The novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship called the Pequod, and its captain, Ahab, who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale called Moby Dick. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael (a teacher by profession), who joins the crew as a sailor on the Pequod and undertakes the journey to escape the everyday drudgery and out of his affection for the sea. This classic story revolves around Captain Ahab, and his obsession with a huge whale, named Moby Dick. This whale caused the loss of Ahab?s leg years before, leaving Ahab to stomp the boards of his ship on a peg leg. Ahab is so crazed by his desire to kill the whale that he is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, as well as the lives of his crew members, and even his beloved ship, to find and destroy his nemesis, Moby Dick.