Nature of Melville s Comparisons in Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Nature of Melville’s Comparisons in Moby Dick, by Herman Melville We don’t know what’s out there! ... Although the initial comparisons are harmless enough (whales like elephants are just so many inert and innocuous giants) the nature of the comparisons—all similarities—becomes grimmer and grimmer, reaching a powerful concentration in the end of the passage where the density of images and the terror each depicts combine to make the reader know that the sea is out of control (the mad battle steed has bucked its rider), and to make matters worse, the sea is everywhere!