Topic Discussion Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet.Moby-Dick is not merely a whaling tale or sea adventure, considering that Herman Melville is a great symbolist. Please make an analysis on this viewpoint.
LIKE HAWTHORNE, MELVILLE IS A MASTER OF ALLEGORY AND SYMBOLISM. INSTEAD OF PUTTING THE BATTLE BETWEEN AHAB AND THE BIG WHALE INTO SIMPLE STATEMENTS, HE USED SYMBOLS, THAT IS, OBJECTS OR PERSONS WHO REPRESENT SOMETHING ELSE. DIFFERENT PEOPLE ON BOARD THE SHIP ARE REPRESENTATIONS OF DIFFERENT IDEAS AND DIFFERENT SOCIAL AND ETHNIC GROUPS; FACTS BECOME SYMBOLS AND INCIDENTS ACQUIRE UNIVERSAL MEANINGS; THE PEQUOD IS THE MICROCOSM OF HUMAN SOCIETY AND THE VOYAGE BECOMES A SEARCH FOR TRUTH. THE WHITE WHALE, MOBY DICK, SYMBOLIZES NATURE FOR MELVILLE, FOR IT IS COMPLEX, UNFATHOMABLE, MALIGNANT, AND BEAUTIFUL AS WELL. FOR THE CHARACTER AHAB, HOWEVER, THE WHALE REPRESENTS ONLY EVIL. MOBY DICK IS LIKE A WALL, HIDING SOME UNKNOWN, MYSTERIOUS THINGS BEHIND. AHAB WILLS THE WHOLE CREW ON THE PEQUOD TO JOIN HIM IN THE PURSUIT OF THE BIG WHALE SO AS TO PIERCE THE WALL, TO ROOT OUT THE EVIL, BUT ONLY TO BE DESTROYED BY EVIL, IN THIS CASE, BY HIS OWN CONSUMING DESIRE, HIS MADNESS. FOR THE AUTHOR, AS WELL AS FOR THE READER AND ISHMAEL, THE NARRATOR, MOBY DICK IS STILL A MYSTERY, AN ULTIMATE MYSTERY OF THE UNIVERSE, INSCRUTABLE AND AMBIVALENT, AND THE VOYAGE OF THE MIND WILL FOREVER REMAIN A SEARCH, NOT A DISCOVERY, OF THE TRUTH.
