:Valerie’s Blog

Ah! It’s Moby Dick! Oh, no it really isn’t. But they still caught a whale, or rather Stubb caught a whale. If Queequeg did then maybe him and Ishmael could have cuddled and celebrated, but he didn’t. I liked that Ishmael considered how it was that the French made such great pictures of whales when this was not a major activity of theirs and concludes that it was their “natural aptitude” (Chapter 56).

Ishmael is apparently a savage too. He claims that “long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery… I myself am a savage, owning no alligiance but to the King of the Cannibals, and ready at any moment to rebel against him” (Chapter 57).

Columbus sailed over numberless unknown worlds to discover his one superficial western one; though, by vast odds, the most terrific of all mortal disasters have immemorially and indiscriminately befallen tens and hundreds of thousands of those who have gone upon the waters; though but a moment’s consideration will teach that, however baby man may brag of his science and skill, and however much, in a flattering future, that science and skill may augment; yet for ever and for ever, to the crack of doom, the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest frigate he can make; nevertheless, by the continual repetition of these very impressions, man has lost that sense of the full awfulness of the sea which aboriginally belongs to it (Chapter 58).

If this doesn’t condemn the men to doom, I’m not sure what could foreshadow it more. Man is not all powerful and it is not only the beings of the sea that they must be wary of, but also the sea itself and the power that it holds.

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Well Ahab is just so special he’s gotta have his own crew. Stowaways on the boat, they were the phantoms and source of all the noise that was being talked about. He has this desperate need to find the whale and it isn’t enough for him to be on the boat that gets it, but he needs security and his own people to directly command. This isn’t exactly anything that anyone else, including the ships owners would approve of. I would think that he’s probably risking his job by sneaking these men on and making use of their services, all for a whale.

I mean seriously, he’s got this need to kill the one whale who severed his leg and then what? What if it were a different indistinguishable whale? Who would he target all that suppressed anger and aggression towards? All Whales? That would be good for business. I really can’t get over how Ahab can only focus on one thing, even if it means everything horrible in the world to him. When I’ve got an anger issue with something… usually a person, not a whale, I still have other things to deal with like school and work and family and the destruction of that one person isn’t all I think about. But then again I don’t normally destroy people, and no one really ever took my leg off. (I’m totally enjoying targeting Ahab because not only do his methods seem strange, but I’m really not understanding how he rolls).

I loved the gam too and thought the whole thing was hilarious. On a normal ship with little ships to travel between on, it seems like a dignified and necessary procedure, but on little whaling boats without seats it’s just ridiculous. I mean imagine anxious Ahab who just can’t wait to hear any information about the wherabouts of Moby Dick itching to get to the other ship and talk. But he has to balance and “sustain his dignity by by maintaining his legs” (Chapter 53). Think about just how hard you would have laughed if Ahab just fell into the water.

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In case you didn’t believe him, Ishmael has all this support to let you know that this tale he’s telling about Moby Dick is true. It’s happened before, with the Essex and the Union where a whale has came and attacked them. He also, “personally”, knows of three instances where the whale has escaped and been harpooned by the same person twice a number of years later.  He is thus proving that one can see a whale more than once and the quest for Moby Dick is not in vain. We find out that they can follow the currents to find Moby Dick as well as meeting with the other ships they pass for sightings of the white whale.

The big question now, especially that the how are the going to find Moby Dick is answered, is who is the person making noise, and does Ahab know about him. Is he a prisoner or a stowaway and what’s his role going to be? I wasn’t expecting to meet any more characters, and in all honesty only thought we would be losing some to the sea and whales, but I cannot wait to meet this new one, especially if they’re real.

I like that it’s nice and peaceful on the boat and the married couple is weaving together when they hear of the whale sighting and they dash off to see and fight their first whale. From peace to war. Ahab gets especially excited that it may be Moby Dick and speeds up to see the whale.

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I Become a Transparent Eyeball

Emerson is very in tune with his surroundings and nature. He says that as a transparent eyeball he is “a part or parcel of God” and sees all. He oversees all sins and good deeds that people do for others I would think, but then is nothing. At first I was under the impression that Emerson was God because he was perpetually young and would last forever as well as being able to see everything, but maybe he does not judge and is only a part. Maybe he needs us to have faith in nature and through this we will create a God so great that faith will calm us all and keep us youthful.

The American Scholar

This essay continues with Emersons previous theme that we are only part of a whole larger thing, being an idea or a community, or even God. He says “that you must take the whole society to find the whole man”, so it works both ways. To know what man is about, you must view him in his own context, with what his surrounding life expects of him and how he reacts to such ideas to view who he really is. Nature, says Emerson, is the most important influence of the mind. I see this as the nature of your surroundings, not only woods and water but also who you are around. The second influence is the past, found through however it is recorded. I think this could also be your mind, because you cannot always forget what happens to you and will base your future on preventing the bad things or getting revenge. Knowledge is key, but we need to do things with this knowledge and take action to spread it and make ourselves useful, but I do not think this includes only physical action but does include spreading it through papers, or blogs. So let’s connect knowledge to action and nature to the soul, as Emerson did.

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“Ever since that almost fatal encounter Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale, all the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to identify with him not only all his bodily woes but all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations” (Chapter 41).

