Moby-Dick week (11) Chapter (94)

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“First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is tough with congealed tendons -a wad of muscle m but still contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white -horse is first cut into portable oblongs are going to the mincer. They look much like blocks of Berkshire marble.” In this passage, Melville describes the “white -horse, “a piece of whale flesh that resembles “blocks of Berkshire marble,” blending industrial and natural imagery. Through this vivid comparison, Melville transforms the whale’s body into an object of commerce and art, showing how nature is commodified by human industry. His precise, almost scientific language distances the reader from the living creature, emphasizing its reduction to raw material. This moment captures one of Moby-Dick central tensions-the transformation of the sublime and mysterious whale into something dissected, categorized, and sold. By likening flesh to marble, Melville blurs the line between life sand lifelessness, inviting readers to question humanity’s relentless urge to control and profit from nature’s beauty.

Daily writing prompt
What will your life be like in three years?
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ch. 92 Ambergris

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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.

Happy Halloween from the Counterpane

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For my costume on Thursday, I elected to dress as Ishmael wrapped in the counterpane. This chapter, while early in the novel, was so immensely important for Ishmael’s development and even for his ability to board the Pequod at all. This marked the true beginning of Queequeg and Ishmael’s relationship – at whatever capacity that you see it in – and it is the catalyst for his embarkment on the Pequod. Without Ishmael, Queequeg would have struggled to board the ship. Without Queequeg, Ishmael would have likely boarded a different vessel altogether.

For the costume itself, I had an ivory colored cotton shirt with ties, a laced up brown suede vest, simple black pants, and black laced boots. I took care to avoid straps and buttons, as Ishmael was no “bumpkin dandy” (37)! He knew “how bitterly those straps would burst in the first howling gale, when thou art driven, straps, buttons, and all, down the throat of the tempest” (37). I elected to leave off his monkey jacket, partially due to the weather and partially because he would not have had his outer clothes fully on when in bed with Queequeg. My earrings I had mostly left in tact, though I did wear a hoop laden with three chains to represent the ties that would come to bind Ishmael – the ocean, Queequeg, and Ahab.

While I do not have a picture, I do think it was a happy coincidence that Rayne and I were standing side by side in the front of the classroom – as Rayne had dressed as Queequeg in his Beaver Hat. Had I thought more on it, I should have switched the shoulder my counterpane was on so that it was the shoulder closest to Rayne, but I missed out.

Edit: I kidnapped this image from the slides for Lesson 19!

Ambergris & Power Dynamics

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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”,

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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

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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

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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.

Halloween Costume!

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For last Thursday’s class, I dressed as Chapter 15’s Mrs. Hussey! Firstly, I had most of the articles already in my closet, take that how you will, which made it easy and free to dress up. I wore a jean skirt, a brown wool sweater, a (kind of) jean collared long sleeve on top, an authentic Dutch fishing hat that my Grandfather bought in Solvang in the 60s, and carried around a wooden bowl and ladle. Without the bowl and ladle, I could’ve worn the same outfit and claimed to be any of the other whalers, but I think Mrs. Hussey is extremely important to the narrative. As we’ve discussed in class, there’s a significant lack of female characters in Moby-Dick, making their appearance even more notable. Hussey is the first female character to have speaking dialogue, so for me, it was a no-brainer. I really enjoyed dressing up, though I immediately sprinted to the bathroom to change because a multi-layered outfit with a maxi skirt in 90-degree heat in Hepner Hall sounded like a terrible experience. It was definitely worth carrying around a wooden bowl, a silver ladle, and a fifty-year-old fishing hat in my tote bag, and the various questions that came with it.

Illumination

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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.