Moby Dick

On one level, Moby Dick is the story of the hunt for

Moby Dick, a fierce white whale supposedly known to sailors of Melville’s time. The novel brilliantly describes the dangerous, often violent life on a whaling ship, and it contains information on the whaling industry and the nature of whales.

On another level, Moby Dick is a deeply symbolic story. Some believe the whale symbolizes the mysterious, complex force of the universe; others compare Ahab, the captain of the whaling ship Pequod, to the Biblical character Job seeking justice or to the ancient Greek hero Oedipus searching for truth.