Moby Dick Summary

⚡ 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 INFORMATION AVAILABLE CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻

Instant downloads of all 1467 LitChart PDFs (including Moby-Dick).
LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does.
Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts.
The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of every Shakespeare play.
From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.
Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Moby-Dick can help.
Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Moby-Dick can help.
"Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. The way the content is organized
and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive."
Everything you need for every book you read.
Everything you need for every book you read.
Get LitCharts A+
The novel begins with a famous line: “Call me Ishmael.” Ishmael, the narrator of Moby Dick, seeks “freedom” from his life in New York City, and decides to head north to New Bedford, Massachusetts, to find a job on a whaling ship. In New Bedford, at the Spouter Inn, Ishmael meets Queequeg, a “native” man from Kokovoko, in the Pacific isles, who is trained as a harpooner on whale-ships—a man who actually hunts and catches whales. Although Ishmael is initially scared of Queequeg, the two quickly become friends, and vow to accompany each other on a ship of Ishmael’s choosing, in Nantucket.
There, Ishmael comes across a ship called the Pequod, and when he speaks to two of the boats owners, Peleg and Bildad, he realizes that the captain of the Pequod, called Ahab, is a “strange” man, possibly mad, who does not tend to associate with others. Ishmael later finds out that Ahab lost his leg to a particularly nasty whale, who bit it off; this whale is called Moby Dick, and is famous for its whiteness, its ferocity, and its inability to be caught. Despite fears of Ahab—and the harsh-sounding prophecies of a man named Elijah, who warns Ishmael and Queequeg of the captain—the two men decide to ship out on the Pequod. The ship leaves Nantucket on Christmas Day.
Get the entire Moby-Dick LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Once at sea, Ishmael introduces the particulars of the boat and of whaling, and often makes asides to the reader regarding the historical, scientific, religious, and philosophical components of whale-fishing. Ishmael also introduces Starbuck, the practical and cautious first mate, Stubb, the wild and talented whale-fisher and second mate, and Flask, the “mediocre” third mate. Ahab finally makes an appearance on the deck of the Pequod, and announces to the crew that, although they are a normal whaling ship, they also have a special mission—to find and kill Moby Dick. Ahab vows to give a one-ounce gold doubloon to the first man to spot the “white whale.”
The Pequod has a series of “gams,” or meetings at sea, with other boats, some of whom have experienced good luck on the high seas, others which have been devastated by accidents, storms, or encounters with Moby Dick. One ship, the Town-Ho, tells a long story of a mutiny interrupted by Moby Dick; another, the Rose-Bud, simply complains of “sick” whales it has tied to its side. During this long intermediate section of the novel, the Pequod sails through the Indian and into the Pacific Oceans, Stubb catches a whale (and Ishmael describes how the whale is skinned, and its oil drained), and Ahab continues to plot for the white whale’s destruction.
Ahab has the ship’s carpenter make him a new ivory leg when his old one splinters, and Queequeg, believing that he is dying of fever, asks the carpenter to make him a casket, which, when Queequeg recovers, becomes the life-buoy for the ship. Ahab also asks the ship’s blacksmith, Perth, to make him a new harpoon, which Ahab then “baptizes” with the blood of Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg, the ship’s three “heathen” harpooners. It is also revealed, in this middle section, that Ahab has snuck five men, one named Fedallah, and all from an unnamed country in Asia, aboard the Pequod, to help him find and kill Moby Dick. Stubb and Flask are convinced that Fedallah is the “devil incarnate,” and that Ahab has sold his soul to the devil to catch the white whale.
Finally, near Japan, Ahab becomes sure that Moby Dick is nearby, after having several other gams with ships that have spotted the whale. Ahab sights Moby Dick first, and the whale chase goes on to last for three days. On the first, Ahab attempts to throw the harpoon at Moby Dick, but misses; his small whale-boat is capsized, but all return safely to the Pequod. On the second, Ahab manages to snag Moby Dick with his harpoon, but Fedallah becomes caught in the harpoon-line and drowns when Moby Dick dives into the deep. On the third, though Starbuck warns Ahab to quit the mission, Ahab again approaches Moby Dick and throws his harpoon—but this time, Ahab is caught in the line, and he is hanged and drowned with his own rope. Moby Dick then turns and smashes into the Pequod, causing that ship to sink, and killing everyone aboard except Ishmael, who escapes “to tell the tale” by floating on Queequeg’s coffin. Ishmael is picked up by the Rachel, a ship with which the Pequod previously had a gam. The novel ends.
Schlegel, Chris. "Moby-Dick Plot Summary." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 11 Aug 2014. Web. 4 Feb 2021.
“Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”
“This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.”
How can we improve? Share feedback.
Copyright © 2021 All Rights Reserved
StudentTeacher or EducatorParentGeneral-Interest Reader
PDF downloads of all 1467 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish.
Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site.
Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1467 titles we cover.
Line-by-line modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem.
Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Instant PDF downloads.
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Line-by-line modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem.
Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Instant PDF downloads.
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Requesting a new title requires a free LitCharts account.
With a free LitCharts account, you'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes.
By checking here you agree to our Terms of Service.
Already have an account? Sign in Continue
Allow LitCharts to send you email about new titles or features we add to the site. You can unsubscribe at any time. (optional)
Already have an account? Sign in Create Account
Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account.
You can access all of your notes and highlights by logging into your account.
By checking here you agree to our Terms of Service.
Already have an account? Sign in Continue
Allow LitCharts to send you email about new titles or features we add to the site. You can unsubscribe at any time. (optional)
Already have an account? Sign in Create Account

Anyutka Katy Teen Porno Russian
Porno Allover30 Anal V Hd
Sex Hentai Na Russkom
Anal Teens My
8 12 Yo Pussy
Moby Dick Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville Plot Summary | LitCharts
Moby-Dick: Plot Overview | SparkNotes
Moby Dick Summary - eNotes.com
Moby Dick Summary | GradeSaver
Moby Dick Summary | Herman Melville's Novel Review
Moby Dick Summary - SummaryStory
Moby Dick Summary