Exploring Death in the Novels, Moby Dick and Ahabs Wife :: Moby Dick Essays

Exploring Death in the Novels, Moby Dick and Ahabs WifeNineteen years of my emotional state has passed. By age nineteen, Una Spencer of Ahabs Wife had experienced numerous cycles of contentment and isolation, base hit and loss. I cannot pretend to say that I have functiond even as marginall(a)y an emotionally tumultuous life as Unas, moreover alike most concourse, I can say something of loss and sacrifice. One of the at last things my grandmother said on the hospital bed in which she died was to withdraw my mother whether I had been accepted to my first-choice college. I was not with my grandmother when she died, only when the fact that she had asked about something so inconsequential and irrelevant about my life reveals the way she viewed her own life and death without idealization, regret, or fear. She instead leave my family with a legacy of love, selflessness, and beauty. Dont ask when you will die. Ask how you can live more fully...Am I dying? No. I am accompaniment until I cant live anymore (Caputo). Stated by a author with terminal cancer, this quotation encompasses how I want to live my life, which is why I have a difficult time understanding the characters of Moby Dick and Ahabs Wife, especially those of the former. Many of the crew on damned Pequod knew that their ship was destined for death, only they did not protest their lot, but rather accepted their inevitable fate with an emotionless resignation as though they had died even before they stepped backside on the ship. They died as if to avoid the pain of living a passive voice suicide. The crew of the Sussex, however, was less overt in their willingness to end their lives because they had led a comparatively gratifying existence. Giles and Kit had their companionship to savor on legato nights, while Captain Fry had Chester to love. These characters were not emotionally-devoid, just weak of spirit-too restricted on ephemeral quiet waters to keep them safe. Death seems to be a recur rent presence in both novels. Almost all of the characters of Moby Dick perish by the end of the novel, while many of the people whom Una loves are abruptly taken from her life. However, there is a discrepancy in the manner in which the various characters meet their end. Both captains are suicidal, but there is a much larger element of sadness in Captain Frys death.