Moby Dick & Brute Neighbors

Moby Dick & Brute Neighbors

In Moby Dick and Brute Neighbors, Ahab and Thoreau each have a goal that they utterly want to reach, perhaps a bit too much. It is not long before both, Ahab and Thoreau drive themselves out of control, only seeing their goal and nothing else. It is as if they are under the influence, drifting further away from sanity. They lose themselves with overwhelming obsessions.

Ahab is an ambitious whaler with typical pirate characteristics and a tough look. Yet, instead of treasures, his interests are on a great white sperm whale called Moby Dick. He places a costly award as he says, Ў°whosoever of ye raises me that same whale, he shall have this gold ounceЎ± (294). The obsession of capturing Moby Dick becomes his destiny and insanity. For what kind of whaler would only hunt for only one whale? Throughout the book Moby Dick is described with great enthusiasm, Ў°seen gliding at high noon through a dark blue sea, leaving a milkyway wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden gleamingsЎ± (309). It is undeniable that it still is a whale and no whale is worth putting your life and fortune on the line.

Instead of a whale it is a loon in Brute Neighbors. Ў°Making the woods ring with his wild laughter,Ў± (215) the loon is a tease in ThoreauЎЇs mind. He even says Ў°I concluded that he laughed in derision of my effortsЎ± (216). He watches people who come by to the lake trying to shoot him down, Ў°at least ten men to one loon,Ў± (215) but the loon doesnЎЇt stand a chance. Thoreau finds himself hallucinating. In fact he returned to the same spot day after day with greater obsessions to see the loon. As a transcendentalist and extend beyond the limits of ordinary, he was definitely losing control. He walked the same road as a routine putting his principle on the line.

Ahab and Thoreau are both