The Whale as a Symbol in Moby DickThat there are different perspectives regarding the white whale as a symbol is a result of the value that Melville places on the symbol as a means of expression. Melville viewed the symbol as, as William Gleim defines it, “a means of both revelation and concealment” (402). Visible objects are like masks through which a universal and significant order can be deduced. The “eyes are windows” (Melville, 9) through which “one can see a little into the motives and motives which [are] cunningly presented…under various disguises” (Melville, 5-6). The white whale symbol easily lends itself to this concept. For Ahab the whale represents nature's malevolence. For Starbucks it is a commodity. For Ishmael, however, it is "wonderful and mysterious" (Melville, 6). It arouses his curiosity, but here he recognizes it as something remote. It is an “overwhelming idea” (Melville, 6): an idea that is bigger than his consciousness. Its implications surpass his conscious understanding and make him feel meaning even though he cannot know it. Melville represents much of what can be known about the white whale. Moby Dick is literally an albino sperm whale. In his categorization of all whales, Melville regards the sperm whale as a primate: "It is, without doubt, the largest inhabitant of the globe; the most formidable of all whales to be met with; and finally, by far the most valuable in commerce " (Melville, 133). The whiteness of the whale enhances this correspondence as it has regal associations, “a certain royal prominence in this hue” (Melville, 184). The white whale, therefore, presents itself primarily as, as Gleim would say, "the ideal representation... at the center of the card... and organizes and creates commodities and commons of existence. Nature, however, is indifferent." , and Moby Dick is the symbol of this indifference. Man can impose perceptions of beauty on nature and extract merchandise from it, but the white whale represents the absolute negation of these efforts: what Hoffman calls “the ever-present possibility of cosmic nothingness” (271). Quoted Hoffman, Daniel. Form and fable in American fiction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965. Hughes, Charles "Man Against Nature: Moby Dick and `The Bear'." William. "A Theory of Moby Dick." New England Quarterly, II (1929), 402-408. Melville, Herman 1855., New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. Herman Melville: The Tragedy of the Mind New York: Russell and Russell, 1944.