Author Archives: Mylo Duong

Chapter 34: A small detail of Ishmael’s identity and Captain Ahab.

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Even though this chapter is not as important as chapters 35 and 36, we do get a lot of tiny details that I believe to be very important for the upcoming chapters. The first detail I notice is in one of the passages where Ishmael was describing Ahab’s actions and posture in front of people, “Over his ivory-inlaid table, Ahab presided like a mute, maned sea-lion on the white coral beach, surrounded by his war-like but still deferential cubs. In his own proper turn, each officer waited to be served. They were as little children before Ahab, and yet, in Ahab, there seemed not to lurk the smallest social arrogance.” (162). At first glance, I was quite confused about this particular passage because why everyone was afraid of Ahab. There was no hostility from him, and yet, in this passage, he acts as one of the god-like figures that were mentioned in the last couple of chapters. This time, it is war-like. I had a feeling that Melville wanted Ahab to be an authoritative figure. Even though he looks normal in front of others, Ahab carries that terrifying aura of do not mess with me, or otherwise your life will be at risk sort of thing. People know what he is capable of, and they understand the consequences behind it; hence, Ahab was a literal god in front of others. The second detail I would like to point out is when Ishmael later pointed out that he is “an officer” (164). This is quite interesting because I had a hunch that Ishmael is starting to give out small hints about who he really is, and this time, I theorize that he is one of the officers who were calling himself children in front of Ahab. This revealed that everything Ishmael described is probably his experience on this ship; hence, we are being locked through his perspective most of the time. What I would really like to know and am still pondering is that we all know that the ship wrecked by the end, then how is Ishmael still alive? Is there some sort of betrayal he did to the ship, hence we get very little information about him? I would like to learn more about it. But, it will probably be revealed as we read more in the later chapters.

Captain Ahab through Captain Peleg and Bildad’s perspectives.

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The reason why Ishmael was full of thoughts about Captain Ahab was because the mysteriousness oozing off of Captain Ahab attracts him. At the end of chapter 16, Ishmael was thinking about Captain Ahab after listening to the perspective of his other captains. He thought: “As I walked away…what had been incidentally revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain vagueness and painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the same time, I felt sympathy and a sorrow for him, but for I don’t know what, unless it was the cruel loss of his leg. And yet I also felt a strange awe of him, but that sort of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know what it was. But I felt it…Though I felt impatience at what seemed like a mystery in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then.” (Melville 89). This feeling that Ishmael is having is probably not the first time he has ever felt because he had the same curiosity towards Queequeg, and it attracts him to it. In this case, the mysteriousness and vagueness that Captain Ahab gives spike Ishmael’s curiosity. We all know that for the first couple of chapters, Ishmael was keenly reading the room, the background, and its people. Everything that he read, he analyzed to the fullest. I believe that Melville purposefully locked us in Ishmael’s perspective mainly because Melville also wants us to read people’s movements, but through Ishmael. It almost felt like we were Ishmael himself trying to figure out everything that we encountered. The reason why Ishamel was attracted to Captain Ahab’s mysteriousness was because he had not seen Captain Ahab yet and was listening to other captains’ perspectives. Ishmael felt sympathy, sorrow, and awe for Captain Ahab, but at the same time, he was not sure about it, which tells us readers that he does not hand-on know who Captain Ahab really is, and therefore, Ishmael’s thoughts and feelings were not a hundred percent accurate. This is why Ishamel’s thoughts head in different directions while he kept thinking about Captain Ahab. In a way, I really like how we are forced to read people through Ishmael’s perspective because we are also attracted by it, and it makes us ponder the possibilities that this novel offers, and it prompts us to read more about it. Such a fascinating way to write a novel.

Ishmael foreshadows a prominent future event. 

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Throughout these chapters, what I noticed, or I believe to be a foreshadowing event is when Ishamel slowly woke up from a nightmare. The passage states, “At last, I must have fallen into a troubled nightmare of a doze; and slowly waking from it half steeped in dreams—I opened my eyes, and the before sun-lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness. Instantly I felt a shock running through all my frame; nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard.” (Melville 29). This passage is portraying a future event where Ishmael will be woken up from a nightmare, and instead of seeing his sun-lit room now wrapped in outer darkness, Ishamel will be seeing the vast ocean at night where darkness will completely swallow the whole ocean. He will experience the void of nothingness, where he felt shocked and trapped in the middle of nowhere. Ishmael’s dream of being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman will be crushed due to the mysteries of the sea. We all know that every man who travels through the sea have hopes and dreams of being recognized due to their efforts, but once they experienced the true terror of the sea, they will realize that everything they have ever wished for were just a hoax, and that the terror is waiting for them on the other side of the earth. Another interesting point I wanted to make is that the way Ishmael and Queequeg act in front of each other is very suspicious. I feel like they both like each other, but at the same time, referring to themselves as ‘friendship’ feels a little off. My theory is perhaps back then, homosexuality was not recognized yet, so both Ishmael and Queequeg who liked each other’s company decided that it is just an intimate friendship, and that they were very close to each other. But the truth is they like each other, and want to spend time together like other couples do. Or perhaps I am completely wrong and my theory is literally me being delusional about it. I would love to hear everyone’s perspective on these chapters next week. 

