The events of Moby-Dick, written by Melville in 1851, take place in the mid-19th century and revolve around the North American whaling industry. Renowned as one of the foremost examples of the great American novel, Moby-Dick explores many themes pertinent to its contextual background, with ideas of race, slavery, religion, industrialism, and capitalism all engaged in various ways. Starting in Nantucket, an important North American whaling hub off the coast of Massachusetts, Melville almost immediately sets forth ideas surrounding prejudice and race in Ishmael’s meeting with Queequeg—indeed, race proves an important theme throughout the novel.
Shifting onto the Pequod, which sails across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, the novel’s primary setting soon becomes that of the ship itself, a setting that proves highly symbolic. By placing the majority of the action aboard the Pequod, Melville is able to create his own microcosm, one that confines the world to the limits of a ship and thus places a magnifying glass over society. The emphasis on kinship and community aboard the Pequod, which brings together men of multiple races and backgrounds, can be seen as celebrating difference while also exploring the essential similarities that unite mankind.
A significant part of the setting that should also not be forgotten is that of the sea. The sea, referred to as “that howling infinite,” has a huge symbolic significance in its representation of vastness, of mystery, and of hidden depths. Ishmael’s frequent musings on the intrigue of the sea—the “landlessness” in which “alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God”—pays heed to its significance as a major part of the setting of the novel, in which mystery, hidden meanings, and the transcendental power of nature are important concepts.
