Melville understood the importance of the non-Aristotelian coexistence of A and non-A. Was Socrates mortal or immortal? In a sense (by virtue, in part, of this very question). the answer is both. Was Ahab's goal survival or self-destruction? "On life and death this old man walked." Clam and cod. Life and death illustrate the close relationship between the style of logic and the basic theme in Moby-Dick.