Answer:
Melville's description of Ahab's scar in this excerpt best develops the theme of the ruling of man's present by his past wounds
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is not complete since it does not provide the complete information to be answered. Here is the full information:
Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby D ick.
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?
The ability of man to let go of past wounds
The harmony that exists between man and nature
The ruling of man’s present by his past wounds
The destructive power of man’s technologies
The description that is being given in this excerpt talks about a wounded tree when in fact is talking about how a person is marked by their experiences in life and even when they might look strong in the outside there is an inner force that comes from that moment in their past that drives them into the person they are now, making their present affected by the experiences in the past.