As was discussed numerous times during the semester, a big reason for Moby Dick “flopping” during its initial publication was because slavery alongside many of the topics that Herman Melville argues against were key factors that contributed to the social and economic aspects of the United States during that time. Moby Dick as a whole single-handedly dismantles the ideologies that the United States was built and founded upon and argues for more thoughts against these ideologies than for them, which is understandably a difficult thing for people (let alone an entire country) to grasp and work towards. Even now, with some readers of Moby Dick either not enjoying or arguing against the themes and topics that Melville incorporates into his novel, we can still see the difficulty in grasping how the United States “democracy” is not a democracy, and the overzealous and monomaniacal thinking of our president(s) contributes to a sheep-like mindset amongst the greater public, thus creating an institution that works against the United States and its people rather than for them. While reading the articles, the mention of the “American phenomenon” (Riegel, 7) made me realize how detrimental the single mindset and communal way of thinking has become for American people. We have already constructed a history that still impacts us to this day, and yet we continue to make some of the most subtle mistakes that were made in the past in present day that could lead us down a path of joint destruction just as Ahab and the crew aboard the Pequod lead themselves down.