Author Archives: Sam Turner

Ch. 16

Posted on by
Reply

I want to talk about one my thesis and my overall idea of how im going to read the book, then where it ties into this chapter.

in this chapter “the ship” we see Ishemeal and Queequeg interact with the ship that are choosing to have their adventure on, they get to hear stories about the ship and the captain. these stories are told and Ishmeal gets to make his own idea of the captain, he is reading him and his ties to the ship, he will leave the ship, think about the ship and the captain, then come back to to have a better understanding of both the ship and the captain. this idea of having these thoughts of something you find important and not losing it, come back to the material that made you think these thoughts and re-observe to get a different perspective.

standing and watching

Posted on by
3

I want to take us back to the passage of the painting when he first arrives at the inn, looking at the painting at first, it made no sense but the more you looked at the painting through the smudge and smoke that one would think the painting is ruined but when you keep coming back to it and stand there for a while, it all makes sense minute by minute.

now to my point, Ishmael seems to very obsessed with Queequeq, he can’t help but sit and stare at him, he is taking him in even though he doesn’t really get it/him.

“With much interest I sat watching him. Savage though he was, and hideously marred about the face-at least to my taste.” (55) then he later says…

“As I sat there in that now lonely room; the fire burning low, in that mild stage when, after it’s first intensity has warmed the air, it then only glows to be looked at; the evening shades and phantoms gathering round the casements; the storm booming without in solemn swells; I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me.” (57)

Queequeq is the painting, he is ran through in Ishmael’s eyes but for some reason he can’t get away from standing and staring at him, he keeps coming back like a revolving door. He wants to analyze him and get to know what what doesn’t make sense on the outside to further know what the true meaning is, just like this painting that has been through the ringer but Ishmael still found beauty in it.

I also want to make a second point about how this book is very much the new romantics, this book is fully about romance and the relationship with Ishmael’s soundings, truly everything is romantic to him, he can walk the street and see someone being eaten and still find the words to romanticize it.

“this ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in the fog.” (46)

He truly is gathering this idea to make anything and everything sound beautiful even though what he is describing is boring.

Extra Credit

Posted on by
Reply

reflecting on Steve Mentz Q&A or conversation, he talked a lot about coastal and coast to coast, how every coast is different and has it’s own rules. every coast has it’s own culture and how you have to respect that. makes me think how you can really pull a lot of inspiration from that and how you think, for me i’m not fully on board with the idea of thinking blue but the idea of think coastal is more approachable to me. Taking land and sea and seeing that in a poetic way by seeing the coastal rules and culture, truly is more ideal for me and the way i think. to bring back to that Emily Dickinson poem, her on the coast looking into the silver nothing. Yeah it was a fun listen.

Week 4, Steve Mentz.

Posted on by
2

I want to talk about Steve’s point of what “poetics” means and he describes it has a singular and plural, then he describes it has “theory of form”. then goes into his idea of ocean thinking when it comes to Poetics. How we read poetry and novels and flip our mindset to an ocean way of thinking to discover this theory of the ocean and how it relates to us and art.

An Everywhere of Silver,
With Ropes of Sand
To keep it from effacing
The Track called Land.

“The Silver does not efface the Land in this poem… The sea-silver the poet presents feels
like a cloud when you walk through it on an alpine hike—soft, wet, intangible, insistently
present” it may be obvious to some that Dickinson is talking about the ocean in this poem but some to not so but its the way this poem is so small but so much unpack. This idea of looking at the ocean maybe on a winter morning and only seeing silver everywhere is so striking to me, and he usage of effacing, I just love the word choice, sand being the reason why the ocean comes to a stop and how we have a clear defining point to land and ocean

“What Moby Dick Means To Me” week three response

Posted on by
1

To my mind, there are only two other works with which it bears comparison: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” (1818), and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” (1847). The former, in its own witness to one man’s obsessive interference with nature, was a direct influence on Melville, who acquired a copy on a visit to London in 1849, even as the whalish shades were beginning to swirl about in his imagination.

I want to talk about the section of the article, I talked about this in the last class with my group but this idea of studying nature and going to nature to heal isn’t a new idea, it’s just new to Americans. Melville’s response to the “American Scholar” is so funny to me but this idea of going into nature and finding yourself and going into nature to heal from something is not a new idea, the romantics have been teaching us the ways of going into nature and applying it to your pen.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is my all time favorite book and I honestly a huge inspiration to Moby Dick, a monster in the nature, going to hunt down the monster, and then learning during the journey. The monster will always be a reflection of some sorts. So as we learn about why Moby Dick was written, I have thought this the whole time so far of thinking how similar it was to Frankenstein and the romantic period. reading this, in the article was everything to me and made me feel validated.

Emerson’s “The American Scholar”

Posted on by
1

To talk about Emerson’s “The American Scholar” was a fun read, in a way to see how one brain works and thinks. This idea of what it means to be a man scholar, I want to focus the word man because that is all he talks about in this essay is about man, man thinker, man farmer. There was one part of the text where he talk about women and how men need women which was nice but most of the time he talked about men. Back to the idea or structure of being a scholar, it was very interesting to hear about this guideline almost because it makes me think do I agree or do I not, but he did have some great points that did have me hooked. “who can doubt, that poetry will revive and lead in a new age” love this, totally agree with this idea and think it is somewhat true, i think for it’s time it really sticks out because in a way he is right, poetry did lead into a new age of thinking and literature. He talked a lot about Shakespeare influence which in this statement that I just quoted, his influence has lead a new age of poetry such has T.S. Eliot.

His ideas of being a scholar were fun, Man Thinking which is just a bookworm, books are the mans strongest tool then he says that if there is no book a man will have a resource, which I mean yeah. Then one could argue that the book is the resource. the scholar should be free and brave to collect all this information and write freely from the brain. Many aspects of being a scholar and where it can take you almost. These thinking skills give the man soul and thats the one thing man values the most, is an active soul.

This easy was a little hard to follow but after a while I feel like I started to understand him and his thoughts, his idea and they way he portrays them, make them seem factual. I feel almost to really take in what he is saying and apply it to my way of being a scholar.

Hello everyone, Im Sam.

Posted on by
1

Hello, looking forward to getting know my classmates. Im Sam/Samuel, Im a transfer student coming from Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. I’m a 3rd year and an English major and I’m very excited to dive into this world of Moby Dick and see what the hype is all about. I get scared of public speaking but Im super exited for the challenge. I want to practice public speaking more because that is a skill i would just love to have.

To talk about myself a little, I love to read poetry more than novels,,,, scary, I love T.S Elliot and Slyvia Plath, I love movies a lot too if my brain will be rest and focus but I love Wes Anderson. I love Lana Del Rey and Charli xcx.