Category Archives: Week 6: Chapters 1-4

question your values in order to understand more about yourself

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Chapters 4 through 12 had a few recurring themes such as questioning your own values, questioning the religious values imposed upon you, and even queer tendencies within seamen. Although these themes are beautifully presented and questioned throughout the chapters, I was in awe of the way Ishmael opened up to the reader about changing/challenging personal values and being more self aware in general. In chapter 10, A Bosom Friend, Ishmael is grappling between his own religious values and those of his dear friend Queequeg. Ishmael describes a spiritual like feeling toward his friend and rather than dismissing it, he practiced the art of opening up and accepted this curiosity.

“I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned “I began to feel myself mysteriously drawn towards him. And those same things that would have repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me…Christian kindness has proved hollow courtesy.” (Melville, 57)

Ishmael was willing to question his own values and felt peace in not allowing what is expected of him to keep him from understanding more about himself and his new friend Queequeg. He found beauty in the unknown.That can be reflected in his love for the ocean. The ocean is filled with the unknown and sets Ishmael free in a way even prior to sailing on the boat. Ishmael can freely question his values and the religious values imposed on him. Things aren’t so simple and settled like on land but free and ever changing like taking to sea.

Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy

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Melville presents the readers with an aversion to Christianity, presented frequently throughout the text by the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael. Starting all the way back in Chapter 3 with the line, “Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian” (26), he spends much of the chapters proceeding it focusing on the kind of man that Queequeg is and the way that he treats Ishmael as well as others surrounding them. Despite having three chapters focused on the importance of religion and practices, they are still dotted with the presence of Queequeg and internal dialogue such as “but Faith, like the jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope,” (42). 

Christianity is painted as opportunistic, almost parasitic in the way that it prays on the fears, doubts, and hopes of the sailors and their families in New Bedford. “…few are the moody fisherman, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the (Whaleman’s Chapel). I am sure that I did not” (39). Each person is compelled to attend the weekly sermon, one way or another, and not even Ishmael is able to avoid it. Yet later, when he is observing Queequeg, he makes another startling statement: “I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy” (57). 

Perhaps there will be a time when we understand Ishmael’s continued heretical talk against the religion that he claims he was born into (58), but as of now Queequeg is painted as an innocent, sweet man who is alien to the culture he lives amongst yet willing still to respect and attempt to understand it – which is more than can be said of Christians in relation to religions outside of their own.

Chapter 7 – The Chapel (And Death.)

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Ishmael finds himself entering a Whaleman’s chapel within this chapter, talking about his observations and feelings towards the idea of death. Part of me feels similarly towards his feelings about plaques, and while it is easy to imagine the countenance on the people he sees in the middle of mourning, I think this chapter puts into perspective on how people are supposed to understand and tackle the idea of a loved one dying. (Or anyone dying in general for that matter.) Ishmael himself doesn’t seem entirely bothered by the idea of death as we’ve seen, but he reflects this specific idea. “…yet lies antique Adam who died sixty round centuries ago; how it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead…” (42) Ishmael seems baffled by the idea of people grieving loss at the idea of (Christian) heaven being a better place.

Additionally, he also makes a point about how those who embark for specific work or journeys are paid while others are not. There’s merit in how a man’s life is held. Going back to the plaques, I believe Melville’s intention of putting them in this chapter preface’s the idea that we are not necessarily supposed to feel anything at all. From Ishmael’s standpoint, there isn’t any sense of grief or personal connection. Why should these plaques take up a whole/half a page? Is there any true significance other than the idea that the whaling journey he is about to embark on might have him turn into nothing but a plaque as well? Is someone going to grieve him? Melville makes the chapter foreboding, and it changes the tone from the previous chapters before.

Where Comfort meets Discomfort: A Lesson in Opposites

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In Chapter 11, “Nightgown,” Ishmael muses: “Nothing exists in itself. If you flatter yourself that you are all over comfortable and have been so a long time, then you cannot be said to be comfortable anymore.” (Melville 59) On the surface, this might be a casual observation about lying in bed, but the phrasing suggests something larger to me. Ishmael reveals that human experience is always relational. Comfort only matters when set against discomfort, just as light only has meaning when contrasted with darkness. This small moment becomes a window into Melville’s larger project: a novel that is less about fixed truths than about oppositions and tensions that define how we see the world.

