Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick.It resembled that perpendicular seam sometimes made in the straight, lofty trunk of a great tree, when the upper lightning tearingly darts down it, and without wrenching a single twig, peels and grooves out the bark from top to bottom, ere running off into the soil, leaving the tree still greenly alive, but branded.Melville’s description of Ahab’s scar in this excerpt best develops which theme in the novel?
Answer
A
the ability of humans to let go of past wounds
B
the harmony that exists between humans and nature
C
the ruling of a person’s present by their past wounds
D
the destructive power of technologies
Explanation
The scar is compared to a lightning bolt that marks a tree but leaves it alive. This image suggests that Ahab survived his injury, yet the wound continues to shape him. The description therefore develops the theme that a person’s present can be ruled by past wounds, not that Ahab has let go of his injury or lives in harmony with nature.
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