This Is The End, My Only Freind, The End

Needless, to say I felt the ending of the book was the epitome of the sublime, with the end being unattainable. Sadly, Ahab dies and brings the ship and the crew down with him, spare one survivor. But what would have happened if Ahab had killed the whale, I wonder? Would it be a happy ending, one of completion, a satisfying conclusion. Perhaps. But I like it this way better. For if Ahab were to attain his goal and kill the whale, the book would have a completely different significance. I think Melville was hitting on the notion of the subliminal as it appears to us in nature. We are small in the face of Moby Dick, and the world alike. But that's what drove Ahab, this curiosity in wanting to accomplish something that was bigger than he was. Mody Dick took something from Ahab that made him incapable of being a full human, it made him realize his own insignificance. Ahab, fighting these feelings rebelled with a sense of curiosity and drive. His demise should be taken as a illustration that we can never capture the essence of the sublime, but if we have the same drive that Ahab had for the whale, as we can have for the world, we will become more than we can possibly imagine.

Ahab vs. Ahab

I have been thinking about the notion of Ahab, as a character, or even as a person independent of all other preconceived ideas. It was mentioned that this class will be the first time most of us have read the novel, and that given we have heard the story before it will be like a second reading. I feel this was the case with me, as I read I knew basically what would happen, but actually reading it gave it a whole new perspective. This being said Ahab, was known to be as the crazy captain that pursued the white whale, I was unaware of his multiple personalities that seemed to exist in him. Chapter CIX gave me a glimpse of the two Ahab's that existed. After Starbuck confronts him he says, "What's that he said- Ahab beware of Ahab- there's something there!" He is not even fully aware of this double self, yet he does not blatantly deny its existence. As was mentioned in class Ahab is a rehashing of many characters, one being Hamlet, and I think this characteristic is very Hamletish. The idea that Hamlet may or may not be pretending to go mad, relates to Ahab's lack of recognition of his double self. In both cases we as readers have a sense that they know that they might be going insane, but the line gets fuzzier as the story progresses. We see them break down and become desperate for revenge, causing their judgment to become clouded. To be Ahab or not to be Ahab, that's the question, right?