For the book as a whole, I think that this insight resonates with the way Moby-Dick constantly frames the sea in these sorts of paradoxical terms. The ocean is vast yet suffocating, a space of both freedom and imprisonment, life and death. Just as Ishmael can only recognize comfort when he knows discomfort, he (and the reader) can only approach the meaning of the sea by holding together its contradictions. This shows that the novel is not about mastering or defining the ocean but about living within its shifting, relational nature. Ishmael’s comment in this chapter reads almost like a thesis statement for the entire narrative: nothing in this world exists as a single, stable entity. Everything takes shape through contrast, through relation, and through constant and fluid change.

This is why the moment with Queequeg is so significant. Ishmael’s newfound comfort sharing a bed with someone who once seemed strange or threatening underscores the novel’s interest in difference as a necessary condition for understanding. Without his earlier unease, Ishmael’s warmth with Queequeg would not stand out as meaningful. On a small scale, the line about comfort captures Ishmael’s transition from suspicion to intimacy. On a larger scale, it anticipates the way Melville’s novel demands that we hold opposites together, rather than separate and resolve them.

What makes this moment in Chapter 11 so powerful is how it condenses so many of the novel’s concerns into one simple observation. Ishmael isn’t just thinking about whether he feels warm and at ease in bed; he’s actually reflecting on how human life (and the ocean) can only be understood through contrast, tension, and change. The same principle applies to his friendship with Queequeg, to the sea that both unsettles and attracts him, and to the very shape and format of the novel itself, how it constantly weaves together opposites without trying to resolve them. By pausing on this line, I could see how Melville uses Ishmael’s everyday musings to point us to the larger philosophical questions that run beneath his story: how do we find meaning in a world defined not by its stability, but more so by its shifting contrasts?

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. 

Civilized Savages

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Oh Queequeg, our Bosom Friend. It’s hard not to be allured by his awkward civility, “neither caterpillar nor butterfly” (31). What’s great about him is that he’s just honest, more noble, and nowhere near as savage as some other so-called civilized characters. After his initial fears of Queequeg subside, we see Ishmael’s willingness to try this friendship out and we too are invited to change our minds (something hardly allowed and not easily done in the contentious, debate-brained climate we are plagued by). The passage I want to highlight is what I would say is the moment Ishmael, and us in turn, fully puts aside any differences and welcomes Queequeg with all his peculiarities:

“No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits… And those same things that would have repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me. I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but a hollow courtesy” (57).

In shutting down the preconceived notions of the savage which sits before him, Ishmael pushes us to reflect on the true savagery of our own “civilized” society. In resisting the tribalism so often pushed upon us, meant to divide and pit one against the other, we can reserve our splintered hearts and maddened hands. This soothing savage has reconstructed our entire view of the wolfish/savage world. Melville’s juxtaposition in the “soothing savage” is very powerful here as the contrast paints a new image for what a savage can be, breaking away from the fearful connotation of the title; it certainly doesn’t align with the “other “cannibal” title previously attributed to him.

Ishmael then goes further and deconstructs our perceptions of what “civilized” entails. This savage has no lurking ill intent. In fact, he’s often the first to act when people are in desperate need while the “civilized” men will stand by. It’s very intriguing knowing that this was written just before the civil war; Melville saw the hypocrisy of civilization, many that can be compared to current events. Why should we be the civilized ones when there’s no end to the hypocrisies and bland deceits on every level? Wouldn’t the countless acts of violence in our country make us savage? Are we not run by a savage whose condolences are naught more than hollow courtesy when the next words out of his mouth are more hateful and divisive rhetoric?

Chapter Ten

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In these chapters of Moby-Dick, Melville offers us a deeper look into the relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg. We could interpret their connection as more than a simple growing friendship; there are elements of a romantic bond, as described by Melville. This interpretation is particularly interesting given the cultural context of the 19th century, where queer relationships were rarely, if ever, represented openly in literature. Seeing such intimacy written in this novel, in this way, can show how people at that time resisted or ignored the possibility of a queer narrative. In modern day, we are more exposed to queer narratives and can easily point out when artwork is queer; unlike in the 19th century, when representation was kept minimal.

Chapter 10 especially emphasizes both the physical and emotional closeness between Ishmael and Queequeg. Ishmael describes how Queequeg “pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me around the waist, and said that henceforth we were married.” (Melville 57) The way that Melville worded this is striking, not only for its tenderness, but also for implying a relational permanency between the two with the term “married”. Later, Ishmael continues, “thus, then, in our hearts’ honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg — a cosy, loving pair.” (Melville 28) These scenes show the intimacy between the two sailors, hinting at a relationship rooted in devotion to one another. 

