Pre-determined Fate

Pre-determined Fate

In chapters 49-51 of the novel, we see hints and glimpses of a life that seems to be deliberatley planned out. The fragility of life is something that is noted, in particularly in chapter 49. It seems that these men, not truly knowing what they are going to be getting into, set aside all their worries, all their fears, and go after something that they seemingly have no connection to. Ahab, a man who is obsessed with Moby Dick, is willing not only to die for this animal, but risk his crew's life as well. Does his crew have any idea about the inner insanity that Ahab possesses?

"It may seem strange that of all men sailors should be tinkering at their last wills and testaments, but there are no people in the world more fond of that diversion. This was the forth time in my nautical life that I had done the same thing... I survived myself; my death and burial were locked up in my chest. I looked round me tranquilly and contentedly, like a quiet ghost with a clean conscience sitting inside the bars of a snug family vault."

Now that their lives have been signed away, do these men feel a sense of immortality? Now it seems as though they will be ok with the concept of death. Is this something that they truly believe, or something Ahab has tricked them into thinking...?