First of all, what the fudge!? How can it just end like that!? As I am happy that this journey of reading Moby Dick is over, I’ll kind of miss it. The ending of obsession for the whale and rage he filled up in his system for years caused it to be his doom. In Moby Dick’s final chapter, Melville transforms the Pequod into a tragedy, revealing on how Ahab’s obsession becomes a force that destroys not only himself, but his entire crew too. The quote, ” And his whole captive force, folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it”, (624) captures the intensity of this destructive power with such intensity. It demonstrates on how Ahab “captive force” suggest that the sailors are no longer in control of themselves, but of Ahab’s consuming will. Melville, also, compares the Pequod as Satan, a figure whose associated with rebellion and pride, just like in his own story on how he fell from the heavens through defiance, Ahab’s ship refuses to sink “till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her,” suggest that his downfall is so intense that it contaminates everything that’s innocent and pure.
Melville’s fascination for using biblical and mythological imagery to portray obsession as a spiritual catastrophe amazes me every time I would read a chapter. I’ll probably (maybe no, maybe so) miss this weird, quirky book.
Even though I found myself exhausted and confused in some areas of the chapters, I also will miss reading this book for the very first time because there is so much to discuss that makes me want to re-read it again after the class ends! As talked about in class too, Moby Dick is a greek tragedy; with the mention of dissociation, hallucination, fate– the 3 fates– and this obsession to conquer the supernatural all are aspects of a greek tragedy, and I think its so cool that Melville was able to incorporate this, as well as the language, into the 1800s. This affect and ending makes readers at that time want to record this issue as monumental and prolific, and I believe that this could be one of Melville’s great use of tactic and intention.
the top comment was me. for some reason it puts me under anonymous
Hi Darian Morillo, I read your blog for week thirteen, and I feel that it was amazing. What I want to add is that your reflection captures the shock of the ending and how Melville turns the final moments of Moby-Dick into a full moral collapse shaped by Ahab’s obsession. I like how you connect the quote to the idea that the crew becomes an extension of Ahab’s will, losing their agency as they’re pulled into his madness. Your point about the Satan comparison is especially strong- it shows how Melville frames Ahab not just as stubborn, but as tragically defiant in a way that dooms everything around him. Overall, your blog clearly explains why the ending feels both devastating and inevitable, and thank you for letting me write these simple words.
Hi Darian,
You mention that Ahab’s captive force and how this becomes what controls, not just Ahab, but the entire crew. It reminded me of all imagery on circles and our discussion about it in class. The circles and in particular the whirlpools created by the sinking ship also depict this magnetic pull of gravity something like a field of gravitational pull. Ahab is a black hole which the crew all gravitates around until they are inevitably pulled into it.
Your reaction nails the shock of that ending, Melville really does turn Ahab’s obsession into something cosmic and corrosive, dragging everything down with him. I like how you connect the biblical imagery to the crew’s loss of agency. Nice work.