LITERATURE FORM 3 MOBY DICK BY HERMAN MERVILLE

Tuesday
23rd March 2021

Prepared by
Teacher Nor Yusrina binti Ahmad @ Saifuddin

SMK Sungai Isap Kuantan

THE
AUTHOR

• 1819 born in New York
• 1830 family bankrupt
• 1832-1832 family falls apart and Herman drops out of school
• 1839 first voyage at sea
• 1841-1848 experiences at sea and 37 books about them.
• 1851 Moby Dick
• 1866 – 1886 Job in Custom House
• 1891 H.M dies
• 1920 H.M rediscovered as an author.

WHALING:
THE BACKGROUND

Whale Ships

• In the days before the • Voyages would often last for four years. Life on
discovery of petroleum, board a whale ship was hard and killing whales was
whale oil supplied the extremely dangerous.
fuel lamps.
• Once the harpooners had speared the whale, their
• In addition, the whale boats would be dragged along by the whale trying
was the source of a to escape.
bony substance called
baleen, used in various • Once the whale was dead, it would be brought on
household products. board and its blubber (layer of fat) would be cut off
and all the valuable parts preserved.

• A whaling ship would typically kill about 40 whales
on a four year voyage.

• If you survived the journey, you could make a lot of
money.

Whaleships were floating
factories and warehouses.

CHARACTERS

Main Characters Minor Characters

Ishmael Pip
Queequeg Captain Boomer

Moby Dick Stubb
Captain Ahab Fedallah
Elijah
Starbuck Captain Gardiner

Other whalers
– Tashtego, Daggoo, Bildad, Flask, Manxman

TIME SETTING SOCIAL

• Mid 19th PLACE • Whaling industry
century • Sailors / wailers
The Pequod The Atlantic Ocean • Whale oil for lamps
• 1840’s
The Pacific Ocean
Nantucket

Important events: Important events: Important events: Important events:
• Captain Ahab throws away the map.
• Nantucket is an important port for • The Pequod is a whaling ship • The crew catches many whales in • The Pequod experiences a big storm.
whaling ships. captained by Ahab. the ocean.
• Captain Ahab spots Moby Dick and a
• Ishmael arrives here and looks • The crew sees Captain Ahab • The Pequod comes across many fierce battle ensues.
for a job. here for the first time. ships and sometimes the captains
come on board for a visit. • Captain Ahab is thrown into the sea
• Ishmael and Queequeg meet and • The crew learns that Captain and disappears, presumably dead.
become friends. Ahab is obsessed with Moby • One night, Moby Dick is spotted
Dick, the white whale. but swims away. • The Pequod sinks and everyone on
• Both find work on board the board drowns.
Pequod. • Ishmael meets many people • Pip, the cook boy, falls into the • Ishmael is saved by the Rachel.
on the ship, each with their own ocean during a whaling trip.
• Ishmael is warned by an old man story. • Queequeg falls ill.
called Elijah about Captain Ahab.

PLOT The crew finally attacks Moby Dick in the Pacific Ocean. The battle goes on for three days. On
the first day, the men spear the whale with their harpoons, but without success. Moby Dick then
swims away. On the second day, the crew is able to harpoon the whale. However, Ahab's boat is
once again hit by the whale. On the third and final day, Ahab manages to throw his harpoon into
the side of Moby Dick. But Moby Dick rams into the Pequod and destroys it.

The captain of the ship is called Ahab, a Climax
mysterious man who rarely makes an
appearance. One day, he meets the crew Everyone on the ship drowns except for
and offers gold to the first man who spots Ishmael, who manages to hold onto
a big white whale whom he calls Moby Queequeg's coffin for two days. He is
Dick. It soon becomes clear that the eventually rescued by another ship.
purpose of the voyage is to kill Moby Dick.

Exposition Resolution

The story begins with Ishmael arriving in the whaling Ishmael reflects on his experience on the
town of Nantucket. He hopes to be a whaler and looks for Pequod.. He is able to tell his story, and
a job in a whaling ship. He befriends a foreigner called also tell the readers that Moby Dick is still
Queequeg and they both find a job on board the Pequod. out there somewhere.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The white whale, also known as Moby Dick haunted Ishmael. It lived in the ocean and often

appeared in his dreams.
The whale looked whiter than snow and the stars in the sky. But it could bring death!
Ishmael went to Nantucket town where the first American whalers sailed from. He arrived at
a bar, late at night asking for a vacant room.
He did not bother to argue when he was put into a room with an unknown whaler, called

Queequeg.

