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When thinking aboutwhat was said in class and going over my notes the question of whether MobyDick is a classic novel really interested me. 

I think we define classicsas timeless pieces of literature, but Melville's use of Christian referencesmake the book less accessible to any audience. In the time that he wrotethe book, Melville assumed that the readers would have read the Bible. Thatprobably would have been a correct assumption on his part, but in today’ssociety far less people have read the Bible.

I felt like I was losing alot that I could have gained from this book because Melville didn’t explainwhat he was talking about. I don’t think it is correct to assume that peoplewill look up every citation he makes to Christianity when the whole book isfilled with stories that people don’t know. It is just unrealistic to asksomeone to also read the Bible just so they can understand Moby Dick. Though Ifind it to be an entertaining book, I don’t believe it should be considered aclassic and I’m also not sure it should have such an emphasis in English courses.