Reading the text vs reading the messages that hide behind the lines of the text, Melville takes us through a story. As he takes us through his story, he stops us in our tracks and makes us look at figures, paintings, and markings. These painting and figures he asks us to read teaches us how to read his book, Moby Dick. This is how Melville teaches us how to read the novel, but also teaches us how to read the world around us, to make a critique of the state of our world. We have to look further into these markings and paintings that Melville tells us to stop and read, just as we do with text. It’s about stopping, taking a first glance, reading the marking, leaving, and coming back to re-read the same markings.  Throughout the whole book, we encounter paintings, figures, and markings, such as the painting in the Spouter Inn, the right whale’s head, the sperm whale’s head, and Queequeg’s tattoos. There is a reason why we put up against non-textual elements in this book; they’re there for us to closely read to find answers about the world that Melville is describing during his time. This book is filled with nuance and long, wordy paragraphs, but then we come across something like the painting at the beginning of the book; he tells us to stop and look with Ishmael. It’s the message within the painting that gives us some answers to the nuance and some reflection of the world that Melville is putting up for critique. The art of the lesson that Melville is teaching us is a demonstration of closing reading, to adventure beyond the text and find out why he asks us to look at the right whale’s head and why the details give us (the audience) answers to the nuance that Melville is writing. 

In Chapter Three, “The Spouter-Inn”, Ishmael encounters this large painting when he first steps into Spouter-Inn. “On one side hung a very large oil-painting so thoroughly besmoked, and very defaced, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose.” (Melville 13). With this passage, Melville teaches us the importance of reading. As we are actively reading this book, we stop and read other markings throughout the book, such as the painting. Not only are the readers reading the literal text, but we are also reading landmarks that are being described throughout this book. We encounter this painting at the beginning of the book, a painting that is hung up for all to see. However, as we can see, the painting has been up for years, with neighbors passing by multiple times a day, and yet it remains overlooked and deemed unimportant. “It was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it.” Only by showing care for the painting and making multiple visits to it, a new meaning comes. The painting suggests to readers that it is a comparison to the book; only through careful studying of the painting can it bring a new outlook to the reader about the book. Studying is reading; the diligent study is to read your surroundings, think about the reading of what you’re observing, and repeat this process, a series of visits to this study. Just like the painting, the book is up for show, for years, for all to come and see, over and over again. Melville doesn’t want you to pick up the book, read it all in one go, and then never touch it again; he is suggesting to us to make multiple visits to the book and take diligent study of the book. He suggests we talk to our neighbors about what they see in and from the book, go back to the book just as Ishmael does with the painting.
This passage is giving the reader a picture in their head; it’s presenting this painting to us as if we are Ishmael, we are Ishmael’s eyes. Now that we have this painting that is in our head, we are trying to figure out what the besmoke and deface looks like. The passage tells us to inquire with our neighbors, and then we can come to some understanding of what the painting might mean. To come to an understanding of the painting, one needs to read said painting; you can’t come to any type of understanding without reading. This passage suggests that we have to paint this canvas in our heads and make multiple visits to it, then maybe we can get an understanding of the painting. Melville is telling us how important it is to read and hold onto those first impressions, so then we come back to the book, the passages, and we, the readers, get to compare and contrast first impressions to what we see now. This is a crucial element of reading Moby Dick. 

This passage is essential because it starts the story. This passage shows the reader how and why it’s important to read and re-read. The things that can be displayed on a huge canvas are so often overlooked, like the painting in The Spouter-Inn, but if you take the time to sit and look, leave to your room, sleep, and make your rounds to it, then you can start to read the painting. It’s to read and then come back and re-read the passage, the painting, and the book.  “On one side hung a very large oil-painting so thoroughly besmoked, and very defaced.” We see Ishmael start to read this painting, getting an understanding of the canvas, the smudge, and the smoke that is on the painting. Then “it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose.” Now we have Melville telling us to revisit the painting and take a careful study of it. The painting is the book; we must have that first initial reading of the book, revisit the book, and make careful observations of the revisit. 

In chapter 3, we meet our dear Queequeg, and the narrator describes the markings/tattoos.  “I might be cherishing unwarrantable prejudices against this unknown harpooner… It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin. But then, what to make of his unearthy complexion, that part of it, I mean, lying around about, and completely independent of the squares of tattooing.” (Meville 19-23) Melville asks us to look at and read Queequeg’s tattoos as if we were in bed watching the sun hit his skin, reading markings on his skin as a symbol of shame. Once again, the author is asking the audience to read a non-textual element of this book because it showcases the importance of how we should read the book and the world around us. Mant of people base their judgment and show prejudices based on appearance, especially tattoos on the skin. Markings that will never leave the body until death, what do these markings tell us about the person, and what do prejudices say about the person who is judging the man with tattoos? It’s a two-way street, it’s not one shot, man’s dead, the shot is fired, and it comes back to the person holding the prejeuces. “It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin” (Melville 23). This line in the passage speaks volumes. Usually, we think that only on the outside is the only way we judge an individual, but Melville describes it as “a man can be honest.” Melville is asking the audience to look at man differently. As we judge, what does that judgment look like?  Judgment is reading, as we read Queequeg’s tattoos, we read it differently than how the world usually reads someone with tattoos. Melville suggests a change for the world, but as he suggests this change, he still holds these conservative values with judgment of a man who looks different than him. Melville almost shows the reflection of an opinion, but the mirrored opinion, having this based judgment of someone, because of how we were told to think, but having your own moral battle with that opinion. 