What makes this chapter especially significant is not only the intimate dedication between Ishmael and Queequeg, but also the way their bond has been understood—or dismissed—over time. Some readers see their relationship as purely platonic, reflecting the deep companionships sailors often formed, while others interpret the affectionate and even erotic language as evidence of a queer connection. How readers respond to these passages depends greatly on the cultural lens of the time. In the 19th century, queerness was rarely acknowledged; the term “homosexuality” itself was not coined until the late 19th century, as early as the 1960s, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia — about 10 years after the release of Moby-Dick. This does not mean that queer relationships did not exist, but rather that society lacked the language and openness to recognize them. Reading Moby-Dick today, in a time when queer relationships are more visible and celebrated, allows us to see possibilities in Ishmael and Queequeg’s intimacy that may have been overlooked in earlier years. This contrast across time highlights how literature can be reinterpreted by different audiences, reflecting changed understandings.

Language and Word Choice in Chapter 1

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While reading Chapter 1, Loomings, I was struck by the following quotation on page 4. “Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.” The reason this sentence spoke to me in particular was just because of how beautiful it is. I particularly like the use of alliterations, in this case “silent sentinels” and “mortal men”. To be honest, this feels more like poetry than a line from a novel.

Later in the same paragraph this is expanded upon, when Melville, through the voice of Ishmael, says that “these are all landsmen”. None of them are carrier sailors, so, as Ishmael puts it “What do they here?” Especially because, at the time, the beach was not a recreational place. But I’d like to think that these people still saw beauty in it, although they weren’t brave enough to enter the waters. Maye they were just conptemplating the endlessness of the ocean, or the mythical beasts and sailors that ventured it’s endless waters.

In a lot of ways, we are those people. How many of us have actually spent time as crew on a ship? Most likely none of us. But, as people who live in San Diego, we tend to go to the beach at least every once in a while. Some people surf, or play in the waves. But some, like me, start attempting to read a book, but instead find ourselves staring at the waves, wondering if someone on the other side of the ocean is doing the exact same thing.

The ocean inspires all humans, in some way or form. Melville later writes about how it inspires the artist (like him). Because the vastness of the ocean is so unexplored, we can really run with our minds, imagining what lays in its depths. Who knows? There may even be mermaids.

This is the World

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Herman Melville instantly responds to Emerson’s call for a great American scholar in the first chapter of Moby Dick as he digs into prominent issues of 1850 America. Page six serves up the word slave on a silver platter. The most controversial issue in American history. An issue that caused more strife than we face today (so far). This is not a novel to escape the world. This is the world. And Melville forces the reader to face it as he says: “Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who aint a slave? Tell me that.” (6) One can only imagine the pause this would warrant on an 1850s audience. Hmm that’s right who aint a slave… maybe there is a place for compromise on this ripe issue of slavery, they might think to themselves. But Melville hastily shuts any of these thoughts down with his fervent talk of money. He goes on: “But being paid, – what compares with it? The urbane activity with which man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! How cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!” (6-7) One may feel like a slave at work but must remember the pay day. And why does getting paid feel so marvelous? Because money creates autonomy. Autonomy is humanity. What is so interesting about Melville’s analysis is his conclusion that a monied man cannot enter heaven. Slaves, whose justification for being enslaved is being seen as less than human, cannot enter heaven, monied men cannot enter heaven. So, who is it that is going to heaven? Furthermore, Melville centralizes American issues in the bill of fate that Ishmael draws up:

“Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States.

“WHALING VOYAGE BY ONE ISHMAEL.

“BLOODY BATTLE IN AFGHANISTAN.” (7)

“Grand contested election for presidency” What a statement. A familiar one. The president in power during the writing and publication of this book was one Millard Fillmore. A vice president who was inaugurated after the death of president Zachary Taylor. Fillmore undermined Taylor when he signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act. An act that forced northerners to return slaves to the south, inciting the use of military force if necessary. Fillmore postponed the Civil War by ten years. But greatly increased tensions between the North and the South as well as his unpopularity. In the very first chapter of this 800-page, 135-chapter book, Melville confronts a nation. This is a beginning for America’s greatest novel.