NCHS AP English Language

#9 Fedallah

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001516141

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002296598 Fedallah and Ahab critique

According to this website (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_cult/evolit/s04/whaleho.html), Fedallah means “in the hands of God” in Arabic. Interestingly enough, the character Fedallah is made out to be the Devil, because he keeps swaying Ahab about his pursuit to kill Moby Dick. Like I’ve said before, Ahab’s initial idea to kill Moby Dick is a bad one, but with a character like Fedallah, a prophetical harpooner, in the story, Ahab thinks he would be foolish not to listen to such a legitimate voice. In Ahab's eyes, he is seen as a rold model, a God-like character because he is so knowledgable and omnipotant. In reality, Fedallah is the devil part of Ahab’s conscious, while Starbuck is the angel side, like the stereotypical angel and devil sitting on your shoulders telling you two different courses of action. Fedallah is a prophet for Ahab, but the worst kind because he is telling him to do the opposite of what he should do. Because Fedallah was stowed away and not shown to people on the Pequod until much later in the journey, his presence cannot signify what his name supposedly means in Arabic. God-like characters give out good and useful advice and do not keep themselves in hiding or put themselves at a distance from everyone else. In conclusion, what Fedallah's name means and what Fedallah's actions are do not correlate.

posted by Caroline Ward @ 9:48 AM