Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In (Reencounters with Colonialism: New Perspectives on the Americas)
Literature is always open to interpretation, and Melville's  Moby-Dick has long been a subject of study for its vast  symbolism. Just when everyone thought it had been picked clean,  along came James's 1953 study, which takes an economic approach  to the novel. James suggests that the doomed ship Pequod, with  its full whale-processing facilities, can serve as a symbol for  the American factory system, with its workers being used  perilously and brought to their untimely deaths by a mad captain  of industry at the helm. Strictly for the academics.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.