While reading “What Moby Dick Means to Me,” I started asking the same question. For some reason or another, millions of people around the world have heard the title of Moby Dick, and most claim, Oh yeah, I know what that’s about. Even my 8-year-old niece has heard about Moby Dick, but why? Why is this novel a pop culture icon and a household name in literature, yet most people have yet to read it?

“American high-school students are subjected to Melville’s madness, with its subversion and, to modern eyes, overtly homoerotic passages.” (Hoare) What Hoare is stating is absolutely true; Moby Dick is often considered a high school read, where teens are forced to read an 800-page book that, in my opinion, is more suited for college-level readers. I mean, I’m currently enrolled in a class dedicated to the many layers and facets of this iconic novel. Moreover, through research, Moby Dick has been published in hundreds of versions, providing readers of all knowledge levels with access to what appears to be a simple story of adventure. So why are we wasting our time when, on the surface level (pun intended). I’m eager to know more and why.

Speaking of high school, Moby Dick often was a gay joke in class or would release a few immature snickers when it would be said in class by the teacher. That is also a possibility, which explains why the title is well known, but the heart of Moby Dick remains. Not only did the Bible make Jonah and the Whale a staple in religious stories, but also the first animated version of Pinocchio made an incredible impact on the lives of children around the world. It was released in the 1940s and remains referenced to this day. I believe this has had a profound impact on the legacy of Moby Dick in American history, as it’s deeply ingrained in our collective consciousness from childhood onward; familiarity is quite comforting.

“Overly homoerotic passages.” What can I say, that too caught my eye. Leave it to the gays to make a literary icon gain new relevance as a gay icon. Watch out Babadook! Brendan Fraser plays a gay character in the 2022 film The Whale, where he plays an ailing English professor struggling in his relationship with his teenage daughter, but is restored through an essay she wrote on Moby Dick. In the finale (spoiler alert), Brendan Fraser reads the essay aloud to his angsty daughter right before they both smile at each other, and he dies, floating away into an imaginary white light crossing over the sea. Moby Dick… the icon that you are! Slay momma

Philip Hoare even states’ Moby-Dick’ is a long book, and time is short. Even a sentence, a mere phrase, will do.” This is what keeps the legacy alive. No matter how you interpret it, there is no wrong answer, and there’s something to find inside the Whale that is missing in us all. There is no answer to life, but from the sound of things, Moby Dick may have some answers to keep the world turning. I’ll be sure to revisit this post come December and see if I have an answer to some of life’s questions (homoerotic or not) with the help of Herman Melville.

“No, my first name ain’t Whale. It’s Moby… Mr Dick, if you’re nasty!”