Paul Bates Paul Bates Eng. Call me Ishmael. Money thus more readily lends itself to Melville's use as a guidepost or marker of man's actions with respect to nature. As such, this motif serves as a symbolic indicator of the right boundaries between man and nature.
Man is both a part of, and somewhat distinguished from, nature in Melville's mind.
The relationship between man and nature is an important thematic element of Moby-Dick . In this paper I will examine two distinct issues surrounding Melville's use of the motif of money. The second part will be concerned with the disappearance of the motif and the negative energy of the vacuum thus created and the general importance of negative energy to art in general. Burke's semiotic theories, especially those connected to negation, opposition, and the play of signifier to signified formed the basis for my own thoughts on negative energy as it applies to art and literature in general, and to Moby-Dick in specific.