Moby Dick

Posts for this group should focus on issues of gender (masculinity, femininity) as they appear in particular passages of the novel. You could ask yourself the question, for example, “How is a particular passage or event in the novel gendered? Is it betraying a particularly masculine perspective, and why?” You could also discuss perceptions and representations of masculinity, femininity, homosexual (or homosocial) relations, or Melville’s (Ishmael’s) perceptions of feminism and the feminine. You could also discuss passages in the novel that relate nature to gender, work/labor to gender, and so forth.

This group’s postings will be about how particular passages in the novel pertain to issues of the natural world, or how they might allude to or suggest Melville’s (or Ishmael’s) views on the environment.

The posts for this group should focus on issues of character: how passages from the novel reveal hidden depths of a particular character, or how an event in the novel informs your understanding of a particular character. Posts can focus on issues of motivation (what motivates a character to act as he does?), narration (how does the narrative description of the character change or affect your understanding of the character? Can you see a discrepancy between the character’s actions and the narrator’s descriptions?), attitude (what is the narrator’s attitude towards the character, and what does this attitude do to color your perception of the character?).