Question

Read the excerpt from Chapter 41 of Moby-(bad word brainly wont let me use). The White Whale swam before him as the monomaniac incarnation of all those malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them, till they are left living on with half a heart and half a lung. What theme of the novel does this excerpt best address?
nature’s indifference to man
man’s indifference to nature
the self-destructive nature of obsession
the personal empowerment that comes from obsession

Answer 1

The theme of the novel that this excerpt best addresses is the self-destructive nature of obsession. The narrator uses the White Whale as a symbol for every obsession that drives a man forward while, at the same time, it destroys him from within. This destruction is apparent in the fact that this man is living with "half a heart and half a lung" because the obsession has eaten the rest.