While reading Hoare’s article, it made me more eager to get started on Moby Dick. This man hypes up Melville and shows major appreciation for the novel. So, I am very excited to begin reading it.
In Hoare’s article, he writes that Moby Dick should not be treated as a regular novel because it is more than just words on a page. It allows the audience to gain a better understanding of the relationship between man and nature. He says “It’s more an act of transference, of ideas and evocations hung around the vast and unknowable shape of the whale, an extended musing on the strange meeting of human history and natural history.” Moby Dick makes the reader conscious and encourages the reader to think deeper on what the whale exactly stands for, and what man’s relation with nature can be like. The relationship between man and nature can be seen as obsessive for example. But it is entirely up the reader to interpret the story and characters how they see fit. I know for me personally, figuring out what means what and trying to figure out the deeper meaning can be difficult sometimes. Another thing I wanted to add is, I find it interesting how Moby Dick is open for interpretation. In some previous English classes, while reading a book, the teacher usually gives us the main point or theme of the story and I had to find evidence to back that point up. However, I am interested in seeing how I navigate this novel and seeing what I take from it.
Hoare also states that Moby Dick “stands both as a historical reference for the great age of Yankee whaling and as a work of imagination in which whales become avatars as much as they are real animals.” In the 19th century, whaling was a big deal and whale oil was a hot commodity. So, Moby Dick is also able to provide major historical context. Even though it is fiction, you can still get an idea of what whaling was like and of what sea life was like then. Also seen in this quote here, Hoare mentions using your imagination for the whale and seeing what they represent. And, while yes, Moby Dick is a work of fiction, the fictional characters can symbolize and mean much more rather than being seen as just an animal/person.
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Hi Francisca!
The end of your paragraph resonated with me so well because I think we as readers often try to label and categorize Moby Dick, the whale, as someone or something that we can revert back to. I think, by thinking of the whole besides a person or animal not only gives much more room for interpretation, but sees the whale as a medium or entity that man attempts to put into a box again and again throughout time. The quote you added beforehand enhances this concept of the whale as an entity to expose human nature inadvertently. When Hoarse says its an act of transference shaped around the whale, this gives much more autonomy to what the whale might symbolize rather than its presence. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Francisca, I feel the same way. Reading Hoare’s article eased my discomfort of reading such a long book a little bit. I agree with you that Moby-Dick should be read as more than just words on a page. I like to think of Moby-Dick as more of an experimental novel than a traditional novel. Is the book really about whales, is it a dissection of the meaning of the word “whale” and “whaling”, or is it Melville’s exegesis on the whale? As a class, I feel it is important for us to read the book how we read it, as there is no strict “way” to read Ishmael’s recounting of his whaling odyssey. Like you said, reading Moby-Dick makes us “conscious and encourages [us] to think deeper on what the whale exactly stands for, and what man’s relation with nature can be like.” Thanks for sharing.