Comparing Melvilles Moby Dick as a Mans Story and Naslunds Novel, Ah

Comparing Melvilles Moby hawkshaw as a Mans floor and Naslunds Novel, Ahabs married woman as a Womans Story Throughout my reading of Moby rooster and Ahabs Wife, I was disturbed by the fact that the most tempting mood to situate the two novels in a relationship was to categorize them as male and female. Moby Dick was, of course, the mans story and Ahabs Wife was its womanly counterpart. This comparison makes scent out when you consider the gender of the authors, Melville and Naslund, the gender of their respective narrators, Ishmael and Una, and the experiences portrayed end-to-end the texts. Many readers argue, There are no female characters in Moby Dick- how could it be anything but a mans story? In that context, it is easy to position Ahabs Wife at the opposite end of the literary spectrum because the novel is told solely from a feminine perspective. Viewing the texts in this way indicates that our conceptions of gender have non changed much since the days of Adam and Eve. In that story the man, Adam, came first and provided the initiation for humankind. Eve was an afterthought, borne from a single rib. The rib that became Una can be demonstrate in Moby Dick- a single reference to Ahabs spouse back in Nantucket. Adam and Eve represent a clear division mingled with male and female that established the gender binary we now cut on these two texts. I find this dichotomy troubling and at last inadequate for several reasons. First of all, I dont agree with the spectrum concept that places maleness on one side and femaleness on the other, then locates Moby Dick and Ahabs Wife at these opposite poles. However, this formula exists in almost any field of study. The scientific term for the differences between males and females of a s... ...the finishing to posterity. (663) notwithstanding as Melville left room for Naslund, she has opened the door for more stories to publish from Moby Dick and more towers to be constructed. Sources Cited Chase, Cheryl. H ermaphrodites With Attitude Mapping the Emergence of intersex Political Action. from Questions of sex/Engendering Questions, 130-141Garber, Marjorie. Spare Parts The Surgical Construction of Gender from Questions of Gender/Engendering Questions, 361-368 Hemmeter, Gail. Ambiguous Sexes from Questions of Gender/Engendering Questions, 96-118 Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 2002.Naslund, Sena Jeter. Ahabs Wife. New York William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1999. Slaughenhoupt, Bruce L. diagnostic Evaluation and Management of the Child With Ambiguous Genitalia. KMA Journal 95 (1997) 135-141.