Moby-Dick — Books

The story behind the answer

The image shows a massive white whale—Moby-Dick, the legendary white sperm whale hunted obsessively by Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel. Narrated by Ishmael (“Call me Ishmael”), the book centers on Ahab’s quest for revenge after the whale maimed him.

Melville blends high-seas adventure with detailed whaling lore and big themes—obsession, fate, and humanity’s struggle against nature. To distinguish the options: The Old Man and the Sea features a marlin; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea spotlights the submarine Nautilus and a giant squid; The Sea-Wolf is Jack London’s tale of a brutal sea captain, not a whale. Memory tip: white whale = Ahab’s obsession = Moby-Dick.