Liquidity and Syntony: A Study of the Pequod in Moby DickFromthe Perspective of Neo-tribalism

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick tells the story ofCaptainAhab leading the whaling ship Pequod on a quest for revenge against the white whale Moby Dick through the perspectiveofIshmael.ThispapertakesMobyDickas the research object and focuses on the whaling ship Pequodin particular. By applying the theory of neo-tribalism proposed by Michel Maffesoli, this paper analyzes how the neo-tribe is formed by the crew members of Pequod during the voyage and how it is bonded together by Ahab’s obsession with revenge. It pays attention to the collective resonance of the crew’s “undirected” being-together and analyzes the role of the whaling ship as a special space in this process, finally unveiling the underlying forces and vitalismthat work behind neo-tribalism.