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My sixth- and seventh-graders want to know why Melville named the white whale Moby Dick. Since moby means huge it makes sense. But why Dick?
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Melville "borrowed" the name, and made a slight change in it. It was inspired by a Jeremiah Reynolds article from a New York Knickerbocker Magazine. He used the common name "Dick" in the same way that he could have chosen "Joe" or "Jack" or "Leland" or any other name. Use the link below for more great information on this classic work of literature.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Melville likely chose the name "Dick" for its informal, everyman quality to juxtapose with the grandiosity of "Moby." This contrast captures the complex relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary that is central to the character of the white whale in the novel.
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What is four fifteens the same as?
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