Racism in Moby Dick Was Herman Melville a racist Particularly Chapter 42 of Moby Dick Melville expounds on the terrifying aspects of the color White how White dominates other colors and how the White race dominates other races Was Moby Dick the white whale a symbol of white superiority and pride I was shocked when I read this statement from Chapter 42 pg 163 Norton 1967 Speaking on whiteness Melville writes and though this preeminence in it applies to the human race itself giving the white man mastership over every dusky tribe