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2.3 Ahab’s “Individualism”
In Moby Dick, Ahab is the most controversial figure. Some call him as a hero, and some call him as a devil. Some even think him as the symbol as the heroism. Actually, I think Ahab’s spirit is more like individualism than the heroism. In American culture, there is a cultural phenomenon, which is individualism. Individualism constitutes the basic characteristics of American culture Individualism of American culture can really express the American thoughts, which stems from the rational principles of Puritanism and the pursuit of personal autonomy. It is a typical Western political and social philosophy of capitalism.
Being the king of the Pequod, Ahab is too much of proud individual to be a good human being. He stands alone on his only leg on the earth. For him the only law is his own will and the world exists simply for his own sake. Compared with him, his crew seems to be a ship of fools too much under his own evil spell to exercise their discretion. Ahab is a man who is crazy about his pride overwhelms his love. For example, he tells Pip, the little Negro boy saved by the Pequod, that he will murder him rather than be swayed by Pip pleading that Pip ask him to give up his quest for vengeance. Sometimes Ahab is brutally cutting to Starbuck, the first mate, and once even threatens to murder him. He absolutely cannot comprehend the patience of the long suffering blacksmith, asking him, To sum up, Ahab is angry because his pride is wounded, and his "wounded pride" can recover from the revenge. His desire for revenge is at God，or whatever Ahab considers to be God, rather than merely at the whale, and this urge to avenge himself is all the more shocking because it is directed at such a vague object. Whatever power controls the universe, Ahab wants to attack it as he feels he has been attacked. All in all, Ahab is such a typical individualism.
3 Natural Consciousness of Main Characters
Natural Consciousness of Main Characters in Moby Dick are totally different especial Ahab, Starbuck and Ishmael.
3.1 Natural Consciousness of Ahab
In Moby Dick, the white whale represents the divine power of nature, that is, natural law. Ahab did not obey the "eternal rule" that human coexisted with nature harmoniously. He tried his best to kill the white whale and conquer the Nature. This destroyed the harmony and unity between human and nature. And it indicated Ahab's tragic ending. Ahab did not only admit his deformity but also refused to accept the fact that nobody could be responsible for his sadness. He treated killing the white whale as the only purpose of going to sea. So the struggle between Ahab and the white whale，to some extent, was the fight between human and nature.
While, Ahab's trying his best to kill Moby Dick revealed that human wanted to conquer and control the Nature. But, human, as the inalienable part of the Nature, is subordinate to nature. So human can't surpass and place themselves on the Nature. This is just the "eternal rule" between human and nature. That is to say, Ahab's fixation on the whale derived not only from the bodily injury he had suffered but from his transformation of the whale into the embodiment of evil upon which he could exercise his rage and hatred. By killing the whale, he would be able to do what no man had done，taking revenge not only for what he saw as wrongs done against him but against natural law in general. And in Ahab’s mind, there is no God living in it. He is his own God in his spirit, and nothing in this world can defeat him not to speak of nature. Ahab comes to the ocean to conquer, to revenge to the whale. What really dominates his heart is his desire for everything, and he wants to control the whole world. So natural consciousness of Ahab is to control the nature , which I think he is totally crazy. Between him and nature there is only one to stay alive. Finally, his extreme individualism led to his tragic fate. So natural consciousness of Ahab is his wild ambition, which means conquering everything.