I almost started Moby Dick today

I almost started Moby Dick today.

what would I have been in for if I had?

The greatest piece of American literature ever put to paper

>American
>literature

What is the purpose of this post?

That's not Huck Finn

That's true: it's NOT Leaves of Grass

Huck Finn tackles complex issues of race and inequality. Moby Dick is just about some loser white whale(male).

>American
>reading

Honestly, it took me a month to read it and was very dense, but by the end I was absolutely blown away. It's a beautifully written and profound book. I'm not the most well read person, but I've read probably 20 of the big meme books, and it was probably the best I've ever read.

Why didn't you start it, OP? It's worth the time to read it.

> beautiful, scripture-like prose
> an admirable, humble and well-informed narrator carries us through the narrative
> a protagonist in Captain Ahab who is both equally admirable as well as tragic and disturbed
> Ishmael and Queequeg's friendship is pure joy
> the sermon
> the chapters detailing the understanding of whales, whale anatomy, history, whaling methods, etc - although not necessarily accurate at times, it provides a useful context for the next narrative-driven chapter as well as authentic world-building
> tragedy in spades to match Shakespeare
> the book is surprisingly funny at times

Genuinely one of my favourites and I can't wait to re-read it again soon. OP, if this is a meme thread or not, still do yourself the favour of investing time into reading this beautiful book.

It's 2017, the white whale(female) can be anything xir wants to be

"Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian" - what did he mean by this?

That judging people by their background before you even meet them if fucking ludicrous. Ishmael learns through his friendship with Queequeg that people are people regardless of where they are from, and a 'savage' can be just as noble and moral as any Christian.

A strong moral message, ahead of its time, and yet it's just a tiny part of the greatness that is Moby Dick, which has a hell of a lot more to teach us than that.

>what would I have been in for if I had?
A 19th century fantasy novel that's great fun.

> That judging people by their background before you even meet them if fucking ludicrous.
How true! You've convinced me to go drinking with recidivist felons while wearing expensive jewelry and flashing wads of cash! Can't hold their background against the poor career criminals, after all!

He meant that alcohol is the grease that enables grievous crime.

There's a difference between being open to understanding people and being a fucking idiot and you know it.

As far as Ishmael understood, Queequeg was a savage cannibal. He learned through meeting him that he was a good person, despite his behaviours being somewhat queer. That's hardly comparable to getting drunk with convicted felons. It's about dropping unnecessary prejudice.

Also, yeah, it's about the evils of booze too.

>That's hardly comparable to getting drunk with convicted felons.
Really? Getting drunk with career cannibals is incomparable with getting drunk with career criminals, because illogical unexplainable reasons? Very convincing, bro!

For one thing you missed the part where Queequeg was sober.

Being a criminal in a civilised society is not the same thing as being a cannibal in a society where everyone is a cannibal. He had been in Nantucket for a while, the owner of the Inn had vouched for him. If you're not getting that the Ishmael/Queequeg friendship is at least in part about prejudice you may need to read the book again, because god knows what else you missed.

Um hello what about The Invincible Man?

Did you actually read the book or are you just sperging for the sake of it?

A whale of a time

Moby Dick is good as fuck.

An unrelated but similar book 'The Sea Wolf'. Both really reminded me of my time in the military and the very deep true nuance of how shitty people are when you have to work with them.

Are we still doing the reading group? I remember a lot of hype before summer. I'm around page 200 or so myself.

Possibly stupid question but the whale doesn't exist, right?

Nope, this is a fictional story.

Has anyone really thought that the shape of America is like a whale and it's like America is the whale and shieeet

It does within the context of the story, but it's clearly meant to be read metaphorically as well.

>mfw christians are also cannibals because they eat the body of Christus

>user
>Frogposting

Really Makes you think.

The whale talks too? Goddamn what was Melville thinking?

- IMPRESSIVE

Yes. This was the first big boy book I think ever read and it blew my mind. I need to reread it with the annotations to explain all the biblical references and such.