Chapters 1-2 Summary

Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a novel that explores the theme of revenge and how the need for revenge can lead to a person's ruin. Ishmael, an unwitting thrill seeker, joins the crew of a whaling ship in what Ishmael believes to be a typical whaling voyage but instead turns out to be a single-minded mission of revenge led by a crazed captain.

In this initial chapter, we meet Ishmael, the main character and narrator of the novel. Ishmael has come to the point in his life where he desires something different from his life as a schoolmaster and decides to hire on as a sailor on a whaling ship. He discusses in a rather conversational way the draw of the sea upon all men as well as the reasons behind his decision to hire onto a ship instead of...