Chapter 113: The Forge: I’m Crazy, Your Crazy, We’re Crazy!

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The more and more and more I read this book and Melville’s obsession with sanity and insanity for his characters is quite strategic since he wants us to understand, but explore the truth, obsession and limits if human understanding. In chapter 113, ” The Forge”, Melville transforms a simple craftmanship to more of a symbolic ritual of obsession and sacrilege. Ahab commands the blacksmith to forge him a new harpoon, that he swears will actually kill Moby Dick. When the forge of the harpoon is done, he asked for his three harpooners-Tashtego, Queequeg, and Daggoo to offer some of their blood as a symbol of baptism.

“Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!” (532), meaning ” I do not baptize you you in the name of the Father, but in the name of the Devil,” Ahab reverses the role of a sacred baptism, not to God, but to his own rage and obsession. This demonstrates Ahab’s rebellion towards Christianity and his hellish transformation of pure revenge. In this scene, he kind of acts like an anti-priest who performs a dark sacrament and using blood from his “disciples” as a sacrifice for the “sake” of revenge. It gave me the chills, just imagining what’s going through Ahab’s mind and how slowly and cruel he’s becoming, demonstrating his way of thinking and how he craves revenge like a man thirsting for water. Melville deepens the atmosphere in the lines of this quote, “This done, pole, iron, and rope-like the Three Fates- remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with the weapon; the sound of the hickory pole, both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered his cabin, a light, unnatural. half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was was heard. Oh Pip! thy wretched laugh, thy idle but unresting eye; all thy strange mummeries not unmeaningly blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy ship, and mocked it!” (533) in the quote, Melville invokes the usage of the Greek mythology the myth of the Three Fates who are goddesses who control the destiny of every living being from their birth to death, it demonstrates on how Ahab’s destiny is now sealed with a weapon and as his creator, he’s now set for what’s coming to him by fate and death. This moment reflects Melville’s warning towards the use of the destructive power of man’s obsession and man’s defiance against religion.

The only thing I like about this book so far is about how Melville uses metaphors, imagery, and philosophical moments, but also the bashing of religion that intrigues me. Even the mythology references.

Week 12: Starbuck reads the musket

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We’re finally near the end of our journey. It took us twelve weeks and a few off days, but reading and discussing Moby-Dick as a class has really paid off. Our destination is on the horizon.

The second half of Chapter 123 has Starbuck sneak into the cabin and stumble upon a musket. It’s a long paragraph, but a part of it that stood out to me is found in the middle of page 559: “But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?—Yes, it would make him the wilful murderer of thirty men and more, if this ship come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship will, if Ahab have his way. If, then, he were this instant—put aside, that crime would not be his.” (Melville 559)

Remember that conversation Starbuck had with Captain Ahab back in Chapter 109 that escalated into Ahab pointing his musket at Starbuck and telling him off? It’s the same musket; “the very musket that [Ahab] pointed at [Starbuck]” (558), and he is reading it just like how Stubb read the doubloon in chapter 99, ruminating on it and contemplating its goods and bads. And it makes me wonder: why is he choosing to read the same musket that he was threatened with by this “crazed old man?”

The musket reading, in essence, is not just a critique on Ahab’s monomaniacal personality, but it also serves as a commentary on power disparities in the social hierarchy: those at the top are harder to take down. Because Ahab is at the top of the hierarchy, Starbuck fears that if the captain were to sink the Pequod with everyone on board, “that crime would not be his.” Even if it makes him “the wilful murderer of thirty men and more,” his name would be cleared rather quickly since he is a very wealthy and powerful (and tyrannical) captain.

A side note: I also think this passage is reflective of today’s American government. We have a 34-time convicted felon president who controls all three branches of government, but despite all he has done, he is somehow still able to win re-election and continue his tyranny. His supporters follow him blindly, and even if he committed a crime or broke a law during his presidency, he would only receive a slap on the wrist because of “presidential immunity.”

It baffles me how people would still support such a president when it’s clear that he is unfit to take on that role. Like Ahab, he is a crazed old man tamely suffered to drag a whole country down to doom with him.

