UNIT 2:
*Moby-Dick; or, The Whale*
By Herman Melville
“Yes, as everyone knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.”

Meeting 1: Call me Ishmael.

You’re undertaking the reading of the greatest work of American fiction and one of the world’s greatest works of art. It’s an undertaking to read this novel, but it need not be arduous if you’re disciplined. An undertaking, yes, but that does not mean you should simply set it down and walk away when you hit a tough or a boring chapter. It’s a rewarding book to those who work the hardest and put in the time it requires.

Here is a handy document you might consider printing and having with you while you read: Allusions in Moby-Dick

You may find it useful to use the audio recordings from The Big Read; each chapter has a special guest reading it. Listening along will help, especially at the beginning. The readers are (mostly) excellent at capturing the tone of each chapter.

As you read, seek out and consider the following concepts:

Water meditations and man's attraction to water, Ishmael's curiosity about and tolerance for human motivation, The quest, The nature of God and man, Finding and losing the self (Narcissus), Parallels between land and sea, Civilization and "savagery", cannibalism, Biblical echoes and references: Jonah, Job, Ahab, Elijah, Ishmael, etc., Monomania and madness, the value of religion, the value of community