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长春理工大学读书报告

本科生读书报告

A Book Report on

Moby-Dick

学

生

姓

名

专

业

班

级

学

号

学

院

琚俊燕

英语

101011425

外国语学院

长春理工大学读书报告

The Background and the Author

Moby- Dick

or,

The Whale

is a novel written by Herman Melville. Herman Melville (August

1, 1819

–

September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and

poet.

He

is

best

known

for

his

novel

Moby-Dick

.

His

first

three

books

gained

much

contemporary

attention

,

but

after

a

fast-blooming

literary

success

in

the

late

1840s,

his

popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime.

Moby-dick

is considered to be one of the Great American Novels and a treasure of world

literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the

whaleship Pequod,

commanded by

Captain

Ahab.

Ishmael

soon learns that

Ahab has one

purpose on this voyage: to seek out Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale.

In

a

previous

encounter,

the

whale

destroyed

Ahab's

boat

and

bit

off

his

leg,

which

now

drives Ahab to take revenge.

Moby-Dick

was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851, in an

expurgated three-volume edition titled The Whale, and weeks later as a single volume, by

New York City publisher Harper and Brothers as

Moby- Dick

or The Whale on November 14,

1851.

In

Moby-Dick

, Melville employs stylized language, symbolism, and the metaphor to explore

numerous complex themes. It is regarded as the first American prose epic. It is difficult to

read

because

much

of

the

talk

in

the

novel

is

sailor’s

talk

and

much

of

the

language

is

purposely old-fashioned and Elizabethan. But

Moby-Dick

is not merely a whaling tale or sea

adventure,

considering

that

Melville

is

a

great

symbolist.

It

turns

out

to

be

a

symbolic

voyage

of

the

mind

in

quest

of

the

truth

and

knowledge

of

the

universe,

a

spiritual

exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology.

Moby-Dick

begins with the line

me Ishmael.

most recognizable opening lines in Western literature.

Through the journey of the main characters, the concepts of class and social status, good and

evil, and the existence of God are all examined, as the main characters speculate upon their

personal beliefs and their places in the universe. The narrator's reflections, along with his

descriptions of a sailor's life aboard a whaling ship, are woven into the narrative along with

Shakespearean

literary

devices,

such

as

stage

directions,

extended

soliloquies,

and

asides.

The

book

portrays

destructive

obsession

and

monomania,

as

well

as

the

assumption

of

ant hropomorphism

—

projecting

human

instincts,

characteristics

and

motivations

onto

animals. Moby-Dick is ruthless in attacking the sailors who attempt to hunt and kill him, but

it is Ahab who invests Moby Dick's natural instincts with malignant and evil intentions. In

fact,

it

is

not

the

whale

but

the

crippled

Ahab

who

alone

possesses

this

characteristic.

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长春理工大学读书报告

Moby- Dick

has been classified as American Romanticism. The book initially received mixed

reviews, but

Moby- Dick

is now considered part of the Western canon,and at the center of the

canon of American novels.

Characters in the Novel

The

crew-members

of

the

Pequod

are

carefully

drawn

stylizations

of

human

types

and

habits; critics have often described the crew as a

members, and as there were thirty states in the union at the time, it has been suggested that,

in

its

diversity,

Melville

meant

the

Pequod

to

be

a

metaphor

for

America.

The

main

character is Ishmael. The name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts

—

in the opening paragraph of

Moby-Dick

, Ishmael tells the reader that he has turned to the sea

out of a feeling of alienation from human society. In the last line of the book, Ishmael also

refers

to

himself

symbolically

as

an

orphan,

which

maintains

the

Biblical

connection

and

emphasises

the

representation

of

outcasts.

In

the

Book

of

Genesis,

Ishmael

is

the

of

Abraham

and

his

wife's

maidservant,

Hagar,

whom

his

barren

wife,

Sarah,

gives

to

her

husband so he may have a son. When Sarah finally bears a son, Isaac, she decides Ishmael

would not be a good influence on Isaac and therefore has Abraham exile Hagar and Ishmael

into the desert.

Ishmael has a rich literary background (he has previously been a schoolteacher), which he

brings to bear on his shipmates and events that occur while at sea. His assurance that

alone escaped to tell you

is the messenger's admonishment in Job 1.

The second important character is Ahab. He is the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is

driven by a monomaniacal desire to kill Moby Dick, the whale that had maimed him off the

coast of Japan during a previous whaling voyage. Although he is a Quaker, he seeks revenge

in

defiance

of

his

religion's

well-known

pacifism.

Ahab's

Biblical

namesake

is

the

evil

idol-worshipping ruler in the Book of Kings, and this association prompts Ishmael to ask,

after first hearing Ahab's

name:

that wicked king was slain, the dogs,

did

they not

lick his blood?

—

Moby-Dick , Chapter 16.

associations of such a name, he is rebuked by one of Ahab's colleagues, who points out that

Little information is provided about Ahab's life prior to meeting Moby Dick, although it is

known that he was orphaned at a young age. When discussing the purpose of his quest with

Starbuck, it is revealed that he first began whaling at eighteen and has continued in the trade

for forty years making him 58 years of age and having spent less than three on land. He also

mentions his

young son, but

does not

give their names.

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