Ch. 115 The Pequot Meets The Bachelor

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Thou art a full ship and homeward bound, thou sayst; well, then, call me an empty ship, and outward-bound”

In Chapter 115 of Moby-Dick where Ahab looks at the Bachelor, a ship completely loaded with oil, practically bursting at the seams with profit, and basically says, “Good for you. But me? I’m an empty ship heading the other way.” That line was very impactful to me.

The Bachelor is the picture of success in the whaling world: tons of oil, minimal losses, a crew ready to celebrate. By those standards alone, they’ve crushed it. Meanwhile, the Pequod has been killing whales too; the ship literally has product in the hold. But because none of it is that whale, the only one Ahab cares about, he just calls the whole thing empty. Not lacking… empty. Like nothing they’ve done matters at all.

This is where the book quietly slides into something that feels very modern. Ahab basically throws out the entire industry’s definition of success and replaces it with one of his own. And that’s something we see all the time: institutions or leaders who reframe the goals so that whatever you’ve achieved still somehow “isn’t it.” You hit quotas, but they weren’t the right quotas. You met expectations, but the expectations have now shifted. The finish line moves, and suddenly you’re back to zero.

What makes Ahab interesting is that he knows he can’t say this out loud too bluntly. He needs the crew to see him as focused—but not unhinged. If the Pequod actually came close to matching the Bachelor’s overflowing success, it would force the question the crew keeps nudging around: why are we still out here? Why not go home? Too much normal success would expose the abnormal mission.

So Ahab shrinks the definition of “success” until only his obsession fits inside it. The ship isn’t empty in any tangible way; it’s empty because he says it is. And once the person in power gets to decide what counts, everyone else becomes responsible for chasing something they can never actually catch.

Queequeg’s Will to Live

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The end of chapter 110 stuck out to me because the novel further describes the unconventional that Queequeg represents. Throughout the whole book, not only was there racist and derogatory comments about the “savage harpooners”, but more so the novel is fascinated by his individual determination and willpower; whereas, we see the rest of the crew influenced by the incentive of doubloons– except Stubb of course. The line starts isolating Queequeg with his symbolic tattoos: “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 the truth…”(Melville 524). His “near-death” testimony is told 520 pages later, and after Ahab’s almost homicidal attempt on Starbuck, to now kind of orchestrate a stark distinction between Queequeg and the rest; and in this dinstinction, still put Queequeg as put on the mercy seat of someone greater. By pointing out his tattoos and describing them as sacred, it categorizes Queequeg as breaking the bounds of standard because determining your own life trajectory for the rest seems to not be possible. Compared to Ishmael, his mission and life duties is to the seas, not finding himself anywhere afterward. By viewing his body as “the art of attaining truth”, it does not necessarily give Queequeg the advantage of a will to say or power to determine, however, the line is indicative that he is odd. The “departed seer and prophet” tell a tone of hopeful validation that his power is not his own but was given, implying a more significant issue within the book: examining Queequeg through the lens of a non-marginalized minority. Instead of praising Queequeg for breaking free from life’s hold, he gets more speculated by third person view. This overall points out the way in which society looks upon those who managed to get out of the matrix; and the line portrays how freewill is illustrated as a myth so that no one should desire to fascinate themselves with human individuality, but adhere to working class labor to preserve the social hierarchy, despite the working conditions or treatment from time to time.

Week 12 : Chapters 109 – 132

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I really enjoyed reading this section of chapters. I think now that we are getting towards the end, the action and story are starting to ramp up so I am definitely gaining a newfound interest in the novel. Within this section, chapter 123 really stuck out to me. I think Starbuck is such a fascinating character and is honestly such a reflection of people in our society today.

The quote that I think stuck out to me the most was at the end of the chapter, “The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm against the panel; Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he placed the death-tube in its rack and left the place.” Starbuck, since the beginning of this voyage, has been having a battle with both himself and Ahab and this battle truly comes to ahead in this chapter. In this chapter, Starbuck goes down to tell Ahab something and in the process finds the perfect opportunity to kill him and truly start a mutiny on the boat knowing that this journey, if not stopped, is going to lead to the demise of every single person on the boat. I think the internal battle Starbuck has in this chapter is just fascinating because of the true moral dilemma it presents. Murder is wrong, as Starbuck notes, but which is truly morally worse, killing one person or remaining complicit when you know that that person and their ambition will result in the deaths of so many more.

