"Moby Dick" - A Sermon in a Book

What better book for a Sunday Sermon than Herman Melville’s immortal “Moby Dick”. So many people complain about having to read this book in high school and college classes. I have even heard it referred to as being irrelevant. What a shame! 

This book has grown more relevant with each passing year since it was first released in 1851. Though unappreciated when it was first released, over time it has become recognized as a true classic with a real message about human frailty and vengeance.

The story of Ishmael, the novice whaler, and his journey through an immoral and indifferent world has never lost its relevancy or its bite. We still live in a world of Ahab’s chasing personifications of Evil, mostly to the detriment of the innocent.

The questions raised within this book are timeless and universal. Who has the right to Vengeance? Is it the provenance of the man afflicted by Evil? Or does Vengeance truly belong to a Power larger than ourselves?

As a literary gem, this book is still worth the time it takes to read it. From the naming of Ishmael as the principal character, to the Resurrection of the coffin after the Apocalyptic battle between Ahab and the Whale, the book is filled with references to Scripture and the lessons within.

Perhaps, in our modern world of 60 second sound bites and fleeting fifteen minute fame, the book seems overly complicated. There are no special effects; just meaningful words spoken by characters both flawed and innocent. That alone should make the story both familiar and applicable to just about everybody you know.

"Moby Dick" with Gregory Peck (1956)

Many people over the years have asked why Moby Dick is an essential part of American literature. I’m always amazed at the question, since the story is not only a biblical analogy of good versus evil in the most classic sense; but also a uniquely American story; written by Herman Melville, one of our nation’s first native born authors of note, and a former sailor to boot.

In addition it is also a thinly disguised political tale which centers about the killing of a white whale. This whale represents the evil of the white race. Indeed that evil, embodied by the whale, had already cost Ahab a portion of his body, just as the coming Civil War would cost the nation a portion of its own. The righteousness of the Abolitionist Movement; when juxtaposed against the evil restrictions of slavery; both resemble the destruction wrought by Moby Dick, as Ahab and his fellow human beings attempt to destroy an evil which they themselves have created.

I’m not the biggest fan of any film version of this classic novel, as nothing could ever live up to the imagery and tension of the book. And, I’m not a snob in that respect. I do believe some books are better presented as movies; not often; but sometimes. A good example would be Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not”, which sucked in book form, but when re-written for the screen, shone like the sun. But, if you have to watch any version of Moby Dick, then this is the one which I recommend the most.

From the acting to the direction, and the short appearance by Orson Welles as the Preacher, this movie does the novel some justice. Although it appears to have been made cheaply, if you ignore the sets and concentrate on the acting, then you will be quite satisfied with this screen adaptation.

A few of the original monologues have been excised, or altered in some form, but that does not really hurt the overall message which Melville was trying to impart. Basically, good; when taken too far; can become as evil as that which you are trying to destroy; and in the end, you wind up destroying only yourself. That’s heavy stuff, but true. And, by the way, I still don’t know what it is about this book that turns people off.