot, just like the country it is created in the image of, with its crew of mixed races and religion. Also like America, the crew was made of 30 men, while America had 30 states in the union. The Pequod was named after an American Indian Tribe that was located in Massachusetts. “PEQUOD, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians; now extinct as the ancient Medes” (Melville). The boat is named after the tribe because it is an illusion to destruction. …show more content…
The tribe it is named after was attacked by the Puritans, which is why it is a symbol of destruction. “It is clear that Melville means for Ahab and the mariners to stand for all the nations of the earth "federated along one keel"; the doomed Pequod, in this sense, represents the world. The Clootz reference also suggests that the mariners have a grievance against the existential order of the world and are in sympathy with a rebellion against the providential scheme of things. Also important in this novel is Ishmael, a naive young American sailor who has gone to sea to rid himself of a recurrent melancholia that tends toward suicide or violence toward others” (Tuttleton 3). The doom and destruction in the story just show Melville’s gothic romanticized style of