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[Unregistered]

If you thought this was a book about whaling you weren't reading it. It is about the human spirit. It asks what is god, what is nature, what makes humans special. There are the chapter that seems at first to be about Stubb eating a whale steak, that ends with him forcing a former slave Fleece to give a sermon to the sharks trying to eat the unstripped body of a whale. It brings into question all American attitudes about faith, civiliztion and racial superiority. I guess you could read it as a tale about abominable eating habits, and a mate mistreating a black cook, or you could read a scathing look at human inhumanity. If you read it both ways, you see why Moby Dick is considered great

[Amy]

I had to read this book for my American Novels class in college. I thought that the book was drawn out and long and could have been easily shortened. Although I did learn a lot in the process about whaling. However, how is this information useful to me? I have read many more novels that I would consider as "america's great novel." This would not be my vote. Sorry.