Moby-Dick |
Author |
Herman Melville |
Type |
Novel |
Genre |
Epic, Adventure Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Tragedy |
Written |
US, 1850-1851 |
Published |
1851 |
Tone |
Thoughtful, Reflective, Ironic, Dramatic, Hyperbolic |
Tense |
Past |
Point of View |
First-person, Third-person |
Themes |
Interaction of Man with Nature, The Limits of Human Knowledge, Fate, God’s Role in the Natural World, Good and Evil, Friendship |
Characters |
Ahab, Bulkington, Fedallah, Gardiner, Ishmael, Moby Dick, Pip, Queequeg, Starbuck, Steelkilt |
Symbols |
The White Whale, The Rope |
Motifs |
The Incomprehensibility of the Sea, Whiteness |
End |
Moby Dick wins, smashing his enormous head into Ahab's ship, the Pequod, and sinking it |
Extra Facts |
1) Moby Dick was named after a real-life whale called Mocha Dick 2) The coffee chain 'Starbucks' was named after a character in Moby-Dick 3) An extinct species of sperm whale was named after Melville |