So, I finally finished Moby Dick, and I was really excited when I did. Prof. Wickman told us that we would be thrilled by the last thirty pages, and I really did think that they delivered. I was surprised to find, that in the final battle I was rooting for Moby Dick. I think that is what Herman Melville intended, but you would think after spending all that time on the boat with the crew, I would have been rooting for them a little bit more.
I know we talked about this quite a bit in class, but I was thinking about all the different things that Moby Dick represents. Yes, he represents a lot of things in terms of the text, but I think where he becomes the most relatable to the reader is when you start to kind of think of what your "white whales" are. The things that you just obsess over. Projects? Relationships? Something that happend that you still can't get off your mind? Something you are certain is going to happen and you can't stop thinking about it? Really I should maybe be more sympathetic with Ahab. I am certainly not putting my life or anyone else's in danger, but we still all have those things that we dwell on a little too much. Or really we should probably be learning from Ahab. Learning to let go of "white whales." Cause well, now that I finished reading Moby Dick, I know that Moby Dick eventually wins.
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I know we talked about this quite a bit in class, but I was thinking about all the different things that Moby Dick represents. Yes, he represents a lot of things in terms of the text, but I think where he becomes the most relatable to the reader is when you start to kind of think of what your "white whales" are. The things that you just obsess over. Projects? Relationships? Something that happend that you still can't get off your mind? Something you are certain is going to happen and you can't stop thinking about it? Really I should maybe be more sympathetic with Ahab. I am certainly not putting my life or anyone else's in danger, but we still all have those things that we dwell on a little too much. Or really we should probably be learning from Ahab. Learning to let go of "white whales." Cause well, now that I finished reading Moby Dick, I know that Moby Dick eventually wins.
I love where you took this post. Recently some articles about the prevalence of porn among schoolkids in the UK have been coming up in my newsfeed. You could say that porn is totally their white whale: their obsession puts horrible things into their head, which they eventually enact. And like you said there are so many other white whales, with varying levels of addiction. If a person keeps going with it, like Ahab does, they're caught in it, they hurt everyone around you, and the white whale, not you, is the winner.
ReplyDeleteJim Gaffigan does a piece where he talks about McDonald's in this same way. He also talks about how people who don't like McD's will look down on the people who do eat there, thinking that they are better in some way. But we really do each have our own "white whale." Everyone is obsessed with something, even if it is saying that we are not obsessed with anything. I love that you point out that we should learn from Ahab, because if we become monomaniac as he does, Moby Dick will win. But if we manage to learn from it, it becomes the spiral that Dr. Burton posted about and talked about in class.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, the internet has introduced a whole new world of white whales. I think the key is to learn from Ahab, we can't allow these white whales to control us, we must be in control of them. I like Melody's comment about the spiral effect. Because it's true! There's so much good out there, and as long as we're striving for that, and learning from the bad, then the internet is a great thing!
ReplyDeleteCan a white whale ever be a good thing? I mean, do obsessions serve a purpose beyond destroying us? I think a lot of the "great men and women" in history certainly were chasing white whales. Mozart, Van Goethe, Napolean, Alexander the Great, Edison, Joan of Arc...certainly all of them had obsessions or inner demons that drove them to there greatness. Whether it was depression, the lust for victory and power, or simply the all abiding need to do God's will, these figures were certainly chasing things. I'm sure in the process people around them got hurt, they hurt themselves, and bad things happened...but did any good come out of it as well?
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