Moby Dick
Melville’s Great American Novel condensed into several blog posts full of musings.
Salutations!
Welcome to my blog! Though this page was created as part of my AP Lit grade, I truly am interested in debunking the myth that only the highest scholars of literature in the world can understand Moby Dick.
The Way Ishmael Sees
You’re not the only reader out there to equivocate Moby-Dick to a labyrinth. Melville’s seemingly irrelevant chapters and lengthy descriptions through the narrator, Ishmael, serves to heighten the complexity.
How does the existence of Ishmael affect the overall way the story is told? Well, Melville is obviously alluding to the Book of Genesis in the Bible. Just to refresh your memory, Ishmael is the bastard son of Abraham–an outcast as a result of his inferior status. Melville’s Ishmael is portrayed in the same fashion: he stumbles upon the Pequod by looking for work with his new compatriot, Queequeg.
For being so new to a whaling voyage, he seems to know a great deal about the different whales. He contrasts the Sperm Whale from the Right Whale so thoroughly one cannot help but to question if it is truly Ishmael narrating the chapter.
I believe that Ishmael is still narrating the story, and the “diversion” chapters serve to illustrate knowledge gained based on conversations with fellow crew members. How else would he be able to know the background of the crew members and the private ruminations of Ahab? These chapters serve to diversify the narrative structure so as not to be all comprised of dialogue or lengthy descriptions.
Ishmael is all-knowing. The way in which Melville describes the “gams” with fellow whaling crews to the dastardly intentions of Ahab proves that Ishmael, though the “outcast” shares with us much more than he appears to know during the dialogue of the novel.
Disagree as you like, but I welcome the opportunity to read a chapter in script form or in encyclopedia form, among many others. And yes, I must say I know a great deal more about whales in general.
The Pequod: A Microcosm of Conflict
Most men are in accord that the glory of whaling comes from defying the forces of nature –especially for Captain Ahab, the extremely deranged head of the Pequod on a quest for revenge against Moby Dick, the white whale. However, the only man who dares to question Ahab’s motives to sacrifice the lives of fellow crew members for petty revenge is Starbuck–the white, level-headed religious American with a home and a family. Why Starbuck? Wouldn’t it be appropriate for the other crew members to speak out against the injustice that Ahab is committing? Alas, no. Melville chooses to portray the three non-white harpooners as savage and concerned solely with killing and profit. Is it a jump to say Melville implies that traits such as being religious, American, and family-oriented are preferable to all others? If not, then why is Starbuck–a character most readers of the time period the novel was written could relate to–chosen to buck the trend of insanity? I believe it’s a fair argument to make. After all, the crewmen of other races and backgrounds are often described as “savages.” However, is it from the point of view of the crewmen believing men with manners like Queequeg to be savage? Or is it Melville’s point of view conveyed through Ishmael?
Yes, the great theme of race relations. Isn’t it ironic that it’s still a great theme in today’s society? Melville’s pretty adept at writing ahead of his time.
- One artist’s interpretation of the “savage” Queequeg.
Many who are familiar with the general plotline of Moby-Dick probably realize the absence of women aboard the doomed Pequod. How does Herman Melville justify this dearth of the female sex? For practicality’s sake, a woman’s place in the 1850s was certainly not in whaling. However, the all-male crew does not only exist to fit the times—women, in general, symbolize amity, mild-manners, and nurturing qualities; traits that are not at all embraced on whaling voyages.
The one woman who serves as a symbol in Melville’s entire novel is “Aunt Charity,” the sister of Captain Bildad, a man who finances the excursion of the Pequod. Aunt Charity is described as “ready to turn her hand and heart to anything that promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation;” thus, she embodies the warm, caring personality that is absent throughout the voyage.
What makes the journey of the Pequod so unique is the absence of the traditional values of the nineteenth-century era. For example, how does a full crew—comprised of men of all different echelons of mental health—expect to take care of themselves both physically and psychologically without the presence of a woman? More importantly, would it be feasible to attribute the sinking of the Pequod and the widespread death of the crew to the lack of a nurturing spirit among a crew who prides themselves in ruthlessly destroying the fragile balance of nature?
