This is the most perfect piece of literature to ever exist

favorite short story and why?

>inb4 bartlememe

ishmaelis is the meek inheriting the earth, the raving extremism of Ahab leads to madness and death; Ahabs obsession is the 'villain' of the novel

Is elijah some sort of prophet?

The only piece of American literature worth reading.

>literally named after the prophet in the book of Kings that fucked with Ahab, king of Israel

Gee, I don't know

this desu

Not him but I'm ten chapters into The Confidence Man for a class.

Holy fuck it's incredibly amusing, everyone's getting conned and swindled constantly, and it feels like I, the reader, am also getting conned and swindled. The book feels like a massive shell game, and I'm actually a little worried that I'll be a sucker once I get to the end.

hawthorne

Hawthorne, Thoreau and Faulkner are all great.