We’re currently looking through Ishmael’s perspective in the first 3 chapters.

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After reading all 3 chapters of Moby-Dick, I have to say the introduction is getting really interesting. How come? You might ask. I would say that we are currently being put through Ishmael’s perspective, everything that he described, how the inn looks, how the people act, and his thoughts being unraveled around them, is something that I find quite interesting to read. There is this one passage where Ishmael talks to himself, and he said: “So, wherever you go, Ishmael said I to myself, as I stood in the middle of a dreary street, shouldering my bag, and comparing the gloom towards the north with darkness towards the south—wherever in your wisdom you may conclude to lodge for the night, my dear Ishmael, be sure to inquire the price, and don’t be too particular.” (Melville 10). I really like this passage, and it is probably one of my favorites so far because Ishmael is feeling anxious here. He obviously knew no one, and when he stood in the street, there was anxiousness creeping around as he was uncertain about the choices that he is going to make. Ishmael is taking up this completely new path, and his uncomfortable feeling makes him even more nervous. That is why he stood there and assured himself not to be too particular as he knew he was going to just do that. I also love how this passage feels a bit poetic because there is repetition while reading out these lines: “the gloom towards the north with darkness towards the south”. To me, it feels like the story is foreshadowing Ishmael’s future, like the path ahead of him is dark no matter the choices he makes. Even though the passage is short, it surprises me how many hidden meanings are used behind these lines. This brings back the conversation we had for the last couple of weeks in lecture, of how we said everyone will eventually have different interpretations of the book because we are highly intelligent human beings. We will bring out many different meanings and interpretations that others did not manage to find. 

Questions for Steve Mentz

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  1. Do you believe that technology in modern days plays a huge role in helping humanity connect to the ocean a bit more visually?
  2. Do you think poetry could change a person’s perspective about the ocean? Even if they think about it negatively?
  3. What is the one poem you would like to recommend to students if they want to learn more about the vast ocean?
  4. What are your thoughts about the deep sea and the mysteriousness that lies beneath it?
  5. What would be the one advice you would give to students as they start to read Moby Dick for the next couple of weeks?

Steve Mentz’s article is truly noteworthy. 

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After reading Mentz’s article, it feels like my eyes have opened up a little bit more because of the details that I completely agree with. In the article, he quoted: “For literary writers and scholars, the ocean seems especially attractive because of its metaphorical vastness. The great waters represent a principle of narrative fecundity that Salman Rushdie has described as the “sea of stories.” (140). This quote is so interesting to me because, for a long time, I have been curious about the idea of: is there more to the ocean than just water? We all know that the ocean is vast. We all know it has tons of stories of people who are worth mentioning. This is when curiosity strikes me. I want to know more about the deep-sea creatures. Most people would think that such creatures would never exist, but the deep dark sea contains everything, and when I say everything, I mean creatures that our eyes could not even believe in. Mentz made such great points in this quote because, as scholars, we allow our curiosity to win over us. We study by gaining knowledge. We study by thinking about the possibilities of everything that could possibly happen at any moment. We create thoughts that are beyond the human imagination. We are attracted to the ocean not only because it has water, but because it creates images that allow us to visualize those stories in our heads. This is why Moby Dick plays a huge part in all of the articles we have read so far. The novel allows us to explore the mysteriousness that the sea offers to us. As scholars, we are not meant to know everything about the sea. We are meant to study it, to visualize it, and know the dangers behind it. When Mentz refers to ‘sea of stories’, I believe he is referring to the stories of the people who sail to the sea in the novel. There has to be people who challenge their lives in order to go out into the deep sea. Even though there are some points that I believe are spectacular and worth mentioning, this article still confuses me because it talks about the sea with poetics alongside other poets. Does this mean the ocean is the body of a poem? And people just sort of utilize it as a way to create more poems? I would love to learn more about how the ocean is associated with poetry because it definitely plays a huge role in explaining the vastness of the ocean.

