The Abyss inThree American Novels

Ahab stares into the abyss every day and sees the white whale waiting there for him. Other characters in the novel feel this same sense of standing on the edge because they follow the captain whether they want to or not, and more and more it is clear that his obsession is carrying them all to a fate they did not envision when the voyage began. From the first, Ishmael shows not only an understanding that life is lived on the abyss but a celebration of it--he is going to sea to test himself against the abyss and so to discover something in himself, to connect with the spirituality of the universe, and to experience life by facing it directly. Indeed, arguably that is what facing the abyss means--to live each day not knowing what it will bring. there is always danger in living, for we never know what will happen next. Ishmael survives his ordeal, while all of his fellow seamen perish. For Ahab

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s come to be a symbol of redemption and not sin. Dimmesdale shows what might have happened to Hester had she not confessed to society and not taken her punishment as she did. She has grown and has transferred her wisdom and moral sense to her daughter, while Dimmesdale has stagnated until his sin emerges as a stigmata on his chest. Both Hester Prynne and Huck Finn find a freedom that many others in their society are denied, though they find it in different ways. Huck finds it by running way from society, while Hester finds it by accepting society's restrictions and living within them. A character in a novel by Henry James tells of his need "to range," to be able to move freely from place to place and from choice to choice, and this very American attitude underlies the actions of many characters in American literature. This need "to range" can be seen in characters in The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, and Huckleberry Finn. The characters in The Scarlet Letter might seem not to fit James's statement, given that they remain in a set place and live as part of a settled community, but the freedom to range involves more than physical movement from place to place. However, at the same time, the entire community has already de
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Hester Prynne, Scarlet Letter, Tom Sawyer, Widow Douglas, Captain Ahab, Dimmesdale Chillingworth, Moby Dick, Puritans World, Pearl Huck's, Hester Dimmesdale, scarlet letter, hester prynne, freedom range, huckleberry finn, moby dick, characters scarlet letter, white whale, abyss day, journey river, daughter pearl, relationship society,
Approximate Word count = 2225
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)