5. Moby Dick《白鲸》读后感

5. Moby Dick

Name: Zhu Mi

Class: English 112

Be in Harmony with Nature

Captain Ahab took revenge on the white whale, as a matter of fact, the Almighty God, and omnipotent nature is his enemy. Moby Dick bites him then he regards it as the wicked representative. Later, he is so stubborn since then. He is determined to fight for his destiny. In fact, Moby Dick is out of self-protection to bite Captain Ahab.

As someone pose out that Ahab is such a tragic type of heroes. His dual images displays in two sides. On the one hand, he is an indomitable, fearless, courageous and experienced captain; on the other hand, in order to achieve his personal vindictive purpose, he disregards the crew’s life and death, never listens to others exhorts. He is insane to his revenge plan and becomes a paranoid, selfish and imperious devil.

From my point of view, I am strongly against Captain Ahab’s reaction to revenge on the white whale. First, it’s an accident for his losing of his leg. Second, it pays a lot to revenge on the white whale for it results in all the crews’ death. Third, it is a stupid and cruel behavior to kill animals in such a crazy way.

We live in and surrounded by nature, so it’s natural for us to live in harmony with it. Otherwise, we will get punishment sooner or later.

As we can see through the novel that Moby-Dick is symbolic of nature. Melville depicts the whale as being graceful and peaceful in its natural habitat, much like nature in general. He shows that when an outside force interrupts the true course of nature, it can result in violence and unexpected actions of either of the two. The whale is also similar to nature in that it is bound by natural laws, but that within these laws they are capable of being powerful and immortal, at the same time being temperate and peaceful.

Ahab views the whale as being similar to nature in that it is destructive. Ishmael associates the whale to nature in that they are both beautiful and wonderful. Starbuck seems to relate Moby -Dick to nature because of its ability to nourish, and he concentrates on what the whale has to offer, such as the oil and money he will obtain in killing it.

When I see the crews all lost their lives except one, to be harmony with all nature objects is important for human beings living in the world. Though many of the crew is noble and humane, Ishmael is the only one who has realized the brutality of human and obtained the inner harmony unrealized by Ahab, thus his survival in the end.