Moby-Dick, published in 1851, was a groundbreaking work in American literature. Sure, people like Washington Irving formed it into so much more than an offshoot of British literature, but this was the novel that started it all. It's a bit ironic, too, because Herman Melville never got his due until after his death, though he shaped American literature more than perhaps any other author. We all usually think of Mark Twain and Huck Finn when we think of the seminal work in our country's history just because it's far more acceptable and widely read than Moby-Dick is.
Moby-Dick should be read by every American. It chronicles the history of New England, in particular Nantucket, while providing a great epic narrative adventure and being somewhat of a whaling encyclopedia. It deals in lore and legend, madness, religion, death, science, and various other themes.
Just about everyone is familiar with the opening sentence. Ishmael is our narrator, a young man who travels to Nantucket to be aboard a whaler. Aside from the first couple chapters that describe why he wants to be at sea, we do not learn a great deal about his character; he's just there to tell the story and describe the characters more influential in it.
When in New England he meets Queequeg, a "savage" and "cannibal" who at first frightens Ishmael. Eventually they engage in each other's religious services and become friends, and arguably more. I was kind of surprised while reading this that there appears to be a homosexuality connotation here, shocking for the 19th century. I looked into it and apparently critics and scholars are torn on this, but they all agree that it has little effect on the plot.
Eventually they become whalers on the Pequod, a Quaker-owned ship sent out to kill whales. This is one of the many instances of religious hypocrisy that encompasses the first hundred pages or so of the epic novel. The ship's captain, Ahab, does not appear for a good deal, but when he does, you know he means business. He's the most studied and talked about character of the novel and for good reason; his conflict with the whale that took his leg is the main plot.
After Ahab reveals his true motives, no one is in disfavor of hunting down one whale in an ocean of thousands. Moby-Dick can be recognized, of course, by its extreme whiteness (probably my favorite part of the novel is when Ishmael describes how the whiteness of the whale terrifies him), enormous size, and unusual aggression towards whaling ships.
Once we arrive at this point in the novel, Ishmael becomes increasingly unimportant. Many chapters are told from an omniscient narrator or told like a play, with Ahab giving haunting soliloquies in his cabin or on deck. This is when Ahab's main men become more and more important. Starbuck, Flask, Stubb, and Tashtego all are interesting characters in their own respects, and we learn a good deal about them all.
We learn more about Ahab, too, and we learn that he's more or less mad. The crew recognizes this, but does not try to stop him, sticking with their captain to whatever end. Prophecy is a big part of the novel, and Ahab himself is a huge fatalist. Like Oedipus, he embraces his fate and tries to make the most of his life. Knowing he will die, he wants to make sure to take down his enemy, too.
Eventually the novel culminates in a multiple-day attack on the whale, filled with excitement, suspense, and fulfilled prophecy. It won't disappoint.
Why should every American read this? What makes this so much better than other American novels?
Well, perhaps more than any other novel, it's UNIQUELY American. I don't mean to bash works like Huck Finn or The Grapes of Wrath, but in many ways this novel is a metaphor for America. The peace in a whaling ship at sea that Ishmael desires in which every man is equal, is directly relatable to the American Dream that so many immigrants have had for well over a century. There is diversity--in race, in religion, in character types--and it's all handled so well by Melville.
Moby-Dick is truly a masterpiece.
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