Later in chapter 110, we see how Ishemal sees the markings on our dear Queequeg and his coffin, “And this tattooing, had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth; so that Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.” (Melville 524). In this passage, Melville is showing us how Ishmael has learn to read Queequeg and his markings, tattoos. How, over time, as he has gotten to look at his markings, he has gotten to read Queequeg over and over again, and this is his final statement about his development with Queequeg. “And this tattooing, had been the work of a departed prophet and seer of his island, who, by those hieroglyphic marks, had written out on his body a complete theory of the heavens and the earth, and a mystical treatise on the art of attaining truth” (Melville 524), Ishmael went from having unwanted prejedeies about a random Harponner to fully understanding what the markings on his body had meant to Queequeg and not just to Ishmael. Queequeg was a prophet to his people and showcased that people who look like him can belong in a world that is filled with Ishmaels. Melville shows us in this passage the importance of reading within reading; not only are we reading this passage from chapter 110, but we are re-reading Queequeg’s tattoos, and we are reading how Ishmael has been re-reading Queequeg’s tattoos all of this time throughout the book. The art of attaining truth, what a beautiful thing it is to read and reread to finally come to an understanding of this nuance that is being presented to us about markings on a body. “Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in one volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read, though his own living heart beat against them; and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.” (Melville 524). This entire passage effectively shows the audience the result of the act of reading and re-reading, from forming a judgment about a random man based on prejudice to ultimately reaching a final conclusion about him, which is truly beautiful. Through Ishmael, we gain insight into the answers that Melville poses throughout the book. With this passage, Melville is asking us to better understand Queequeg, but also why Ishmael felt the way he did towards Queequeg throughout the entire story. 

In the Introduction to the book by Andrew Delbanco, he writes, “Melville does not employ words in Moby-Dick; he savors them… Even its most dramatic characters rarely end in crescendo but tend to resolve themselves into a reflective quiet that chastens like the sound of strings after brass.” (Delbanco xii).  In other words, it is not to be bored by Melville’s long, wordy paragraphs about melancholy nuance but to savor them, stop and think about them, and come back to them, re-read those long, wordy, boring lines. To better understand the characters and the book, it is necessary to read and think and re-read. Melville tells us to be bored and take note, and come back to where you were bored, re-read, and collect your answer, which can be whatever you want it to be

The act of reading is to read, come back and re-read, but it’s also reading what is being asked and reading the contrasted view. In chapter 75, Melville tells to observe the Right Whale’s head, but just before that, the audience is asked to stop observing the Sperm whale’s head before the Right whale’s head. As we read the Sperm whale’s head, we leave to read the contrasted view, and as we read, we still have the Sperm Whale in our mind. Reading the contrasted view of the whale is going to help us better understand when we come back to the Sperm Whale. The importance of reading the contrasted view provides us with a counterpoint to how we understand the story and the idea of life and death. “But as you come nearer to this great head, it begins to assume different aspects, according to your point of view.” (Melville 264). You must look at all points of the Right whale’s head to find answers that were missing in the Sperm Whale’s head. Meville suggests to us that the contrasted view will help us understand his critique of how the world, and how the world views life and death. Different aspects come about when you go 360, reading is 360, reading is a full circle. Melville teaches us how to read within reading. We are Ishmael, and we are walking around the whale’s head and taking in the different counterpoints to come to an answer about why the Sperm whale’s head is deemed to be more important than the Right whale’s. It’s not about the obvious, but what lies behind these non-textual subjects that Melville is telling us to stop and look at. 

In the article What ‘Moby-Dick’ Means to Me by Philip Hoare, Phillip Hoare speaks about how Moby Dick can be whatever you want it to be, but it took rereading to come to that understanding. “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.” This is the importance of reading and re-reading; he talks about his thoughts on what Moby Dick is from his first read, but when he had read, stopped to think about what Moby Dick is, and then re-read Moby Dick, it was then that he came to an understanding of what Moby Dick is, whatever you want. The act of reading is important to come to an answer to Melville’s nuance and melancholy. The stopping and reflecting is single-handedly the most important of the act of reading, without the first thought of the book, you have no 360 moment of coming to an understanding of Moby Dick… whatever you see hiding in the lines of Melville. 

Work Cited

Introduction, Delbanco, Andrew, Moby Dick.

Melville, Herman. Moby Dick.

Nast, Condé. “What “Moby-Dick” Means to Me.” The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2011, www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-moby-dick-means-to-me.