Obsession In Herman Melville's Moby Dick

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In Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick, Captain Ahab’s obsession is to kill a whale named, Moby Dick. After the whale tore off his leg, the death of it became his sole purpose of his living, Ahab says, “And may God hunt us all if we do not hunt Moby Dick to the death” (Moby Dick). It story ends with us learning that the whale is Ahab’s fatal flaw. A “whale” might be something we constantly struggle to overcome, or the thing we strive for. It motivates us to continue even though we fail every time. In my personal life, my whale is the acceptance of my parents.
It never seems good enough for them, but I always try hard to do my best in everything I do. It is really hard to keep pushing myself to be a good student or a good person when I rarely …show more content…
My parents are blinded by stories of perfect children, and perfect lives. It feels that they are close-minded when it comes to me. They build up walls, which results of me building my own walls from them. The barriers make it hard to trust each other. They ricochet rude verbal denotations, and it creates a vision that I am terrible or a rebel to them. I fail to convince them of my good, but they do not open themselves to me. Trust is another subject I fail with my parents. I have always told them where I am, where I am going, who I am with, but they never believe that I am telling the truth. My mom is so caught up in work and does not believe I study or do my homework, and then they use it against me. It has always come back around; it is a never-ending cycle. Like Captain Ahab, he tries to capture Moby Dick several times, but in the end, Moby Dick always wins (Moby Dick). Like Captain Ahab, he fought for himself, and I will too. Striving for my parents’ acceptance is my whale because I am their only child. I want to feel that what I do matters, and that my best is enough for them. Every night I wonder if I will ever be good enough, and sometimes I want to give up, but it motivates me more to stand strong and believe in myself. I could feel powerful as my own person fighting for something I might never win, but at least I can say that I never gave up even if they give up on
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