Things in common

Gustavo Quintero
English 48A
December 14, 2007
Journal #33


Quote:
"...the White Whale as much their insufferable foe as his; how all this came to be-what the White Whale was to them, or how to their unconscious understandings..."(Melville 2349).


Summary:
Melville is describing the unconcious drive that the white whale invokes upon the men that chase it.

Response:
One thing in common, that I did not mention in my final essay, is that Melville and Davis both use animals as symbols. The dirty canary symbolizes opression while the white whale sumbolizes the great evil. The use of animals as symbol for human struggles or feelings is a very strong one. Humans have a very close connection to animals. Some people have such a close connection that they feel devistated when an animal passes away. This emotional connection that people share with aniamls helps make it easier to relate humans to animals. Such as in the Native American culture where when a human dies they are beleived to come back as a wolf. Also in remote amazon tribes, when a tribe member dies the are beleived to come back as a wild boar. The boar is then hunted so that they have food. What I am trying to get at is that animals as symbols serve a very important purpose. They act as a mirros capable of reflecting the inner most emotions of what a person is felling or is thinking.In the case of Moby Dick the White whale could even represent the innermoest struggle that Ahab has. He needs a way of venting his anger and frustration so he does it by making it his mission to chase down the infamous white whale.
The use of animals as symbols could even act as a mirror that reflects what Melville and Davis were feeling while they were writing thier respective stories.