I think this is a true reflection of our society here in America. So many people hate the way in which the government is run and want it to change and know that if it continues to be run the way it is so many people’s lives will be ruined, but they refuse to do anything about it. It is written into our constitution that if the people deem the way in which the country is governed to be destructive, we hold the right to alter and abolish it. Yet, this is something that never happens because people hate discomfort more than they hate injustice. People may dislike the way in which the country is run, but they are comfortable with it and morally believe that somehow changing it could be worse than all of the lives that are being ruined at the present moment. I think this is so representative of the fight Starbuck is having. He knows making this change and taking control will be what saves them, but he doesn’t want that responsibility or that action on his conscious and he decides in the end to risk everyone else in exchange for his morals to remain somewhat intact.

Historically, complicity is what truly allows for things to go out of control and situations to escalate as much as they do and I think Melville putting themes of complicity and sitting back and watching when you know what is happening is wrong in the novel is so interesting because it truly shows just how common of a thing it is. Complicit behavior is not something that is singular or rare, it is something that is present everywhere and it being present on the Pequod is one of the most accurate depictions of society within the novel.

Chapter 113

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Reading through these chapters has been some of the most interesting for me, mostly because I feel like after all this time I can finally piece together some of Melville’s thoughts. The part of the reading that drew my attention the most was chapter 113, where Ahab wants Perth to make him a special Harpoon that is made with the sole intention of killing Moby-Dick. One of the main aspects that I have been most interested in throughout the book has been Ahab’s obsession with killing Moby-dick and how that affects both himself and the people around him. With how much we have talked about the sequence of chapters, I have tried to pay even more attention to Melville’s intentions while reading and I loved how this chapter followed the blacksmith chapter where we are introduced to Perth and his backstory. Perth was highly skilled and respected as a blacksmith before he became an alcoholic and lost everything, “the blacksmith himself did ignorantly conduct this burglar into his family’s heart. It was the Bottle Conjuror! Upon the opening of that fatal cork, forth flew the fiend, and shrivelled up his home” (528). Perth fell into alcoholism which was inevitably what caused the end of his family, and home. The fatal cork took over Perth’s life and flipped everything on its head. Melville putting this scene before Ahab demanding a special harpoon was brilliant, and the piece that stuck with me from this chapter is when Ahab states, “I have no need for them; for I now neither shave, sup, nor pray till — but here — to work!” (532). This quote is another demonstration of Ahab reducing his life to the sole purpose of vengeance. It also shows him putting this pursuit of Moby-Dick over everything, the basic human needs such as eating and hygiene, as well as something as important to him as his beliefs and prayer. Ahab’s need for revenge can be seen as an addiction much like Perth’s and the two characters are put together to show Ahab letting his obsession take over his life and Perth being the example of the aftermath.

Week 12: Queequeg in his coffin

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“Now, at this time it was that my poor pagan companion, and fast bosom-friend, Queequeg, was seized with a fever, which brought him nigh to his endless end.” (519) This quote is interesting because Melville once again uses words that are in direct contradiction to each other. One of the first times that this is noted is in the introduction of Ahab when he is described as being a “grand, ungodly, god like man.” Just as this description of Ahab reflect the complexity and contradictory nature of the character, so too does the use of contradiction imply a similar complexity to the state in which Queequeg finds himself in. Queequeg is at the brink of death and this expression of endless end implies the permanence of the soul after death. As Ishmael stresses in this sentence, Queequeg is pagan and the common Christian belief is that his pagan soul is damned to existence in hell. The language in this quote does not indicate any doomed judgment of his soul. Queequeg is described as a companion and bosom friend to Ishmael and the reader it makes no sense to imagine that Ishmael thinks or fears for his friend’s soul. Melville uses the word endless to refer to the soul but he has also used this word to refer to the ocean. Thus, as readers, we can make the argument that in dying Queequeg is leaving mortality to become an immortal being something akin to an ocean in it’s vastness. This gives him a spirit like quality that is at interesting odds with the god like yet ultimately mortal Ahab. It’s worth bringing it up because Ishmael is once again showing the reader that he does not blindly follow the doctrine in which he was raised but rather lets his own lived experiences inform his own opinions in regards of the condition of the soul after death.

