读迈尔维尔的《白鲸记》有感.doc

Herman Melville: Moby DickMoby Dick (1851), is now considered one of the classics of American literature.one of Herman Melvilles main works. Herman Melville when he was the eighteen-year-old young man,he shipped out to sea,first on a short cargo trip,then,at twenty-one,on a three-year South Sea in venture.From the experiences accumulated on this voyage would come the material for his Moby Dick. Moby dick was about Captain Ahab hates Moby Dick-“the white devil”-because he lost a leg to the white whale in a fight. Now Ahab, the captain of a whaling ship,can only think of one thing.He has to find Moby Dick and kill him. Many of the other sailors on the ship dont know about their captains plan.Ishmael is a young sailor and this is his first whaling job. He and his new friend,Queequeg,sail with Captain Ahab on this exciting-and dagerous-trip.Also on the ship are Starbuck,Srubb,and other whalers from different countries.He is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find and destroy his nemesis.A section of Whaling and Whalecraft features prose and graphics by John B. Putnam, a sample of contemporary whaling engravings, as well as, new to this edition, an engraving of Tupai Cupa, the real-life inspiration for the character of Queequeg. Evoking Melvilles fascination with the fluidity of categories like savagery and civilization, the image of Tupai Cupa fittingly introduces Before Moby-Dick: International Controversy over Melville, a new section that documents the ferocity of religions, political, and sexual hostility toward Melville in reaction to his early books, beginning with Typee in 1846. The image of Tupai Cupa also evokes Melvilles interest in the mystery of self-identity and the possibility of knowing another persons queenly personality (Chapter 119). That theme (focused on Melville, Ishmael, and Ahab) is pursued in A Handful of Critical Challenges, from Walter E. Bezansons classic centennial study through Harrison Hayfords meditation on Loomings and recent essays by Camille Paglia and John Wenke. In Reviews of Moby-Dick emphasizes the ongoing religious hostility toward Melville and highlights new discoveries, such as the first-known Scottish review of The Whale. From Foreword through Selected Bibliography, this Sesquicentennial Norton Critical Edition is uniquely valuable as the most up-to-date and comprehensive documentary source for study of Moby-Dick It is not difficult for us to guess that Melville had spent how much energy to write this work.His spirit is worthy studying.No American masterpiece casts quite as awesome a Mad Captain Ahabs Melvilles monumental Moby-Dick.Mad Captain Ahabs quest for the White Whale is a timeless a searing parable about human lost in a universe of moral ambiguity.It is the greatest sea story ever told. Far ahead of its own time,Moby-Dick was largely misunderstood and unappreciated by Melvilles contemporaries.Today,However,it is indisputably a classic. As D.H.Lawrence wrote,Moby-Dickcommands a stillness in the soul,an aweand it is one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world. Moby-Dick is a highly symbolic work, and is interesting in that it also addresses issues such as natural history. Other themes include obsession, religion, idealism versus pragmatism, revenge, racism, hierarchical relationships, and politics. All of the members of the Pequods crew have biblical-sounding, improbable, or descriptive names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events and some other similar details. These together suggest that the narratorand not just Melvilleis deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode. The white whale itself, for example, has been read as symbolically representative of good and evil, as has Ahab. The white whale has also been seen as a metaphor for the elements of life that are out of our control, or God. The Pequods quest to hunt down MobyDick itself is also widely viewed as allegorical. To Ahab, killing the whale becomes the ultimate goal in his life, and this observation can also be expanded allegorically so that the whale represents everyones goals. Furthermore, his vengeance against the whale is analogous to mans struggle against fate. The only escape from Ahabs vision is seen through the Pequods occasional encounters with other ships, called gams. Readers could consider what exactly Ahab will do if he, in fact, succeeds in his quest: having accomplished his ultimate goal, what else is there left for him to do? Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to reach for in life, or that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other concerns. Some such things are hinted at early on in the book, when the main character, Ishmael, is sharing a cold bed with his newfound friend, Queequeg. Truely to enjoy bodily warmth,some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable, and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable any more. Ahabs pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahabs life. By throwing the pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession, the killing of the white whale, Moby-Dick. After reading the work, you can easy to find its sadness. Oiginally, the seven chracters can have a peaceful life in some corner. But they cost their lives at last, only one person survived. This is whose fault? Ahab? The answer is not.maybe we can blame that society or time, because in that time, they do not know the strenghth of