Human Agency: Fate
1. I got the sense that Ishmael felt out of control when he said the ship “blindly plunged like fate into the lone Atlantic.” This line reflected the views of Calvinism in that Ishmael now has no control over his fate. He is blindly wading out into the waters of the voyage, not knowing what will happen and with no prior whaling experience.Status of Whaling
2. Ishmael was advocating for whaling, and explaining how important it is to the world. He made very interesting points as to why whaling contributes to everyday practices and uses. He was annoyed at the fact that many people looked down upon whalers, even though they themselves used goods made with whale products. “For almost all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn round the globe, burn, as before so many shrines, to our glory!” (96). Candles and lamps were very widely used in those times, and were made from body parts of the whales, like blubbers. Ishmael felt very passionate that whalers were to be appreciated, as they were important to the world. If it was not for men like himself setting off on dangerous whaling voyages, those products would not be available for use. The whalers deserved more appreciation and respect than they were given
Status of the Working Class
3. Chapter 24: “The Advocate” stood out to me particularly because of the
extremes that Ishmael seems to go to in order to make his case for the nobility
of whaling. It is almost comical how he poses his own questions and then
proceeds to answer them in a sort-of angry or passionate way as if he did not
just ask the question himself.
4. I find it interesting that Ishmael feels the need to defend his choice of work. In chapter 24, Ismael talks about his apprehension to “convince ye, ye landsmen, of the injustice hereby done to us hunters of whales” (95). So far in the novel, Ishmael appears to be self-assured and believes in his value as a person. However, his need to defend whale hunters brings about a question of the working class. For instance, Ishmael mentions how “the world declines honoring” whale hunters because the profession is viewed as bloody and unclean (95). He questions this perception by describing how the world shows “adoration” for the products produced from the whales they capture such as “tapers, lamps, and candles” (96). This idea is brought up again in chapter 26 when Ishmael ponders the dignity of the working class. He describes the “courage” and “bravery” that is required to successfully complete the dangerous work no one else wants to do (101). A modern example of this would be how food industry workers are looked down upon even though people crave the services they provide.
Whalers = Soldiers; Whale = God?
5. Consider: Ishmael compares whalers to soldiers and notes how we honor military commanders for the blood work they do:
"Doubtless one leading reason why the world declines honoring us whalemen, is this: they think that, at best, our vocation amounts to a butchering sort of business . . . Butchers we are, that is true. But butchers, also, and butchers of the bloodiest badge have been all Martial Commanders whom the world invariably delights to honor" (93).
6. Consider: Ishmael suggests that battles are the "terrors of man" but whales are "the interlinked terrors and wonders of God," and thus, many times more frightening:
". . . many a veteran who has freely marched up to a battery, would quickly recoil at the apparition of the sperm whale's vast tail, fanning into eddies the air over his head. For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God!" (93).
Aesthetics and Ideology: Humor and Democracy
7. Melville tends to argue the legitimacy of whaling as a career while also using Ishmael’s humor to lighten the conversation. Chapter 25 is a prime example of Melville’s tactic; Ismael suggests that whaling is so important that even royalty depends on it. He pokes fun at this revelation by comparing the anointing of a king to oiling a salad. “Certain I am, however, that a king’s head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad.” Ishmael continues his playful jab turning to the audience with the question, “From where does the oil originate?” He answers with the quip “think of that, ye loyal Britons! We whaleman supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff” (99). Moreover, while this passage is certainly humorous, I could also see how Melville could have used the situation to rile the feathers of readers in his time.
8. … in Chapter 25, Ishmael discusses the type of oil used in the
coronation of kings, naming many different kinds of oils before stating that it
is, in fact, sperm oil that is used in these coronations. Rather than stop with
that fact, he goes on to end the chapter by saying “Think of that, ye loyal
Britons! We whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!”,
which I found to be quite funny because he sees this as such a win over the
“loyal Britons” and then proceeds to call the oil “coronation stuff”
A NEW CAST OF CHARACTERS
Aesthetics: Who is Speaking
9. ... couldn’t help but wonder, where is Ishmael? Did the story suddenly switch to third person? I highly doubt this was an accident on Melville's part, he seems rather meticulous in his work, and I just can’t see him unintentionally moving away from Ishmael.
