Tag Archives: chapter 135

The End

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In Chapter 135 “The Chase – Third Day,” we get a lot of excitement. The part of this chapter I would like to focus on is actually the very last sentence of the chapter: “Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago” (Melville 624). I find it difficult to think of a more poetic last sentence to end this whaling expedition; a reminder that the ocean was here long before us, and it will be here long after. Ahab and the rest of the Pequod tried to conquer what is unconquerable, and their need for revenge against Moby Dick is what caused their demise. I think we all saw that one coming. The last sentence of this chapter gives me an almost calming vibe, as if the ocean is unbothered by what has just happened. It has seen many men like Ahab, and has delivered a similar fate to those men who try to defy it. Ahab, the man who considered the ocean his home more so than the land, meets his poetic fate in that very place.

Everything that the novel has shown us, taught us, critique us, and confused us comes to conclusion with this chapter. I feel relieved honestly, but it’s bittersweet because I have never once gone into such an in depth analysis of any material as I have with Moby-Dick this semester. From the days where I couldn’t stop reading it, to the days where I got 5 minutes in and decided that was enough. This novel is truly one of the most daunting and incredible pieces of art I have ever seen, and I’m so glad I don’t have to read it ever again (just kidding, but not really).

Chapter 135

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After reading through chapter 135, there is this particular passage that quite confuses me, but as I tried to figure out the meanings behind it, I believe that Melville is trying to build up tension for the audience as we are about to reach the end. The passage states, “How the wild winds blow it; they whip it about me as the torn shreds to of split sails lash the tossed ship they cling to. A vile wind that has no doubt blown ere this through prison corridors and cells, and wards of hospitals, and ventilated them, and now comes blowing hither as innocent as fleeces. Out upon it!-It’s tainted. Were I the wind, I’d blow no more on such a wicked, miserable world.” (Melville 614). This passage fascinates me because it makes me feel like I am reading poetry. But why does it feel poetic? Is there more behind this particular passage? I think perhaps Melville is trying to use imagery for the audience to feel and see what the wind felt like while you are out at sea. He calls the wind ‘vile’ because it has so much freedom to go anywhere it wants while it pierces through Ishmael’s heart and soul. There is some sort of parallel here between the wind and the crew, where the wind is full of freedom and the crew is stuck out in the sea for eternity. Though the last line is interesting because there is a sense of selfishness here, coming from Ishmael. His negative mindset about the world makes me wonder why he thinks such negative thoughts. Perhaps it is because Ishmael has been out in the sea for so long that his mindset sort of change due to all the hunting. It makes him depressed and view the world more negatively. It almost feels like he is no longer himself. 

Chapter One-Hundred Thirty Five

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In Chapter 135, “The Chase—The Third Day”, Ahab’s final cry, “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale … from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee”, serves as the ultimate expression of his monomaniacal defiance. It reveals how his Obsession transforms him into a tragic figure who seeks meaning in a universe that offers none. Spoken in the climactic moment of the final chase, the passage occurs at the precise point where Ahab’s quest can no longer be sustained by rhetoric, willpower, or self-mythologizing, he is quite literally being pulled toward death, yet he insists on framing his struggle as an extraordinary battle. The language of the passage shows how completely Ahab’s identity has collapsed into hatred, spitting verbs such as grapple, stab, and spit form a relentless chain of physical aggression that contrasts with his powerlessness. By calling the whale “all destroying but conquering,” Ahab asserts a moral victory even as he is defeated, clinging to the belief that his refusal to yield to the whale makes him superior to the indifferent force that has destroyed him. This is crucial because the whale itself is not malicious, it’s the people surrounding the whale that are malicious, making the whale a representation to the impersonal vastness of nature or fate. Ahab’s language with “from hell’s heart” echoes defiance, reinforcing the idea that he casts himself as a cosmic rebel battling an order he perceives as unjust. The final command with “Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool!, dramatizes his rejection of human mortality and meaning. He calls for the destruction of all symbols of orderly death, signaling his desire to obliterate the structures that deny him control. This moment is important not only as the climax of this event but it also culminates many themes that are important to the novel like the self-destruction inherent in obsession and the tragic futility of attempting to impose human meaning onto nature. This passage represents Ahab’s transformation into the embodiment of his own rage; an extraordinary but doomed figure who mistakes defiance for victory as he plunges to his death.