This article is an eye-opening for Moby-Dick.

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After reading What ‘Moby Dick’ Means to Me, written by Philip Hoare, I discovered a lot of interesting points that needed to be addressed in this blog. The first point I want to make is how the writer mentioned Moby-Dick is not just a book, but rather how one interprets the text. Hoare wrote: “I didn’t know then what I do now: that “Moby-Dick” can be whatever you want it to be. It took me thirty years to discover what the book was—or what it was not.”. When I read this particular quote, it makes me ponder the possibilities of the book being more than just texts, and you have to pay really close attention to how these phrases create meanings. And when I first read this quote, I thought to myself: “Thirty years is probably a little bit of exaggeration”, but then it hit me, with a book being that size, thirty years is needed to be able to explore the possibilities of the meanings inside this book. The careful consideration and dedication were probably put into dissecting the true meaning of these texts. Another interesting question that caught my attention is when Hoare asks: “Could Melville have ever imagined that his book would travel so far, and find such unlikely readers?”. My answer to this question is probably not. The reason why I think of it this way is because I have learned that Melville was quite depressed during his time of writing because Moby-Dick was not the reader’s favorite as he thought it would be, and that hit him hard. My guess is that Meville accepts the idea of a book not being famous, but it is still one of his signature marks that he left behind for future generations. He accomplished finishing a book, and I believe he went out knowing that his work is still there even if he is gone for a long time. It will find its way to the readers, and even if it is not, then at least he wrote something that he himself believes he could write. I haven’t read the book yet, but after reading these articles for the past couple of weeks, I have to say that I am eager to read Moby Dick, and I am very excited to listen to our discussions about the book. 

I got hooked while reading this article.

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After reading The True-Life Horror That Inspired ‘Moby Dick’, written by Gilbert King, the one question I would pose for this blog is: Is the book Moby Dick as disturbed as the true-life stories that this article claims to be? And my answer for this is: probably yes. The reason why I think the book is going to be disturbing is that it was inspired by stories that actually happened in the past. The events of cannibalism are what disturbed me the most, not because of how disgusting it is, but because of the thought of what a human being could do when they have reached the lowest point in their life. In this case, it is starvation, which led to cannibalism. Coming back to the question, some might ask what disturbed elements would be in Moby Dick? I would theorize ‘hallucination’ and ‘mythical creatures of the sea’. I have never seen Moby Dick before, but I would say that the reason why these two elements exist in the book is that once the men reach the point of starvation, they will start to hallucinate to the point where they do not know if what they are seeing is real or not. They will hear voices speaking to them out in the sea, and they will probably encounter the sperm whale for quite some time. Perhaps they will meet mythical creatures that humans do not believe are real. Perhaps they will hear voices echoing out into the sea, and it will sort of lure them to join with the water. Coming back to the article, I like how King included a short paragraph of Melville’s life with his published novel, Moby Dick. It saddened me knowing that he suffered a lot while thinking his book is not worth the goal that he was aiming for. I believe nobody deserves to feel this way, and all of his effort in creating the book should be praised and remembered for generations to come. This article is actually a stepping stone for the book because it feels like I am getting a little bit familiar with the materials, and I really do hope I find a lot of hidden meanings while reading Moby Dick. And at the same time, I do hope the book contains dark elements that I mentioned above.

Nice to meet you guys! :) Let’s all be great friends!

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Hello everyone! My name is Mylo, and I am currently a fourth-year student at SDSU. Truth be told, I am not great at public speaking at all. I often find myself struggling to even come up with ways of speaking without feeling nervous, and most of the time, I feel kind of slugghish for paying too much attention to this problem. After coming to this class, and being able to openly talk to everyone in the class makes me feel a sense of relief because I feel comfortable while introducing myself to you guys. I know I will probably struggle a few more times to speak while I’m in the class, and I hope I will be able to overcome this fear so that I’m going out strong instead of feeling like I did not achieve much.

A little bit about myself: I absolutely love films with all my heart. I have been watching films ever since I was young, and being able to grasp onto the stories, the characters, the dialogues, the emotions that the whole film portrayed are so rich and powerful, which inspires me to become a filmmaker one day. I love to cook, especially Italian dishes. I love to play games, instruments, and archery. I feel like these hobbies mostly take up all of my life, and there are probably more to come.

I hope that we can all be great friends while enjoying Moby-Dick alongside the heartfelt discussions that I am excited to have with you all.