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==The plot of the novel==

The novel opens with the narrator Ishmael looking for a ship, he is a man who is seeking a purpose in life. He signs up to serve on a whaling ship the Pequod ,in Nantucket,. The captain of the ship is Ahab, who over the course of the novel is shown to be unstable and man possessed. Ishmael meets a host of colorful characters on-board the ship including Queequeg, and Fedallah, both harpooners. Captain Ahab has lost his leg in an encounter with a gigantic white sperm whale and he is consumed by a desire for revenge. He nails a gold coin to the mast and states that he will give it to the first man who sees the whale, the legendary Moby Dick. Ishmael soon realizes that this is not a typical whaling mission but a revenge mission. The Pequod sails around the globe, hunting whales, but Ahab is only interested in finding Moby Dick. The ships have a number of adventures including being battered by a typhoon in the Pacific. One of the crew members prophesized that the whale will kill Ahab, this does not deter the one-legged captain and he continues to pursue his vendetta. During the search, they hear tales of the great white whale and in one instance they learn that it has recently sunk a ship. Finally, the Captain himself sees the whale and there begins a brutal three-day encounter between Ahab, his men, and Moby Dick. On the first day, the captain and his crew attack the whale with harpoons from small boats, but the white whale smashes the boat and nearly kills Ahab. Several sailors are lost that day. The following day Ahab and his crew again try and slaughter the whale but again it sinks the boats. On the third day, the captain once again, engages with Moby Dick, during this the whale is killed and Ahab also dies. The Pequod is badly damaged and sinks, and the only survivor is Ishmael, he floats in a wooden coffin until he is rescued<ref>Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick (London, Penguin Books, 2012)</ref>.

==The adventures of Herman Melville==

Melville was at sea for several years and had served on two whalers. During the mid-19th century, whaling was a huge industry and it employed tens of thousands of American sailors and was critical to the economy of the North-East of the United States. Melville’s description of life aboard a whaling ship is very accurate as a result. The manner in which the sailors lived and the difficult conditions that they endured are all very realistic. Many of the details of the Pequod are based on Melville’s own time spend on the whaler Acushnet. This ship was owned by a Quaker who may have been the model for the character Bildad. The crew of the ship that Melville served on was very diverse, they included Africans, Europeans, and Americans, and many may have served as models for some of his most memorable creations. Some critics believe that the diverse crew served as a symbol for America and its many different ethnicities and groups<ref> Talley, Sharon. Student Companion to Herman Melville. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007), p 19</ref>.