Melville had almost completed Moby-Dick when Hawthorne encouraged him to change it from a story full of details about whaling, into an allegorical novel.
"In general, it is the non-psychological novel that offers the richest opportunities for psychological elucidation. Here the author, having no intentions of this sort, does not show his characters in a psychological light and thus leaves room for analysis and interpretation, or even invites it by his unprejudiced mode of presentation... I would also include Melville's Moby Dick, which I consider the be the greatest American novel, in this broad class of writings." (Carl Jung in The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature, 1967)
Assuming you have finished the book, write a 4 page paper, citing text, showing how Moby Dick
can be viewed as an allegorical novel. Be sure you understand what an allegory is and how the
characters and plot of Moby dick can be analysed and interpreted in that light.
Here is a link to a PBS discussion of the topic which might get you going:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/mobydick.html
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