When Queequeg came into the room, he was quite afraid of the man who was huge and
looked very ugly.
The barman came into the room when he heard a shout and introduced Queequeg to
Ishmael.
Then, they began to talk and share the stories of their lives.
By morning, both became great friends.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The next morning, Ishmael went to look for a whaling ship. He decided to sail on The Pequod, a tall,

strong ship.
He met Starbuck, the person in-charge to register his name.

Starbuck kept trying to deter Ishmael by telling him about the captain of the ship, Captain Ahab.

Ishmael insisted that he was not afraid of becoming a whaler and wrote his name in a big book.
Queequeg decided to show the men on the ship his skill at using a harpoon, so he hit a small, dead
bird which was very far.
Everyone became quiet as they could see Queequeg was much better than any of them.

Queequeg and Ishmael were stopped by an old man, Elijah.

When Ishmael confirmed they were sailing with Captain Ahab, Elijah shouted that the captain was a
devil and his men were the devil's helpers.

The Pequod sailed on Christmas morning but Captain Ahab did not meet his crew members.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

Captain Ahab stayed below the ship for three weeks.
One day, he suddenly appeared in front of his men.
He was thin but strong, had a hard face with wrinkles acquired from the years of sun and wind.
Ishmael could see a white line that ran down from the top of his head.
Ishmael also noticed his white whalebone leg.
Captain Ahab showed them some gold which he would give to the first person who could see the
white whale that bit his leg and managed to elude him.
Captain Ahab declared war against the evil whale and offered gold as an incentive to get his men to
help him in his quest.

Only Starbuck was daring enough to tell the captain that the hunt for the white whale for revenge was

wrong.

Later that night, while putting out water, Pip told Ishmael that he could hear voices of men below the

ship.
Ishmael could not hear anything and dismissed Pip's comment, telling him that it was the sound of
the ocean.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

Tashtego announced the first sighting of a whale from the top of the ship.

Captain Ahab quickly instructed the whalers to get the whaling boats ready.
Five men with dark faces, wearing strange, wide pants appeared beside Captain Ahab.

One of them wore a strange white hat, and was called Fedallah.

None of the whalers felt afraid as they only thought about money, oil and gold!
Queequeg was ready with a harpoon when suddenly the whale came under the boat, tossing the men and
their harpoons into the water.
The heavy rain filled their boat with water and strong winds brought down the sails of the boat.
It was already night time and they were clueless of their whereabouts.

Then, they saw a large black thing which turned out to be The Pequod.
Stubb shouted that the boat was going to hit them so they jumped into the water.

They shouted for help and were pulled up onto the ship.
Captain Ahab's men were already on the ship as they had turned back before the rain.
One reason could be because it was not a white whale that they had seen.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

After the first sighting of the whale, the men killed many other whales.
After killing the whales, they had to cut off large squares of fat from the dead bodies and cooked them to get oil. The
oil was stored into big barrels kept below the ship.
The oil was 'money' to them because it could be sold to people around the world.
Nonetheless, Captain Ahab did not think of money because his mind was only occupied with Moby Dick. When other
ships passed by, Captain Ahab's only question was, "Did you see the white whale?"
One of the ships was the Albatross which looked like it was heading home. Captain Ahab asked them to deliver his
message to the people at home that he and his men were going to search the white whale and bring back its teeth.
Starbuck stood and watched him, wondering why the captain never thought about his family-his wife and child.
Ishmael thought about other men with families waiting for them.
One day, The Samuel Enderby passed their ship. The ocean was quite so its captain came on board The Pequod.
They saw that he only had one arm which he admitted was lost to the white whale. Captain Ahab was happy as he
thought of having an accomplice to kill the whale.
Instead, Captain Boomer declined to do so and preferred to leave it alone.
Captain Ahab was very angry and chased Captain Boomer out of his ship.
Captain Boomer prayed that Captain Ahab would never find Moby Dick.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

Captain Ahab stayed in his room, planning how to find Moby Dick.
He did not have much sleep and only talked to Fedallah.
They could hear the two talking. Captain Ahab shouted angrily but Fedallah spoke quitely.
Fedallah watched for whales at night and slept during the day. He did not mix with the other men.
Ishmael had heard from other whalers that Fedallah could see into the future but he was quite doubtful about it.
One night, Starbuck went into the captain's room and saw him asleep at his table. He quitely told Captain Ahab
that he was taking everyone towards their deaths with his crazy dream of killing Moby Dick.
That night, Fedallah spotted a white whale. Ishmael woke the other men and they could see the white whale in
the dark. Captain Ahab shouted for the crew to put up their sails.
They were to go after the whale but it moved so swiftly that they lost it.
Queequeg said that the white whale would come back again and he was right.
The whale appeared again at almost the same time for two consecutive nights.
Captain Ahab thought it as a sign that the whale wanted them to trail it.
Ishmael and the other crew members had no choice but to abide with Captain Ahab's wish.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The Pequod lost sight of Moby Dick and now hunted for other whales.

