Moby Dick Essay: Silence Is the only Voice of Our God

Ogechukwu Anene

Period 1

Silence is the only voice of our God.

        People desperately long to hear the voice of God. "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville, shows the lamentations of a one Captain Ahab, whose only purpose in life was to find and put an end to the whale called Moby Dick. This lust for the whale drives him to the brink as its silence lingers over him.

        "Silence is the only voice of God," this is in the sense that when a person makes a request to God, they doubt if He is ever going to reply. They do not realize, they had received their answer a long time ago. In comparison to peoples relationship to God, Ahab desired to hunt down Moby Dick, the silence of the whale, not only that , but also other ships encounter with it made it want to find him want to find Moby Dick even more.

        People go to the edge of the Earth and back, to find God, to find God, like Moby Dick was being sought after by Ahab. Ahab knowledge of its whereabouts is important to him, because he tries to find that meaning of life. When others encounter Moby Dick, in a way, their lives were changed. Similar to the Captain of the other ship, who encountered Moby Dick. Ahab feels a sense of jealously, even though he was ignorant of how the encounter went.

        Melville places the whale as a larger than life figure, one whose locations were intended to remain a mystery. Similar to how Ahab couldn't handle the knowledge of where Moby Dick was, people can not handle the answers they seek from God. He  became overwhelmed with anger and greed to satisfy his ego, that he lost all senses, and ignored every warning of danger that presented itself all around him.

        Sometimes, we all go to find answers to certain questions, either it be from God or alternate sources. Those answers, however, where not for us to ever know, or for us to mature a little more to be able to bear the answers we seek. Ahab, with all of his being, wanted to know the location of the whale, but just like the silence we receive from God, the silence he received from Moby Dick drove Him insane.