Category Archives: Week 11: Chapters 87-108

The cycle of war and peace

Posted on by
2

In chapter 98, “Stowing Down and Clearing Up,” Melville writes about the last step of processing the oil of a hunted whale. He tells us that when the oil is finally put away into barrels and these are stored away in the “bowels of the ship,” the whole vessel is scrubbed clean until it looks like “some silent merchant vessel, with a most scrupulously neat commander” (468). No trace is left of the bloody ordeal that was to extract oil from this whale. However, we find that this does not last for long. In page 469, Melville writes, “[T]hey only step to the deck to carry vast chains, and heave the heavy windlass, and cut and slash, yea, and in their very sweatings to be smoked and burned anew by the combined fires of the equatorial sun and the equatorial try-works; when, on the heel of all this, they have finally bestirred themselves to cleanse the ship, and make a spotless diary room of it; many is the time the poor fellows, just buttoning the necks of their clean frocks, are startled by the cry of ‘There she blows!’ and away they fly to fight another whale, and go through the whole weary thing again. Oh! my friends, but this is man-killing! Yet this is life.” This lengthy quote is a representation of the endless cycle of war and peace experienced by a nation. The sailors, or citizens, “only step to the deck to carry vast chains…cut and slash and…be smoked and burned anew by…the equatorial sun and equatorial try-works.” This first part of the passage describes a scene of physical toil, violence, and injury, all elements of a war. The sailors toil and suffer, and the language of “equatorial” fires is geographic in nature because this is the reality around the whole world. The sun is nature against man, while the try-works are man against himself, maybe weapons of our own creation. There is suffering in life that is natural and other that is man made, but it is observable equally around the world. Then comes the peace, and the sailors “have finally bestirred themselves to cleanse the ship, and make a spotless diary room of it.” The ship once again serves as a representation of a nation-state, and this section describes peace time, where the gore has been scrubbed clean and everything appears to be in order; where the land has transformed from a battle ground to a dairy room, a clean place of nurturing, a fertile land that will feed and grow the population. But nothing lasts forever, and the peace is broken by “the cry of ‘There she blows,'” a battle cry that snaps our “poor fellows,” who were enjoying the calm, the clean, the civilization (they were “buttoning the necks of their clean frocks”) out of a dream and sends them straight to the trenches once more. “[A]way they fly to fight another whale, and go through the whole weary thing again,” a quote that shows a type of melancholy, indicating the weary reality that is partaking in the repetition of a violent routine that one does not willingly enter into, but that seems the only option for survival in society. Finally, Melville writes, “Oh! my friends, but this is man-killing! Yet this is life.” This section reflects a cycle of suffering and calm that we have accepted as an inescapable truth of life, and takes it to a new scale by including the perpetration of suffering upon others as a continuation of this truth. In other words, Melville comments on our acceptance of war as a normal event which reflects the belief that life not only means to suffer, but also to make others suffer from time to time. This endless cycle we have created in our societies leaves too much to be desired, so Melville invites us to reflect on it and maybe think if there are no better options.

ch. 92 Ambergris

Posted on by
2

It’s so interesting to me how much comes from the whale and how we use its parts up when it comes to whaling. This chapter was so good to me. The idea of this thing coming from a whale is used for perfume. Melville is showing us all the aspects of the whale and the whale’s beauty, but at the same time showing us how we get all these products that are used to sell on land. “I say that motion of a Sperm Whale’s flukes above water dispenses a perfume, as when a musk-scented lady rustles her dress in a warm parlor.” (449) Melville is showing us that what people think of whales, whales all smell bad and they’re scary, but then shows us that the things people think of whales are not far from humans, and what whale’s store inside of them are the reasons for the goods that humans use, such as perfume that is sometimes made with Ambergris. Not only are humans so judgmental of this world/life of the sea, but they don’t even know where and how their goods are made and where they come from. Melville is showing us where and how these goods that humans use all the time, but also what humans think of whales when they don’t know the whale, one doesn’t know a whale until going whaling.

