Chasing capital : class struggle, labor conditions, and the politics of individuality in Moby-Dick

My thesis examines Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick as an anti-capitalist text. I mainly utilize the theory of capitalism as defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the nineteenth century, focusing on class relations and the idea of class struggle; that is, the unrest that results from the inherent inequality of classes under capitalism. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate the plausibility of an anti-capitalist reading of Moby-Dick and show how such a reading sheds light on the famously enigmatic character of Captain Ahab and on his motivations. To achieve this, I rely on social and historioeconomic analysis of the whaling industry to illustrate the usual working conditions on board whaling ships, and then apply my findings to a close reading of the novel. As Ishmael, the narrator, is generally the reader’s point of access, I first analyze his position vis–à–vis the industry he is about to enter, highlighting his inexperience. Then, I demonstrate how any struggle he may have undergone as a result of that inexperience is suppressed in favor of highlighting Ahab, ostensibly supplanting the struggle of the lower–ranking crewmembers with that of their superior. Ultimately, however, I argue that Moby-Dick illustrates the immutability of class dynamics under capitalism, and that it does so mainly through its portrayal of Ahab who, despite being at the top of the Pequod’s social hierarchy, suffers within the larger system that exploits him just as it does his inferiors. Furthermore, the perpetuity of these dynamics is illustrated by the fact that Ahab, despite becoming aware of his condition under capitalism, is unable to transcend the confines of that condition. Though he wants revenge against the whale, the insular nature of his position that arises from capitalist social hierarchies, combined with his self-involved mental struggle, results in an attempt at resistance that is ineffective precisely because of its solitary nature. In Moby-Dick, we then find just one representation of a ubiquitous capitalist system designed to crush individual resistance