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AHAB RIDES AGAIN
the following is an extract from an e-mail from american friend, with whom i once spent an enlightening afternoon walking the battlefield of chickamauga, pondering the nature of chivalry and some of the horrors of the human condition.
a few weeks ago i reread moby dick. i have decided that my timing couldn't have been better for reading this great allegorical tale of the 19th century. taking bush's present absurd fetish with saddam hussein i think it might do him well for someone to read this story to him at bed time each night with his warm milk and cookies.
i’ve been reading a lot of analysis on the novel and found the following on the net. just substitute "shrub" for "ahab" and "saddam" for "moby dick" and "the us military" for "30 sailors" and you've got the present situation in spades...
>>> in moby dick, melville recounts a whaling journey on which the monomanical captain ahab chases moby dick, the gigantic white whale who once dismembered him and thereafter became his representation of everything evil in the world. ahab brings along 30 sailors of many different origins who unknowingly enlist to pursue his solitary cause. in the end, however, the whale defeats ahab and takes the entire crew (save the narrator of course) and ship to the depths of the ocean. the key to reading this novel in relation to my comparison is ahab's character and how his single minded pursuit of justice results in failure and loss of lives.
ahab barks to his mate, "damn the devil, flask; do you suppose i'm afraid of the devil? who's afraid of him, except the old governor who daresn't catch him and put him in double-darbies, as he deserves. . . (moby dick, 373). ahab's intrepid approach is somewhat courageous, but still incredibly deranged. even after he is confronted about very personal matters, ahab refuses to steer off his one way course. his determination is ultimately ahab's downfall.<<<
as someone pointed out to me recently, bush has no strategy toward iraq. he has an ideology. the man's obsessed. sure, we can kick saddam's ass. but that leads us to...our further alienation with the non-western world (which is precisely what we need to win the war on terrorism) and to a deeper recession at home. that he is blinded to these obvious two effects is what makes me think of him as ahab. there's no difference at all.
w. keith beason (contact details available on request)
melville's moby dick
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