This detail exemplifies the larger theme of the futility of human efforts to dominate nature.
The entire novel revolves around that theme - whether Ahab as a human is capable of dominating Moby Dic, which is a whale and thus a representative of nature. Nature seems to be winning constantly and humans are ultimately unable to conquer it because nature is unconquerable. <span />
Steeper, they are shorter of course than lakes
Robert Menzies was in office twice, from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. Despite seven successive federal election victories, Menzies’ second period as Prime Minister was not secure. In the 1954 and 1961 federal elections, the Labor Party received a greater proportion of first preference votes for House of Representatives seats (50.03 per cent in 1954) than the Liberal and Country parties combined. Menzies was fortunate to come to office in a growing postwar economy. He also benefited from the Labor split in 1955, and skilfully exploited ‘Cold War’ fears and the threat of Communism for electoral gain.
A vast, flat, treeless Arctic region in which subsoil is permanently frozen