Ambergris & Power Dynamics

Posted on by
4

In the previous chapters we are introduced to the product “ambergris”—a rare wax-like substance that is used in a multitude of different luxury items such as perfumes and hair products. The rarity of this material being that it is sourced specifically and only from the digestive tract of a deceased whale. 

This process of obtaining this substance is both grotesque and strenuous, highlighting the importance and power of the labor force in acquiring these essential elements. Drawing attention specifically to the class structure of the society by contrasting between showing the labor used vs. the final products. 

How hard these items are to obtain versus their mundane use in everyday life demonstrates the disparities between the working class and the upper class while also showcasing the upper classes’ intrinsic necessity and connectivity to the working class.  

“Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale! Yet so it is.” (447). 

This quote encapsulates the upper-class need for the working class while also demonstrating their disconnection to this very fact. The items they use—are attributed to the work of others, and without that–they cannot have their luxuries. This quote frames the so-called “fine ladies and gentlemen” as ignorant to the fact of where their items come from. However, this disconnect or ignorance is purposeful, as to not acknowledge the necessity of the working class. The upper class is built on their labor, and to acknowledge it would mean to expose it and potentially alter their station or the very structure of the social order. The upper class do not want the lower class to know how much they depend on them or how powerful they truly are in maintaining their society. However, the desire for ambergris shatters this allusion of power—for only the whalers are capable of such feats, and therefore—capable of so much more.

Chapter 93: The Castaway, ” The Castaway”,

Posted on by
3

In chapter 93 of Moby Dick, Ishmael reflects, ” So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weak or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God,”(454) the quote transforms the idea of madness from being known as weak into a form of divine understanding. We see Pip, a young cabin boy who is left adrift at in the vast ocean, who experiences trauma, so badly, he loses touch with humanity itself. I think Melville often uses and questions the human definitions of sanity and reason, like in this chapter, he demonstrates in a tragic and spiritual way. Melville shows, in Pip’s point of view, explores on how the moments of extreme isolations and suffering can lead to a persons beyond reasoning of humanity. What’s the whole obsession with the sanity of the human mind that peaks Melville’s interest towards it?

Pip’s experience reminds me of Annie Cresta from The Hunger Games. Just like Pip, Annie endures the overwhelming trauma from not just witnessing her tribute member being decapitated in front of her, but also from drowning after the whole arena malfunctioned. Her being from District Four (known to be a district of water and fishing) she knew how to swim and was the only survivor hence made her the winner. But at what cost though? She’s considered unstable by the Capitol due to her losing her mind and going insane after her traumatic experience she was found basically useless, but that also shows her fragility and how cruel the world can be. Both of these characters embody on how innocence collides with inhumanity, such as, sensitivity, being mistaken for madness, and is their true respond to their suffering. Both Pip and Annie challenge society’s discrimination of sanity being called mad for no good reason at all. Both characters are gentle souls who have endured enough trauma that it transforms their sanity into understanding.

The more I read into the book it just makes me question and overwhelms me with so much context that Melville wants us to understand, it makes me go insane sometimes and question my own sanity lmaooooo!

Week 11: Chapter 104, The Fossil Whale

Posted on by
2

In chapter 104, we go deeper into history; past the start of time and reign of man, and discuss the aged pedigree of the whale through fossils found on land all over the world. Ishmael, is a student of the world, and his knowledge learned through experiences and observation. Not only is he a student of the ocean, but of the earth and its history. He is a geologist, or has enough experience discovering fossils in his time digging cisterns, to give credit to the discoveries of whale fossils, in the Alabama, England, France, etc.