The Bachelor and the Concept of Freedom

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In chapter 115, the Pequod gets an interesting interaction with the ship called “The Bachelor.” This ship is characterized as joyous and lucky—as they have an abundance of materials and spoils from whaling as they return home. This ship is particularly important in this moment because it is meant to contrast against the mood of the Pequod. Whereas the Bachelor has been able to fulfill its purpose as a whaling ship, the Pequod has yet to achieve their goal in killing the White whale. The Pequod is still bound by their mission, in contrast to the Bachelor who is sailing for home. In this scene, the ship they encounter is meant to be a representation of freedom, hence the name “The Bachelor.” A Bachelor, by definition, is someone who has not been married and is therefore “free” or available, in regard to dating. In the context of whaling, the Bachelor ship represents freedom in the sense that they are not bound by a particular mission—they achieved their goals, and they get to go home. 

And thus, while the one ship went cheerily before the breeze, the other stubbornly fought against it; and so the two vessels parted; the crew of the Pequod looking with grave, lingering glances towards the receding Bachelor; but the Bachelor’s men never heeding their gaze for the lively revelry they were in.” (538). 

In this moment, we witness the fleeting freedom of the Bachelor and the longingness of the crew. However, unlike the Bachelor, they are bound by Ahab’s continued obsession that prohibits them from the same type of freedom. The captain of the Bachelor even beckons Ahab to board his ship, yet Ahab rejects this, insisting on hunting the whale and asking the other captain if he’s seen it. Despite this generous offer, Ahab is blinded by his pursuit, and rejects this offer, and in a sense, he metaphorically forgoing freedom of any kind—imprisoning himself in his mad obsession. He doesn’t want freedom; he wants the White Whale by any means necessary. The brief encounter with the Bachelor shows us the current sanity of the current characters. With the crew slowly sinking into despair and their captain quickly descending into madness.  

Halloween Extra Credit

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For Halloween (sorry posting a bit late!), I dressed up as a whale that has been harpooned. I wore grey shorts and a grey shirt, with red accents (shoes, hair tie, red on the shirt) and I cut out a harpoon from cardboard. Although it may have been a bit of a ‘graphic’ costume, I think it represents a part of the book that has really stood out to me–how the whales are dying in these chapters. Their deaths are gory, violent, painful, helpless, which I find to be a sharp contrast to how human deaths are portrayed. This is also a representation of an industry (whaling) that is not well known or often talked about in the scope of history. There was a period of time in history where whales were hunted as they are in this book, and killed solely for their monetary value, and this costume is a reflection of the extents people were willing to go to for money, for the “American dream”.

Forged in Blood: Week 12

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When reading chapter 113, “The Forge” I came across the part in Latin and was confused. After some investigation online, I found out that “Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaobli” means “I do not baptize you in the name of the father, but in the name of the devil”. I found this part of the plot to be quite interesting. There has been quite a strong focus on religion, specifically Christianity, and this seems to be sending the boat, led by Ahab, in quite a dark place in a Christian context. Just before this part, Stubb even says “What’s that bunch of lucifers dodging about there for?”. He says this while the weapon is being forged, and it does make me think of the implications of fire and that which burns–associated with hell. Is the Pequod having its fall from Heaven? Was it even there in the first place? 

Another very important part of this passage is that Ahab uses Tashtego, Queequeg, and Daggoo to put out the weapon after its been forged. Usually, its cooled using water, but Ahab literally brands the three men instead, and then says the verse in Latin. Water is used in baptism when one is dunked beneath it, symbolizing spiritual cleansing and new life in Christ, and instead the blood of three men not in power is being used by a man in power. They are in a position where they can’t say no, and the hierarchy of this ship is being violently reinforced, as it was in previous chapters as well. To me, baptizing a weapon in the name of the Devil seems to be an ill omen filled with ill intent, especially when it comes at the price of harming another. It also shows how out of touch from reality Ahab is becoming in his power and obsession.