:Valerie’s Blog

“Didn’t want to try to: ain’t one limb enough? What should I do without this other arm?…No more White Whales for me; I’ve lowered for him once, and that has satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I know that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, he’s best let alone; don’t you think so, Captain?” (Chapter 100),

Do I really need to expand upon how stupid Ahab is here? He’s had so many signs tell him to not go on with this monomaniacal attitude, and give up on Moby Dick. He finds a ship that knows anything, well everything about Moby Dick, and has even engountered the great leviathian twice, but they tell him to chill just the tensyiest bit. The Captain of the Samuel Enderby had his arm caught in the harpoon line, a serious danger, and had to have it amputated. The second time he saw Moby Dick they left the whale alone, as it should be. Why lose another arm? or in Ahab’s case, another Leg. That would make things difficult. It’s just another sign that they’re doomed when Moby Dick comes into the picture.

“But he will still be hunted, for all that. What is best let alone, that accursed thing is not always what least allures. He’s all a magnet!” (Chapter 100).

I also thought it was hilarious and just so Ishmael to hop in the whale and start measuring (Chapter 102). Then to get it tattooed, what a man he is. I had no idea. Another just Ishmael thing was when he claims to “present my credentials as a geologist” and was a “stone-mason, and also a great digger or ditches, canals, and wells, wine-vaults, cellars, and cisterns of all sores” (Chapter 104). One last thing, “for time began with man” he just throws that in there (Chapter 104). I feel like even quirky Ishmael is getting too predictable, I’m ready for some more whaling adventure, as entertaining as this section was.

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Ishmael seems to go beyond explaining the structure, location, and history of the parts of the whale. He talks about the spout as a fountain and wonders if it is pure water coming out or some sort of a vapor. He also contemplates if it were possible for humans to take one giant breath and then not take another for a period of time. He believes that we would if we could.

Real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but it often bestows it; and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied tendons that all over seem bursting from the marble in the carved Hercules, and its charm would be gone (Chapter 86).

The tail of Moby Dick is the strongest part of him, the part that propels the whale towards its destination, but also hurts and kills the most people. The tail also is a mace in battle and is used for sweeping as well as lobtailing and peaking flukes. Ishmael anthropomorphizes these attributes of the whale and personifies it.

Could Ishmael possibly be pondering life and getting deeper as this journey progresses? Does he crave (normal) people around him?

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Like Shan, I will skip the beginning of most of my blogs where I say how Ishmael focused on one thing, like the body of a whale. But even by me skipping it, it just shows that Ishmael, as well as Ahab is single minded. He focuses on the whale and its body parts for endless amounts of time until there’s more excitement. The most interesting part to this section were the references to Plato and psychology.

Ishmael claims that “The whale like all things mighty, wears a false brow to the common world” (Chapter 80). It is portrayed as being a harsh animal that will attack if unprovoked, but its skull looks somewhat like a human skull. According to my psychology textbook, phrenology is “an ill fated theory that claimed bumps on the skull could revel our mental abilities and out character traits” (Myers, 57). This was not a practical method of telling anything about a being and at most showed that the brain has different functions in different areas. This was not a method that could possibly show anything about life to anyone. Ishmael also attempts to be deep and talking about Platonism and Stoic. I’m not quite sure what this connection means, but it was not something I would expect a whaler to talk about.

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Whales are gross. How could you possible eat one after reading these chapters, never mind seeing how it’s ripped apart and discarded. Oh well the blubber is the whales skin, not the thing on top of the skin, that would be just a layer above the skin even though the skin is on the outside. Ishmael is getting as crazy as the other guys on the ship. We know he’s obsessive compulsive about the details of everything but some of it is just gross. And the beheading of the whale to get the spermicide, that’s not so great either. You cut it at the thickest point and then keep the head. Then you’ve got the funeral, when the whale carcass is let go and marked on the log so all ships to pass by there in the future will know of this.  Is this a trophy of sorts for the whalers, or is it saddening to see what they have really done to the world? As Ishmael says, “while in life the great whale’s body may have been a real terror to his foes, in his death his ghost becomes a powerless panic to the world” (Chapter 69). He seems to feel that in killing the whale, he is doing a service to all its prey, but he is not because the prey under the whales pray are now growing in number and consuming more.

Gabriel, the archangel, seems to only be another incident that should scare the men away from hunting Moby Dick. He saw a mate get thrown off the ship while hunting whales and die in the sea. This is not a good sign, and yet again the whalers blatently ignore it.

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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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“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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