Starbuck: A Normative Figure and a Business Man
"Starbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a sentiment, but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all mortally practical occasions" (Ch. 26).
"Starbuck seemed prepared to endure for long ages to come, and to endure always, as now; for be it Polar snow or torrid sun, like a patent chronometer, his interior vitality was warranted to do well in all climates" (Ch. 26).
he states that he will "have no man on his ship not afraid of a whale[," or in Ishmael’s terms: “... [Starbuck] seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward” (Melville).
10. Starbuck, the first mate of the Pequod, believes “that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril” (100). Starbuck is a cautious man who sees value and even courage in fear. Knowing that his brother and father both died at the will of a whale, Starbuck still chooses to keep it as his own profession, showing his deep courage. The second and third mates of the Pequod are much different than Starbuck.
Stubb: An Anti-Starbuck
11. . . . it almost seems as if he is comparing them rather than describing them. For instance, he begins by explaining Starbuck and his ideology . . . then follows up with an immediate diagnosis of Stubb as a direct foil for the latter; “Good-humored, easy, and careless, he presided over his whale-boat as if the most deadly encounter were but a dinner, and his crew all invited guests” (Melville).
12. The second mate, Stubb, is described as “taking perils as they came with an indifferent air” (102) and “an easy-going, unfearing man” (102), much the opposite of Starbuck.
Flask: Another Anti-Starbuck?
13. ... the third mate is said to have an “ignorant, unconscious fearlessness” (102). . .
Ahab: Religious Significance?
14. I am excited for more information on . . . Captain Ahab’s supposed ‘crown-to-sole birthmark’
"... moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe" (Ch. 28)
15. Ishmael gives a god-like description of the mysterious Captain Ahab,
saying, "His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and
shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini's cast Perseus." Captain
Ahab's god-like character seems to reign over the Pequod like it's a model
earth floating in an infinite sea. Ishmael also describes the relationship
between Ahab and his crew by saying, "Not a word he spoke; nor did his
officers say aught to him; though by all their minutest gestures and
expressions, they plainly showed the uneasy, if not painful, consciousness of
being under a troubled master-eye."
16. Although Captain Ahab is depicted as a god, his one-leggedness reminds the reader that he is a human and is vulnerable to human suffering. . .
Whalers as Seekers of God
17. . . . the entire ship is susceptible to human
suffering. In chapter 23, Ishmael says, "But as in landlessness alone
resides the highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God—so, better is it to
perish in that howling infinite than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even
if that were safety!" Though they are all human and know the dangers of
whaling, they risk the adventure because it is better to die fighting than to
be slaughtered in a corner. Humans are born sinners, born to try everything
they aren't supposed to—nature's rebellious children. More and more, this story
is striking me as a biblical allegory or prophecy.
Noble Man vs. Meagre Men (Democracy?)
18. “Men may seem detestable as joint stock-companies and nations; knaves, fools, and murderers there may be; men may have mean and meagre faces; but man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and glowing creature, that over any ignominious blemish in him all his fellows should run to throw their costliest robes” (Melville). What does this mean? . . . how does the distinction between individual men and their actions compared to that of the nobility or glory of the human race as a whole have to do with Moby-Dick specifically? Is this a heavy, recurring theme or something I am looking too deeply into?
Racial Dynamics
19. Talking further about the crew with members such as Starbuck and Stubb, Ishmael makes the observation that there is quite a variety of races. However, the leadership was all white, and Ishmael claims that the “native American liberally provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously supplying the muscle,” which is certainly quite an interesting claim.
Note: "native American" here refers to people born in the United States.
Note: "native American" here refers to people born in the United States.
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