问答题
The Whiteness of the Whale Chapter XLII What the white whale was to Ahab, has been hinted; what, at times, he was to me, as yet remains unsaid.Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man"s soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught. Questions:
问答题
Comment on the personality of Ahab, the captain.
【正确答案】正确答案：Ahab is the tyrannical captain of the Pequod who is driven by the desire to kill Moby Dick, the whale that maimed him on the previous whaling voyage. He represents both an ancient and a quintessentially modern type of hero. Like the heroes of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, Ahab suffers from a single fatal flaw. His tremendous overconfidence or hubris leads him to defy common sense and believe that, like a god, he can enact his will and remain immune to the forces of nature. He considers Moby Dick the embodiment of evil in the world, and he pursues it, because he believes his inescapable fate to destroy this evil. Unlike the heroes of older tragic works, however, Ahab suffers from a fatal flaw that is not necessarily inborn but instead stems from damage, in his case both psychological and physical, inflicted by life in a harsh world. He is as much a victim as he is an aggressor. The symbolic opposition that he constructs between himself and Moby Dick propels him toward what he considers a destined end.
【答案解析】
问答题
What are the symbolic meanings of the white Moby Dick?
【正确答案】正确答案：Moby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various individuals. To the Pequod"s crew, the legendary Moby Dick is a concept onto which they can displace their anxieties about their dangerous and frightening jobs. Because they have no delusions about Moby Dick acting malevolently toward men or literally embodying evil, tales about the whale allow them to confront their fear, manage it, and continue to function. Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this symbolic evil. Moby Dick also bears out interpretations not tied down to specific characters. In its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example,it can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable God. As a profitable commodity, it fits into the scheme of white economic expansion and exploitation in the 19th century. As a part of the natural world, it represents the destruction of the environment by such hubristic expansion.
【答案解析】
问答题
How do you understand the voyage of Pequod the ship in the sea?
【正确答案】正确答案：The voyage of Pequod is a trip for vengeance, but it is more a doomed voyage. The ship is named after a Native American tribe that did not long survive the arrival of white men, so the ship is a symbol of doom and its voyage leads to violent death and extinction.