Pip enjoyed working in the kitchen. However, he was forced to row in a whaling boat when one of Stubb's men
broke an arm. Pip was unwilling and afraid, but he obeyed.

On the second trip, Tashtego's harpoon hit a whale, which angrily attacked the boat. The frightened Pip
jumped out of the boat! Pip was caught in Tashtego's harpoon rope. The whale pulled Pip away with it. An
angry Starbuck ordered Tashtego to cut the rope to free the boy.

Stubb warned the boy not to jump again.

On the third trip, Pip again jumped out of the boat, but this time Stubb left Pip in the ocean and chased after
the whale.

When they had caught the whale, Stubb sent the Pequod for Pip.

By then, Pip was so scared that he had lost his mind, thinking that Captain Ahab was God.

Pip started following Captain Ahab around. Surprisingly, Captain Ahab was a different man with Pip and was
always kind to the boy.
• Starbuck was worried and shouted at Pip to tell him that Ahab was not God! However, Pip did not seem to
understand

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

A few days later, some oil barrels started leaking. Starbuck wanted to stop the ship so that the barrels could be changed.
However, the captain refused as he believed that they were near Moby Dick and could not afford to lose a day's sailing.
Starbuck was afraid and angry at the same time. He reminded Captain Ahab that the oil was money to feed all the men's
families.
Captain Ahab threatened Starbuck with his gun and refused to stop the ship. Starbuck slowly turned away but warned
Captain Ahab to be careful, because Ahab was the real problem.
Later that day. Captain Ahab changed his mind and allowed the ship to stop. Starbuck was pleased.
The men worked non-stop for three days in the hot rooms (holds) inside the ship. Only Queequeg and some of the
strongest men could move the heavy barrels. Some men became sick after that.
Queequeg slept on deck that night to avoid the hot rooms, but fell sick the next day because the deck was too cold. His
fever caused him to lose his sight and speech. Ishmael took care of him.
After two days, Queequeg asked the men to make his coffin as he believed that he was going to die.
Queequeg asked them to put his harpoon and some provisions in the coffin. Then, he slept in the coffin to try it out.
Ishmael and the men were very sad. After some time, Queequeg recovered and returned to work. The coffin was kept with
the oil barrels.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The Pequod had sailed into the Pacific Ocean.
They killed four whales in a day and had to struggle to cut the fat off while watching out for sharks that kept coming.
Captain Ahab and his men slept in their boat. Only Fedallah was not sleeping. He watched out for sharks.
Suddenly Captain Ahab woke up, feeling afraid
He was awakened by the same dream he had before in which he died and saw his coffin.
Fedallah told Captain Ahab that he would die first and Captain Ahab would be killed by a rope.
The next day Captain Ahab was heard shouting. He was angry at the maps and threw all of them into the water.
Starbuck was stunned! He said that a ship would not be able to sail without maps.
The men were worried and talked of bad things that might happen.
Not long after that, the ship was struck by a bad storm and was tossed by waves as high as the mountain and came crashing down.
The men were astounded. They could not stand, think or move.
Starbuck told Captain Ahab that it was a sign that they should turn back. The ship was quite in a bad condition too.
Captain Ahab was undeterred and would kill anyone who tried to turn the ship around.
When the wind stopped, Starbuck went into Captain Ahab's room and saw the captain was asleep at the table.
Starbuck took hold of the gun and spoke quietly to himself, contemplating whether to kill Captain Ahab or not.
Leaving Captain Ahab alive would bring disaster to them. Ishmael wanted Starbuck to kill him.
After some time, Starbuck put down the gun as he was unable to do it.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The Pequod met the Rachel after the typhoon. Captain Gardiner of the Rachel sadly reported

that Moby Dick had pulled one of his boats into the sea.
Captain Gardiner asked Captain Ahab to help him look for the boat as his only son was in it.
Captain Ahab declined. The whalers were sympathetic but helpless.
After this, Captain Ahab got ready for the fight with Moby Dick. He warned Pip to stay in his
room all the time and Pip obeyed.
From then on, Captain Ahab and Fedallah stayed on deck day and night, silent and constantly
watching out for Moby Dick.
One morning a black bird flew to Captain Ahab's head and circled it several times. Then, it
flew off with his hat. The whalers feared that this was a bad omen.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