Well that’s for sure. But I think I like Ahab’s supreme obsession. I like seeing how Starbuck originally resisted it and how now everyone is singing and joining in. It even makes inexperienced Ishmael feel like he’s equal to everyone else in this mission even though he’s like cleaning the closet and talking way too much.

Ahab did not fall down and worship it like them; but deliriously transferring its idea to the abhorred White Whale, he pitted himself, all mutilated, against it. All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, are visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby-Dick (Chapter 41).

The first time I read that I saw that on the surface Ahab is under a lot of stress, but there’s a lot more in there. We see that all his hatred to evil life is targeted to Moby Dick, and then learn that Moby Dick is pure and white. And apparently that whiteness bothers Ishmael to no end. Honestly I am not sure what to make of this. I always thought white was good and innocent, but not when it’s associated with a monster (!) I guess…

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The Moby Dick cause Ahab all this pain. At first I was questioning why it would be such an honor for Stubb to be kicked by Ahab, but I suppose it is similar to Ahab having his leg bitten off by Moby Dick. A sort of honor of being part of the “special individual tiding concerning Moby Dick” but then being severely scarred and hurt by the monster (155). It is now the mission of the ship to find Moby Dick again and kill him, and all the men join in and sing to this destination. Although Starbuck is reluctant to go after one dangerous whale, and not just go for all of them like he normally does, he joins in too.

With all this singing I felt a sense of togetherness and a possible melting pot sort theme but I just feel as though everything is going to change as the men get more involved in hunting whales. How real was their singing anyway? I’m sure I am imagining it differently than it would be because it is in a play format and all I can see are some dressed up guys dancing in syncronization singing.

Ahab is still pretty crazy in my opinion. He wants revenge, the past is affecting his future tremendously and he sets out on a nearly impossible goal to kill one special whale in the ocean. Then I think he’ll find it and die.

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These chapters weren’t very exciting in terms of plot, but they gave us a big idea of how different things would be on the ship than on land. Ranking is huge in relation to anything you do on the ship, even eating. Dinner is even a big deal with the officers and captain Ahab eating first in an uncomfortable silence. They wait to be served and then intently watch Ahab as he cuts his food and begins to eat. Then the harpooners get the table, and eat everything in sight. These are big guys you know. I wouldn’t want to eat in this ship, nor with Ahab. He still seems like this harsh, mean guy that isn’t going to get any nicer. Especially if he doesn’t even talk with the other guys on the ship. The big question is why on earth would it be an honor to be kicked by his fake leg in you dream?

In agreement with everyone else, the chapters on classifying whales were not too exciting. I just can’t wait for the plot to come back. Same goes for “Whaling and Whalecraft”. It was something I was curious about, but that was just too much information that I can tell you I won’t retain. Let’s hunt the whale now!

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We’re off to sea. The cuddleing is over now, the man will have to become men because from what I hear, whaling isn’t just a trip on a boat to enjoy the weather. Ishmael and Queequeg have another strange conversation with Elijah before boarding the ship as he asks if they saw “anything looking like men” going onto the ship (Chapter 21). Ishmael, again puzzled, says he thought he saw some figures walking on but once the married couple hop on the ship, there’s only one guy on the ship as well Captain Ahab-still hiding out in his cabin.

We see some more foreshadowing while Ishmael talks about dying on a ship in relation to the sailor Bulkington, eventually concluding it’s not that bad. We know this ship is done for, and there’s going to be deaths at sea, but only a few hundred pages until the whole thing sinks. I wonder if that guy who plays the tamborine will play as it goes down, but somehow I sense it won’t exactly be like the Titanic.

Ahab seems more scary than I imagined him to be. I thought he would just be a guy on the boat and hide out depressed all the time. I didn’t even notice when he was described that his pegleg is a part of a whale until I was reading some other blog posts. That makes him have even more of an evil feeling that he’s half human, half the enemy. Soon we’ll see how Ahab runs the ship and if he is really as bad as he seems.

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Ismael  says that he had “no objection to any person’s religion, be it what it may, so long as the person does not kill or insult any other person, because that other person don’t believe it also” (Chapter 17). But right after saying that, he is angry at Queequeg for not responding to him and sitting in the room all day for Ramadan in conditions that were bad for his hygiene and common sense. It was also bad to fast, says Ishmael because the body caves in, resulting in the spirit caving in. Even with all this pressing and attacking of Queequegs religion, he fails to anger Queequeg. Queequag is also so stubborn that he fails to believe any of what Ishmael is saying. This is actually beneficial to both of them and their friendship because it is not, as of now jepordized by religion. As the men on the boat point out, religion becomes a less pressing problem when on the ship because there are dangerous pressing issues that are dealt with on the ship.

The men still do not know exactly what to expect on the ship because they have not yet met the captain. They are told not to judge him by his name, and the bad story it carries, but only that he is not well since he lost his leg by a whale, and is staying in his room on shore until them. He has a wife and a daughter, so he must not be so horrible. Elijah, a man standing around the shipyard, who has his own battle scars, cooincidently has the same name as the prophet who saw the future the demise of Ahab, and does just this now. He tells Ishmael and Queequeg that Ahab is not the best captain and they might not want to be under him on this ship. They take this advice very lightly, thinking he is just a crazy man and get ready to go on the boat the next day. This is obviously something they should have listened to.

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