I need some help. !!!!?

Question

I need some help determining the philosophical examination of humanity vs. nature and the conflict between creativity and cruelty in reference to Moby-Dick.

I really would appreciate it. Basically im in desperate need of guidance on writing a paper.

Please !!!

Answer 1

interesting problem.

man vs. nature theme
often shows the hero in opposition with the forces of nature and trying to best them showing he is superior. ex. he fights the flood and wins, or he survives the wilderness and kills a bear etc.

nature here is shown as primitive and wild and man is using his intellect to "rise" above the conflict of nature and the beasts. Man is shown as wiser, more intellectual, and uses his wits to out maneuver nature itself.

Creativity and cruelty comes into Moby Dick when the hunter becomes hunted. The whaler pursues the beast he regards as ignorant and unthinking. He will kill the animal without thought to morality or consider the viewpoint of the animal. In Moby Dick, he becomes obsessed with one animal whom he cannot kill. He takes unnecessary risks to prove he is superior.

Ultimately, the reader is left to draw his own conclusions. The cruel man met his death, tied by his own ropes to his nemesis (or demon) Moby-Dick. The animal proved more ruthless and an equal partner in the game of life and death. Or perhaps the whaler was be given a punishment for killing without reason one of god's creatures.....I think the animal's memory was very good.
Re-read the ending and think about the scene.....

Answer 2

Never mind the whale, that question is a monster!

If it's yours, try again. If it's a set one, keep a safe distance between you and the teacher.

If you are stuck with it, we might try a few thoughts...

Cruelty surely requires a subjective awreness of good and evil, and a choice to do the latter. An animal, following its nature, cannot do otherwise so any interpretation of cruelty is much more a case of reading in human sentiments and motives. Anthropomorphism.

(Mind you, "reading in" is easily done in lots of circumstances... Isn't Ahab actually dead when the whaler cries out that he is beckoning on the rest of the crew?)

Humanity, being capable of cruelty, is also quite capable of imputing that motive to other creatures.
Does Melville assign motivations of cruelty to the whale, or is he always careful to leave that in the understanding of the whalers, especially Ahab?

Answer 3

19th century man regarded nature as something to be mastered or conquered.

Men went down to sea in ships to win the bounty of the waters. They went from logs to fleet clipper ships, from the hard fired stick to the lethal steel-barb tipped harpoon. The fish taken went from the in-shore sea bass to the mightiest creatures of the deep.

Answer 4

Sorry darlin', but judgin' from yo question, you needs a lot mo hep than I can gives you.