Some days later, Captain Ahab and Starbuck stood together watching for whales. Then Captain Ahab spoke to him, revealing his sad
life.
Starbuck again pleaded to him that they should go home so they could see their sons.
Captain Ahab suddenly changed and remembered about Moby Dick. Starbuck felt very sad because he had hoped that Captain
Ahab would change his mind.
The next morning, Captain Ahab saw the white whale. Captain Ahab instructed his men to get the boats.
He asked Starbuck to stay in the ship so he would be able to see his wife and child again.
Moby Dick came out of the water and the men could see harpoons in his body from his fights with whalers.
The whale went down again and they waited hours for him to appear again. Tashtego saw the birds flying in the sky which meant
the whale was nearby.
Then, the huge white whale suddenly came up under Captain Ahab's boat. The whale took the boat out of water and the men jumped
into the ocean.
Only Captain Ahab stayed in the boat, trying to fight him.
The whale swam around Captain Ahab and his boat slowly before swimming faster.
The Pequod started sailing towards Moby Dick as if to hit him but the whale quickly went down under the water and did not come
back.
When they were back on board, the captain went to get his gold and said it belonged to him because he saw the whale first.
However, he still offered it to his men but none of them interested anymore because they were afraid.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

It was the second day and Moby Dick was sighted again hundreds of metres away.
Three boats went after him and in an hour, the boats were in different places around him.
Their harpoons rained down on him. The ropes of the harpoon pulled their boats nearer to his body.
Suddenly the whale started swimming round and round, pulling hard on the ropes and the boats got
closer to each other. Two of the boats hit each other sending woods and harpoons everywhere.
The boats broke and the men had to wait for The Pequod to rescue them.
Captain Ahab was helped by Starbuck because he had lost his whalebone leg and could not walk.
The captain was in bad condition, yet he was still determined to kill Moby Dick.
Suddenly, the captain remembered Fedallah as he was not seen anywhere.
Captain Ahab's face went white.
Ishmael recalled Fedallah's words that he would go first and show Captain Ahab the way, which
Captain Ahab would follow from this world.

CHAPTER
SUMMARY

The third day turned out to be a beautiful, bright and shiny day.
Captain Ahab was on the watch for the white whale again and his time was rewarded when Moby Dick appeared two hours later.
Ishmael felt weird when he heard Starbuck talking to his wife and wondered whether Starbuck could sense the end of their voyage.
Captain Ahab asked Starbuck to take in-charge of the ship whilst he fought the whale.
Starbuck pleaded for him to abandon his plan but he refused.
There was only one boat left and Ishmael had to join the captain and his other men. Nobody talked as they sat waiting for the whale to reappear.
The whale suddenly appeared and hit their boat and as he did, the men could see Fedallah's body dangling on the whale.
Captain Ahab threw his harpoon which hit and hurt Moby Dick.
The whale became angry and hit the boat again. Ishmael fell into the water.
Flask shouted that Moby Dick was going to hit The Pequod.
The noise was loud when the Pequod was hit and water ran through it.
Captain Ahab felt sad because he was not on his ship went it was sinking. He became very furious and threw his harpoon towards the whale.
Moby Dick turned and swam fast, pulling the small boat with Captain Ahab behind him.
Captain Ahab struggled trying to cut the rope but failed.
The rope went around his body and he was pulled up before the rope broke free. The men tried to find Captain Ahab but he was not found anywhere.
Ishmael could see Queequeg holding on to the sail just before the ship went under water.
As the ship went down, it pulled the whaling boat together with all the men in it.
Ishmael found Queequeg's coffin floating on the water so he climbed onto it and drifted in the middle of the ocean for two days and two nights
He saw a small sail far away, which turned out to be The Rachel. The men on board thought he was their captain's son. Nevertheless, they rescued
Ishmael and treated him well.

THEMES • Captain Ahab was persistent of finding and killing Moby Dick
• He said that he would be free and felt self-satisfaction only after he had
Revange
Fate accomplished his job.

Death • The ship had been fated to have bad fortune as being foreseen by Elijah, who
thought Captain Ahab as a devil and his men as the devil’s helpers
Friendship
• The other whalers thought that it was fate which they could not avoid.
The Power of
Nature • Captain Ahab escaped death when he only lost a leg to the white whale.
• His mission of pursuing the large whale could bring death for his whalers and other

crew members.
• As a result, The Pequod was doomed towards a disastrous ending for everyone on

board the ship.

• At the end of the story, Queequeg indirectly helped Ishmael when his coffin floated
to Ishmael.

• Ishmael climbed onto the coffin whilst thinking that his friend had helped him for the
last time.

• The ocean was used to portray how men could use nature to their advantage.
• Storms were a threat to ships sailing at sea.
• The white whale could be a symbol of power as it was very big as well as strong.

MORAL be forgiving be brave in
VALUES to others time of need

show and We must be cooperative
appreciate the love always with everyone

we have be tolerance to
live in harmony
help others who
are in need

The end