【正文】 ongoing conflict with god. Like Ahab, no matter how often or in what manner God makes his will known to us we always seem to stray a way from that. Here Ahab or man does not ignore the will of God but he also challenges it. He is a man who we know has been to sea for years, three voyages, neglecting his wife and child in Nantucket. He is a loner with no friends. No one can e close to him. He is feared. Numerous examples support that something is not quite right with his mental state.In the novel, we learn that he has stowed away, much to the surprise of the crew, a mysterious group of oriental men who act, as Ahab’s own personal whaling crew, designed specifically to hunt Moby Dick. It seems that, the leader, Fedallzah, is perceived by the crew as having a dark influence over Ahab. Stubb at one point confides to Flask that he thinks that Fedallzah is the devil himself and Flask thinks that Ahab may have struck a deal with him.Another example that demonstrates his madness is the sad case of Pip, the castaway. The small African boy is required to replace an oarsman on Stubb’s boat。 some writers study the brotherhood of man in the novel, the theme of which is the idea of radeship between human beings, no matter how different. However, the paper will take Melville’s symbols as the subject matter. What does make him bee a master of symbolism? It relates to his life experience and culture background. Herman Melville began working on his epic novel Moby Dick in 1850, writing it primarily as a report on the whaling voyages he undertook in the 1830s and early 1840s. Many critics think that his initial book didn’t contain characters such as Ahab, Starbuck, or even Moby Dick, but the summer of 1850 changed Melville’s writing and his masterpiece. He became friend, with author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was greatly influenced by him. He also read Shakespeare and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Their influences lead to the novel Moby Dick pleted and published in 1851. Although ignored by critics after its release, Moby Dick took an important place in the world literature.In Moby Dick, Melville’s imagination has achieved its great peak through employing every means and technique he can reach, among which symbolism is the most thoughtprovoking and wellstudied one. The symbolism of the white whale can be interpreted in many ways. The paper concerns that Moby Dick is the symbol of God. Ahab, the captain of the ship, represents the league human with evil. He questions the fate that God sends upon him and wants to challenge him. The idea of “counterpane” is the third symbolic element, which is woven throughout the story as a symbol of the world’s multiculturalism. II. The Symbolic Meanings of Moby DickMoby Dick is introduced through Ahab’s speech and his dialogue with Starburk. Starburk accuses Ahab of blasphemy, which is irreverence toward God or something sacred. Melville places this rather bitter accusatory word in the mouth of the Christianminded Starburk, directing at a cruel revengeful Ahab. If Moby Dick is sacred, Ahab only can take the action of blasphemy against him. Through indirect description of Moby Dick and direct cursing of a crazy man, Melville fills Moby Dick with hints and clues. At the true essence, Ahab sees behind the symbol of Moby Dick.According to the sailor’s stories and legends, Moby Dick is seen in two places at once at different places around the world. In this trait, Melville is suggesting omnipresence, a godlike trait. The sailors think he is immortal, another godlike trait, because he has been harpooned many times and still lives. Ahab himself believes Moby Dick’s power is shocking, like god’s omnipotence. Ahab states in chapter XXXVI, “that inscrutable thing [Moby Dick]’s power is chiefly what I hate”[1]. In addition to the godlike characteristics of omnipotence and omnipresence, Moby Dick has got a reputation for tearing through sinners. He shows godlike justice and mercy in saving Steelkilt and killing the unjust Radney, as the crew learns from the sailors of the TownHo.Melville uses many other symbols to make the white whale a symbol of divine power. Moby Dick is thought to be immortal. He is the collective whale soul, the essential, eternal whale of which all other whales are only ephemeral manifestations. The sacred, special character of Moby Dick is indicated by his whiteness. His awfully severe beauty is godlike, as is his titanic power and his pyramidlike white hump. His color, white, has signified a special sanctify: In many natural objects, whiteness refines and enhances beauty, as in pearls, or confers special qualities such as innocence or purity. There is an elusive quality that causes the thought of whiteness to heighten terror, such as the white bear of the poles or the white shark of the tropics. Among humans, the Albino is considered shocking and loathed, while the whiteness of a corpse is a distinguishing and disturbing feature. In its most profound idealized significance it calls up a peculiar apparition to the soul. White is portentous because it is indefinite, not so much a color as the visible absence of color. [3]In this chapter, Melville attempts to define Moby Dick through its whiteness, instead finding that the very nature of the color white defines definition. Melville devotes an entire chapter, narrated by Ishmael, in which he explores the meaning of whiteness through the ages and through the eyes of many different cultures. White or albino animals are typically considered sacred. Melville notes this fact, giving as examples the sacred white elephant of the Orient and the sacred white dog of the Iroquois.Melville portrays Moby Dick in nearly human terms, endowing the great whale a sense of intelligence, strategy and grandeur. The whale is more than a match for Ahab, despite his dogged persistence, and in fact appears altogether unconquerable. From the beginning of the novel, we are confronted with the image of the wh