“Alone, alone, all, alone, say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Alone on a Vast Sea! This soul was alone on a vast sea: it was so alone that God himself seemed rare. »-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. On the surface, Herman Melville's Moby Dick suggests an intertwined universe of events directed by fate. However, Melville's novel also explores spiritual isolation as a universal human reality that creates events both independent of and part of this destiny. Ishmael's experiences aboard the Pequod are archetypal examples of human isolation and sociality. In the character of Ishmael, Melville reconciles the idea of ​​an ultimately unknowable cosmos with human determination and flourishing. “And I escaped alone to tell you,” author Job quotes, reminding the reader that the story of Moby Dick will be told again by a single storyteller, who represents the indelible loneliness of all humanity. While the world of Moby Dick often seems irrational, cruel, and meaningless, Ishmael's greatest achievement is his ability to derive value from social interaction, thereby allowing him to connect to a collective human experience. Ishmael's first appearance shows him caught in his own isolation and desperate to escape on a maritime adventure. Ishmael is all too aware that he is alone and deliberately joins a company that will bring him closer to others: “Every time I feel gloomy in my mouth… every time my hypos get the better of me… then I considered high. it's time to go to sea as soon as possible. It is my substitute for the gun and the bullet” (1). His first travels bring him into contact with Queequeg, who provides Ishmael with a pivotal emotional connection. Queequeg is one of the characters with the most reason to disengage from the company of others. He is considered a “savage” in a culture whose practices and language are largely unknown to him. Very few people are willing to approach Queenqueg. However, Queequeg could easily be one of the most open and calm characters in Moby Dick. “However wild he was, his face nevertheless had something which was in no way unpleasant. You can't hide the soul. Through all his supernatural tattoos, I thought I saw traces of a simple and honest heart,” Ishmaël observes of his companion, noting that “he seemed completely at ease; persevere in the greatest serenity; content with his own company; always equal to himself” (71-72). Ishmael goes on to admit, “I felt a melting inside of me. My broken heart and my distraught hand no longer turned against the world of wolves. This soothing savage had redeemed him” (73). It is in this scene that the isolated Ishmael begins to transform. He realizes that there is a valid individual outside of his personal philosophical reflections, from whom he does not have to protect himself. Rather, Ismael realizes that he can actually befriend Queenqueg and engage in a mutual and accepting relationship. As a result, Ishmael meets a man who has achieved the personal peace that Ishmael seeks. Ishmael is a storyteller and a philosopher, surrounded by a ship full of comrades. However, he and his shipmates are isolated souls, and he is constantly conscious of this fact, saying: "They were almost all islanders of the Pequod, Isolatos too, I call it so, without recognizing the common continent of men , but each Isolato living on a distinct continent of its own” (174). Throughout Ishmael's voyage aboard the Pequod, Melville depicts a fluctuation betweenisolation and sociality as Ishmael struggles to come to terms with a universe that he believes is ruled by an unknowable divine, granting little purpose to the human beings who occupy it. He longs to connect with someone or something that will give him purpose, and the Pequod's largely alien crew seems to do just that, reinforcing his desperation. Whether because of their race, their circumstances, or their circumstances, the individuals aboard the ship seem indelible. Ishmael reflects on the presence of Ahab, the man “destined” to be separated from humanity by choice and chance. However, Ishmael is also aware that “every breathing mortal…has this Siamese connection with a plurality of other mortals” (463). A pivotal moment for Ishmael occurs in Chapter XCIV, “A Squeeze of the Hand,” during which the crew dismantles Stubbs' whale. As the crew members squeeze globules of sperm, Ishmael is overwhelmed by his feeling of connection with his fellow human beings: I found myself involuntarily shaking the hands of my colleagues... Such a feeling of affection, of friendship and love generated this Avocation; that at the end, I continually shook their hands, and looked sentimentally into their eyes; as much to say: Oh! my dear fellow men, why should we any longer cherish social acerbities, or experience the slightest bad mood or the slightest desire! Come, shake hands all around; moreover, let us all sink into each other; let us press ourselves into the very milk and sperm of Goodness (601). Although this section is undoubtedly tinged with Ishmael's characteristic sarcasm, his feelings are nonetheless genuine. Meanwhile, he realizes, “man must finally lower, or at least change, his conceit of attainable felicity; not place it anywhere in the intellect or imagination; but in the woman, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the countryside” (602). Ishmael realizes that moments are the best part of life. Momentary human contact allows us to share life experiences with others and to flourish. In chapter as for how long it took me. There is wisdom which is misfortune; but there is a misfortune which is madness” (612). Ishmael can finally identify his problem, namely that he has fueled the all-consuming “fire” of self-focus. According to him, a constant focus on oneself, such as that which caused Ahab's alienation from his fellow men, is senseless and often fatal. Ahab's monomaniacal focus on the whale and his own vengeance has alienated him from others, and because of this "sin" his crew is caught in a thoughtless tragedy. It is a mirror of Ishmael's own tragedy at the beginning of the novel, the one that forced him to "stop involuntarily in front of the coffin warehouses" (1). Much like the ancient sailor in Coleridge's famous poem, who receives a nod from Melville in Chapter LII, "The Pequod Meets the Albatross," Ishmael ultimately learns to focus on others. He realizes that while the world and the question of fate and diet may not be resolved, the world has its beautiful moments, and these are ultimately redemptive. Ishmael does not survive because he is better or more moral than the other characters in the novel; he is not. His survival is based on chance, like many things in this novel. Ishmael endures because he carries the burden of knowledge: the story of Ahab and the white whale, Moby Dick. As a lone storyteller, the story becomes Ishmael's redemption and his discovery of purpose. Redemption allows him to return to the ocean, to survive./12713