After numerous chapters spent on ripping apart and harvesting the whale, we are engulfed in this affirmation of the whale as having once been the dominant creature, found all over the world on land, which has only recently existed above water, and allowed humans to crawl upon the shore and reign supreme over nature. As Ishmael stands on the bones of processed whales, he imagines a time in which the Whale ruled:

“I am, by a flood, borne back to that wondrous period, ere time itself can be said to have begun; for time began with man. Here Saturn’s grey chaos rolls over me, and I obtain dim, shuddering glimpses into those Polar eternities; when wedged bastions of ice pressed hard upon what are now the Tropics; and in all the 25,000 miles of this world’s circumference, not an inhabitable hand’s breadth of land was visible. Then the whole world was the whale’s; and, king of creation, he left his wake along the present lines of the Andes and the Himmalehs. Who can show a pedigree like Leviathan? Ahab’s harpoon had shed older blood than the Pharaoh’s. Methuselah seems a schoolboy. I look round to shake hands with Shem. I am horror-struck at this antemosaic, unsourced existence of the unspeakable terrors of the whale, which, having been before all time, must needs exist after all humane ages are over.”

The presence of the whale supersedes that of the history of mans great figures, kings, and empires, and is positioned as a godly figure; later Ishmael mentions that there are temples of whale bone where men go to worship God. The Fossil, is the ‘antemosaic’ or the unknowable history of the earth imprinted upon the land as a reminder that time did not being with the creation of man, whereas humans have used mosaicas to portray history, nature, and the activities of man. The leviathans reign however, is not over, as this lineage of adaptation has kept them in the water for a reason, which means that despite the effort of humans to hunt them for sport or industry, these godly-monsters will survive them when the earth is again submerged into a watery realm. The only question, is if humans will be able to adapt, where the whale’s genetic lineage has perfected him for this future and past.  

Ahab & Starbuck

Posted on by
1

The chapter I am focusing on is chapter 109, “Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin.” This chapter shows us an interaction between Captain Ahab and Starbuck; like most of their interactions before, we really get to see the differences between the two characters, noting that neither one of them is fond of the other.

One quote that stood out to me this chapter came from Starbuck when leaving Ahab’s cabin: “Thou hast outraged, not insulted me, sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man’ ” (Melville 518). I found this warning to be fascinating, and something that could be noted as foreshadowing. After writing my first essay about the dangers of a leader such as Captain Ahab, I enjoy reading the parts of the novel where Starbuck calls him out for his delusions and corrupt leading. I truly believe that Ahab will be the downfall of both himself and the Pequod, there is no doubt that his obsession and anger will cause trouble for the rest of the crew members later on in the novel.

This chapter, although pretty short, gives us good insight into the relationship between Ahab and Starbuck, and we are able to see that not much has changed since the beginning. It will be interesting to see how their relationship will continue to play out the more the novel progresses and the more wild and crazy Captain Ahab becomes.

Illumination

Posted on by
2

Throughout this book, Melville has made several points using contrasts in the subject that he talking about. In chapter 97, he makes another contrast, using darkness and illumination relating to the emotions as a whaler. Ishmael shares, “To dress in the dark, and eat in the dark, and stumble in the darkness to his pallet, this is his usual lot.”(486) This gloomy line provokes feelings of loneliness, solemnity and sadness. The whalemen, have a difficult job as is when it comes to dealing with whales and the ocean, but what about the emotions that come from the loss of connection with other human beings besides the other whalemen on the boat?

Ishmael continues with, “But the whaleman, as he seeks the food of light, so he lives in light…so that in the pitchiest night the ship’s black hull still houses an illumination.” At night or in darkness, the whaleman is able to indulge in the retrieval of the oil and make use of it with the lamp. While he himself is surrounded by the absence of light, the one thing that is changing that is the lamp in which he had the ability to help create.

Melville has touched base on a lot of different emotions in this book so far, for example, madness, anger, desperation, etc. but in chapter 97 he reflects on the solemness that comes from the job of a whaler. At the end of the day, when you’re done with your job for the day and you come home to your own thoughts, without the support or conversation with your loved ones, it can be hard to evade the emotions that come with that kind of darkness. Even though your job, ironically enough, is to retrieve the oil that will help with the illumination for others.

