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Moby Dick/ in the Heart of the Sea Compare and Contrast Essay

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Moby Dick/ in the Heart of the Sea Compare and Contrast Essay
Moby Dick/ In the Heart of the Sea Compare and Contrast Essay

Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea are two very similar yet different books. In Heart of the Sea was the inspiration for Moby Dick, so no wonder why they have very comparable plots. These two books have many important literary elements that connect with each other and elements that are complete opposites of each other. I will be analyzing these elements by comparing and contrasting Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea. Each book has their similarities and differences. Each book is solely based on a sperm whale attack on a crew at sea. Moby Dick is about Captain Ahab’s revenge for Moby Dick and Ishmael narrating. While In the Heart of the Sea is about a crew’s regular voyage gone wrong and narrated by the author. They are both fascinating books with very different plot twists.
Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea have many different themes. But, both do share one important similar theme; man vs. nature. In both books, the crew is faced with a sperm whale that threatens/ kills lives. In Moby Dick, Ishmael survived out of the entire crew. In the Heart of the Sea, the crew managed to get away but not all make it to land alive. Let’s get back to the whale now. It’s ironic how the hunters got hunted by the whale(s) in each book. It was as if nature was fighting back and wasn’t going to allow whale killings to go on any longer. Another similar theme is survival. In both books the crew (or majority of the crew) had to survive and do whatever it took to survive. In the Heart of the Sea, it meant cannibalism. In Moby Dick, It meant to find life supporting materials.
Moby Dick is full of symbols while, In the Heart of the Sea is not. While reading I could immediately find a bunch of symbols for Moby Dick. I can only come to the conclusion that Moby Dick only has symbols because it is a fiction book; In the Heart of the Sea did not have any symbols because it is non-fiction book.
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