In Chapter 24, “The Advocate”, Ishmael breaks the narrative chain and goes on a tangent about whaling; he advocates for the respectability of whaling as a profession and whalers as a social class. He appeals to history, religion and cultural authority, situating whalers alongside kings, emperors and saints. By invoking such figures, Ishmael seeks to prove to the audience that whaling is not simply just a brutal industry but one that has shaped civilization and society. He goes as far as claiming that whalemen have something better than good blood in their veins, they are like “royalty”; positioning whalers above any other profession. “Whaling not respectable? Whaling is imperial! By Old English statutory law, the whale is declared ‘a royal fish’.” (Melville 121)  The more Ishmael insists upon the heroism of whaling, the more his argument  begins to become absurd, comparing whalers and whaling to the Bible and even Cetus, the whale constellation.

I feel Melville deliberately constructs tension between admiration and absurdity to highlight the instability of society’s attempts to justify violence through borrowed symbols of power. By having Ishmael place whaleman on a pedestal among religious and political leaders, it makes us reflect on not just the morality of whaling but also, in a broader way, on how society rationalizes violent and exploitative labor. We, as the audience, can sense that Ishmael is “trying too hard” on making us romanticize the whaling practice. We know that whaling is a brutal and destructive activity and Ishmael is trying to promote the opposite. This commentary of whaling can show how much violence is often masked with hefty rhetoric.

Although Melville wrote this in the 19th century, this commentary remains relevant in modern day. Just as Ishmael’s rhetoric glorifies whaling, modern propaganda often glorifies war, reframing perspectives. Melville’s chapter critiques not just whaling but also the human impulse to conceal brutality behind the “greatness” of tradition and power.