All is Vanity

Posted on by
1

Similar to when Ishmael experiences his first lowering on the mast and dissociates, he also is presented dissociating during his shift to operate the try-works. While he thinks about the ghastly sights of the shadows the fire makes with the harpooners, his mind subconsciously resorts to almost wanting to harm himself; and in seeing how liberating that feels to get away from whaling and his duties. He then feels instant regret, but is still harmed by religious psychosis such as these that creates abnormal functioning to how he should view freewill: ” All is Vanity”… and “the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain”(Melville 465). Here, it reads as religious psychosis, creating internal shame on himself for having these wild thoughts of self-harm, hence, reflecting on the chants from memory almost as if to warn himself– not soothe him. While these verses do avoid him from inflicting self-harm in imagining it, it instead creates a stumblingblock into navigating free will. Putting a label that “all is vain” while slaving himself away to the whaling industry instigates now more of a social reframe in order to preserve human labor while killing the dreams, passions and aspirations of people.

Week 11: Pip’s Soft Death

Posted on by
3

One part of the reading I found particularly interesting this week was Chapter 93, which covered Pip’s death. Instead of being violent or scary, I felt this chapter wrote Pip’s death off as something natural, a regular casualty of the whaling industry, and a celestial commentary on the feelings of death. The deaths’ of animals in this novel comes off as graphic and horrifying, filled with resistance and gore, yet Pip seems to just fade away into the horizon, as if he is nothing more than a leaf floating down the river.

Melville writes: “The sea had jeeringly kept his finite body up, but drowned the infinite of his soul… So man’s insanity is heaven’s sense; and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic; and weal or woe, feelings then uncompromised, indifferent as his God” (p.453). What a way to describe death. First off, the sea seems to be taunting, as it keeps Pip’s mortal body afloat, similar to those of the floating whales after their perishing. I also found the second half of this sentence interesting. Melville calls the soul infinite, yet it has been drowned. Drowning implies death, yet infinite implies forever, and these two contrasting descriptors could imply the place after death (presumably Heaven with the religious undertones we already see in this novel). These two contrasts mediums (solid body and infinite soul) are also important to note in a historical context; where examination of these two ideas were less scientific and more theoretical, not that we have much stronger of a grasp on these concepts nowadays. 

Melville continues on, talking about how man’s final thought would be absurd and frantic, and almost brushes over this idea. When the whales die, it is frantic. Yet this slight acknowledgement of the same concept in human’s death is barely seen, as Melville works to romanticize and sweeten Pip’s death with soft words and celestial language. He finishes it off with “indifferent as his God,” which implies God would not care of this death, or perhaps any human’s death. 

An Epigraph

Posted on by
1

Chapter 91 begins with an epigraph, reading:

“‘In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan, insufferable fetor denying that inquiry.‘ Sir T. Browne, V. E.” (440)

To me, this really stuck out in the novel, mainly because we, as readers, are not accustomed to epigraphs by Melville. Additionally, it just seemed out of place, so I looked it up. Browne was an English polymath, or someone exceptionally well-versed in a wide variety of subjects, and an author whom Melville frequently turned to for examples and information. Sir Thomas Browne wrote extensively on the whale, specifically the Sperm Whale, in his novel Pseudodoxia Epidemica, known largely as Vulgar Errors. It’s from his writing and meticulous dissection of both the whale and the scientific notions around spermaceti that Melville draws inspiration. Ambergriese, now spelled ambergris, is a waxy, oily substance commonly created in the boiling digestive tract of Sperm Whales.

It’s important to note the meaning of this quote. While yes, the ambergriese is hugely sought after and valuable, the effort behind its extraction is not. In fact, the effort is “insufferable.” It’s interesting that the action of extracting this oil, valuable as it is, is considered “insufferable” and to do so would be “in vain.” Yet, the years-long pursuit of the live whale is not only tolerated but also sought after. Here they are, approaching a target who is still valuable to them and their markets, but is dead and smells, rotting away in the foaming rocking of the ocean, and the Pequod turns away. It suggests that part of the process of whaling is the hunt – the chase through the unknown of the sea. When happening upon an already dead whale, which still may carry riches “in the paunch,” they turn away, deeming it unnecessary and not worth the time and effort. It’s ironic, considering how easy it would be compared to tracking, harpooning, and actually maintaining a live hunt of another whale.