Question

read the source of the allusion. in his novel moby - dick, herman melville writes about captain ahab. ahab searches for and talks about one thing only: a white whale. what is the meaning of the allusion in the sentence below? the detective spent years chasing his white whale: a bank robber who was never caught. a mysterious figure whom no one really knows a clever thief who always manages to escape an object or person that one always thinks about

Explanation:

In Moby - Dick, Captain Ahab is obsessed with hunting the white whale. In the given sentence, the detective is obsessed with catching the bank robber, similar to Ahab's obsession. The "white whale" here represents an elusive target that the detective is constantly focused on.

Answer:

a clever thief who always manages to escape