Chapter 87 of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is an action-packed chapter in which the Pequod stumbles upon a vast pod of sperm whales. As the Pequod is dragged into the center of the pod, there is a break in the action: they are taken into a serene lake, and the crew pauses their whaling odyssey to take in the scenery and displays of nature. Pods of whales circle them as if they were in the eye of the storm; cows and calves greet them from the land; smaller whales swim close to the ship, allowing themselves to be pet by the crew, after which Ishmael writes:
“But far beneath this wondrous world upon the surface, another and still stranger world met our eyes as we gazed over the side. For, suspended in those watery vaults, floated the forms of the nursing mothers of the whales, and those that by their enormous girth seemed shortly to become mothers … even so did the young of these whales seem looking up towards us, but not at us, as if we were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight. Floating on their sides, the mothers also seemed quietly eyeing us. (Melville 423-4)
Notably, Moby-Dick rarely features women throughout the novel, yet Melville makes no attempt to avoid discussing them. Instead, he incorporates them into the story through the use of motherly language, as shown in the passage above. Through his use of motherly imagery surrounding the lake in Chapter 87 of Moby-Dick, Melville connects humans and their origins with the water, portraying the sea as the mother of life both above and below. He argues that whales have evolved alongside human beings and are to be viewed as actual living beings rather than just commodities.
In the first sentence, Melville frames the terrestrial and the aquatic as two vastly different worlds, yet somehow very much alike. By juxtaposing the “wondrous world upon the surface” with the “still stranger world,” he establishes a connection between land and water, and humans with the sea (423). In the “wondrous,” terrestrial world, its air is what allows humans and air-breathing animals to thrive and explore it. As for the world beneath the watery surface, it houses many species of fish and other sea creatures, including whales. Unlike the terrestrial world, there is no air, which makes it difficult for humans and land animals to explore the deeper parts of it.
Despite its inaccessibility, Melville directs the readers’ attention “over the side” of the Pequod beneath the water’s surface, illustrating how this “still stranger world” below is not just tangible, but observable. It is tangible in that humans and other living creatures on land can interact with sea creatures just as they would with other beings that live on land, as demonstrated with the crew petting the whales near their ship (423). It is observable in that the water’s surface acts as a window to the underwater world, allowing the reader to see below the surface from above to watch the “nursing mothers of the whales” pass below the ship. Melville, then, shows that even though land and sea are different worlds with different compositions, they are both similar in that there is life above as well as below the surface.
As the crew “gaze[s] over the side” of the Pequod, the reader is drawn towards “the nursing mothers of the whales, and those that … seemed shortly to become mothers.” (423) Melville invokes the theme of motherhood through the metaphor he employs here, reinforcing the connection between human and sea. He describes the whale mothers as the “nursing mothers” of the sea, breastfeeding their newborns in their “watery vaults … to become mothers” in a similar vein to human mothers raising their young to become responsible adults. Melville places the human within the whale, giving them value as actual living beings trying to live their lives rather than as commodities for the whaling industry. He suggests that the whales (which Ishmael and the crew have been hunting) have lives that are just as valuable as a human’s life.
Melville continues the metaphor: “…even so did the young of these whales seem looking up towards us, but not at us, as if we were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight. Floating on their sides, the mothers also seemed quietly eyeing us.” (423-4) The imagery of the young whales looking towards the sailors is analogous to older generations looking at younger generations and watching them evolve while younger generations look up to their ancestors to try to be like them. In this case, the “young of these whales”–who stayed in the water for millions of years and did not evolve–are the older generation, and the humans–the ones who did evolve to live on land–are the newer generation.
By clarifying that the young whales were looking towards the sailors and not at them, “as if [they] were but a bit of Gulfweed in their new-born sight,” (423) Melville again gives the whales human-like qualities. The “new-born” whales are looking in the direction of the sailors, but they are unable to make out their human shapes, so they are only able to see the humans as another piece of seaweed. In human infants, their eyesight has not yet fully developed and it takes some time for their brains to fully process the environment throughout their first years. They are only able to see a few feet in front of them, perceiving humans and objects only as vague figures from afar, much like the “Gulfweed” the young whales perceive the sailors as. Like human children on land, It takes time for whale children to figure out their surroundings in the ocean and fully make out the shapes that are observing them.
This exchange between the two beings from two different worlds overall is symbolic of the interconnectedness between the humans and the whales. The “mothers”, nursing their children, “also seemed quietly eyeing [the sailors],” (424) which relates back to the scene’s interpretation as two generations looking after each other as previously mentioned. The use of the word “mother” implies that there have been countless generations of whales dating back hundreds, if not millions of years. These mother whales, and those that “seemed shortly to become mothers,” were quietly eyeing humans and other terrestrial beings evolving alongside them, producing offspring so that their generation could live on through them. And if we go back in time, it further implies that those who have evolved to survive on land came from their sea-born ancestors, who have always wondered what it was like outside the water.
This fleeting moment of calm in an otherwise action-filled chapter allows the reader to breathe, enabling them to see whales outside the context of the whaling industry. In the eye of the storm where there is calm, the captivating sight of the “serene lake” in which the Pequod finds herself in allows the crew to see the whales as who they really are: living beings passed through generation to generation, giving birth to soon-to-be mothers and fathers. Herman Melville reveals, in the Great Armada, that whales and humans have been watching over each other for many generations, and they have evolved in much the same way. And it all leads back to the Ocean herself: humans and whales birthed by the Ocean, the Ocean is our mother, and she is quietly eyeing us.