Really? Why? Mr. Henderson is simply claiming that hist situation bears some similarities to Captain Ahab's. It might or might not really be true but the statement is clear enough for anyone moderately well read in English language literature.
It's not that the reference is obtuse (it isn't), it's that one usually doesn't encounter "Moby Dick", "aluminum extruders" and "Zhongwang" in the same sentence. It can give one pause, in the same manner as if the sentence were full of alliteration.
