15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
[[File:Moby Dick one.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Herman Melville]]__NOTOC__
There are many candidates for the title of the ‘Great American Novel.’ One of the book’s that is often cited as the greatest American novel of all time is ‘Moby Dick’ <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393285006/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0393285006&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=b4c55d8d7996ba589e02a187eb6e441a Moby Dick]</i> (1851). This book is one of the best-known novels in the English language and has been translated into almost every language. It is perhaps not only the most famous novel about whaling but also the most famous novel about the sea that was ever written.
A famous Hollywood movie, starring Gregory Peck, based on the novel was made in 1967, and the work also inspired a mini-series, starring Ethan Hawke (2011). The story of the obsessive Captain Ahab and his pursuit of the White Whale have entered the popular imagination. Was the novel based on a real-life historical event and figures?
====The plot of the novel====
[[File: Moby Dick Two.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Ahab and the whale]]
The novel opens with the narrator Ishmael looking for a ship. He is a man who is seeking a purpose in life. He signs up to serve on a whaling ship the Pequod in Nantucket. The captain of the ship is Ahab, who throughout the novel is shown to be an unstable man possessed with a desire top to kill the white whale.
Ishmael meets a host of colorful characters on-board the ship including Queequeg, and Fedallah, both harpooners. Captain Ahab has lost his leg in an encounter with a gigantic white sperm whale, and his desire for revenge consumes him. He nails a gold coin to the mast and states that he will give it to the first man who sees the whale, the legendary Moby Dick. Ishmael soon realizes that this is not a typical whaling mission but a revenge mission.
