Ten of the best appropriate deaths in fiction

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best appropriate deaths in literature.

One item on his list:

Ahab

The deranged captain of the Pequod, the whaling ship in Moby-Dick, does manage to stick his harpoon into the great white whale, but he is snagged by a loop of rope attached to the harpoon. "The flying turn caught him round the neck, and … he was shot out of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone".

Read about the other entries on the list.

Moby-Dick also appears among Katharine Quarmby's top ten disability stories, Jonathan Evison's six favorite books, Bella Bathurst's top 10 books on the sea, John Mullan's list of ten of the best tattoos in literature, Susan Cheever's five best books about obsession, Christopher Buckley's best books, Jane Yolen's five most important books, Chris Dodd's best books, Augusten Burroughs' five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, David Wroblewski's five most important books, Russell Banks' five most important books, and Philip Hoare's top ten books about whales.

--Marshal Zeringue