Melville wrote in Moby DIck that the color white is the absence of all colors and the foundation of all colors. The prominant theme of the novel is the indeterminancy of our knowledge of the universe. I was reading a criticism whose author described this theme (a theme which is similarly and popularly approached by many deconstructionist authors) as the subjectivism which pivots the void; what a great description! Wowza! That's deconstructionism in a nutshell. Anyhow, Melville's observation (or rather Ishmael's) is a very similar description of deconstructionism. What he means is that the determinancy of the universe evades human knowledge because human knowledge is based on the indeterminancy of the universe; in other words, the we seek out the void according to our observations of the void--our subectivism is a tangled stream of relationships. This is why many such philosophers say we would have to step outside of ourselves in order to unlock the void. One particular metaphysical (he seems to end every chapter with some metaphysical rant) message early in the novel is commumicated in such a subtle manner that it's chilling. Ishmael categorizes the many types of whales "scientifically," pivoting around the Sperm Whale with lucid distinctions, with the overall goal of categorizing the Sperm Whale; so very long is the list and according descriptions of the whales that the reader wouldn't be blameworthy of forgetting Ishmael's original intention of describing the Sperm Whale. By and by, we come to the end of the chapter and Ishmael neither describes the Sperm Whale or gives account to his avoidance or inability or silence of the matter. What a powerful literary moment are those which are hidden so carefully. The point is that the great Sperm Whale is indeterminable--a theme that is forcefully and extensively developed in almost every subsequent chapter. Oddly enough The Great Sperm Whale, Moby Dick, is the color white. Every meticulous detail, the careful choice of words, and the gross quantity of motifs and lesser developing themes, all conribute in the most surprising, impressive, and artfully crafted ways to the moral-center of this amazing work. It is no wonder to me now why so many call Melville a genius.