Tag Archives: Essay 1

Essay #1: On rumors and isolation

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When it comes to rumors, people often go out of their way to exaggerate or downplay the situation at hand. These rumors do not have to come from land or be about anything that’s on land; there are rumors circulating in and about the ocean as well. We have to ask ourselves this: are these rumors actually true? How bad is it compared to what is really happening? In Moby Dick, Herman Melville asks us to consider the accuracy of these rumors while drawing attention to the effects of the ocean on the mind. In open water, isolation can shape the mind and make us naĩve to such assumptions.

In chapter 41, Ishmael learns of the white whale Captain Ahab and his crew are going to hunt, but he goes to great lengths to ruminate on the rumors spread by the whalemen that paint the whale as this fierce and formidable foe. Regarding the rumors, he writes:

“…not only do fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising terrible events … but, in maritime life, far more than in that of terra firma, wild rumors abound, wherever there is any adequate reality for them to cling to. And as the sea surpasses the land in this matter, so the whale fishery surpasses every other sort of maritime life, in the wonderfulness and fearfulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there.” (Melville 195)

This is a very meaty passage, but it highlights an important difference between how rumors spread over the ocean and how they spread on land, or in his words, “terra firma.” The ocean takes up much more space on Earth than on land, and it is much more sparse. Because of its openness, there are less people who can verify these “wild” and “fabulous” rumors, since they are mostly grounded on personal experiences. Without anyone nearby to back up (or refute) their claims in this isolatory environment, these rumors are allowed to run rampant.

There is something “supernatural” about the whale that whalemen constantly make rumors about, yet there is seemingly no one in the ocean who can stop these rumors from spreading. The White Whale is a very large creature, and it would take a lot of harpoons to take it down. Its size, along with the many “deaths” it has caused, instills a great terror among those who have encountered it, including those who were exposed to the rumors and have yet to encounter it. The whaling industry, as Melville notes, basks “in the wonderfulness and feafulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there.”

Why is it, then, that we come to accept these “wonderful” and “fearful” rumors? Why do we welcome them even if we know that they come from some crazy whalemen who know whales no better than we do? Continuing in chapter 41, Ishmael answers these questions:

“Alone, in such remotest waters, that though you sailed a thousand miles, and passed a thousand shores, you would not come to any chiseled hearth-stone, or aught hospitable beneath that part of the sun; in such latitudes and longitudes, pursuing too such a calling as he does, the whaleman is wrapped by influences all tending to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty birth.” (Melville 195-196)

This implies that in a more isolated space, people find comfort in these rumors, acting like a sort of coping mechanism for them. Melville uses the motherly comparison in the phrase “to make his fancy pregnant with many a mighty birth” to illustrate the malleability of the mind–about how our minds are constantly preoccupied with the ocean’s vastness. This vastness is the “influence” to the mind; we are isolated, and without anyone to talk to, this isolation makes us submissive. Our mind made malleable, we are willing to accept any “wonderful,” “fearful” rumors that we come across “in such remotest waters.”

In conclusion, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is a novel that ruminates on isolation and how our minds are shaped by the ocean. Chapter 41 gives us a taste of the rumors fishermen spread throughout the ocean, then shows us how we eventually give in to these rumors. All alone in the ocean, its openness is all you can think about. Eventually, it makes you submissive, ready to accept the rumors and spread them to anyone nearby.

Essay 1- “Historians would say they were roommates”

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In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Melville uses the room and bed Ishmael and Queequeg share together as a space where companionship can transcend into romance and as a place where they can act without judgement. This moment reveals how Melville turns a simple act such as sharing a room and a bed into an exploration of intimacy between the two men without care, showing how a shared space can allow romance to develop. By depicting Ishmael and Queequeg in this intimate setting, Melville also challenges the societal norms during this time period by using their companionship to mirror the closeness which is typically seen with heterosexual marriages. This can be seen in chapter 10, A Bosom Friend as Ishmael is comparing his and Queequeg’s relationship to a married couple. Melville writes,

“How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts’ honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg— a cosy, loving pair” (Melville 58)

Through Ishmael’s narration, Melville uses language that blurs the lines between friendship and marriage. By using the chosen words “man and wife” to talk about their relationship, it goes to show the height and comfortability of their relationship– that they are close enough such as a husband and wife. Married couples should also be able to and are able to talk for hours until morning time and truly enjoy each other’s company, and in this case, Ishmael and Queequeg are doing so while lying in bed together in the room they share. Ishmael compares their relationship to a “cosy, loving pair” because they are able to lie together in bed and chat for hours on end, as a couple does. This highlights that the shared room and bed are not just physical spaces where they sleep at, but a space where companionship can flourish. Melville focuses on this moment to reveal how a genuine connection between two people can form while sharing a private space due to the lack of judgment from others. By doing it this way, Melville not only illustrates the intimacy between the two men with feelings but by highlighting the environment in which those feelings can be safely expressed. This quote also highlights how being in close proximity, both emotionally and physically can allow a bond that goes beyond societal expectations to evolve into a form of intimacy that mirrors the romantic partnerships between man and woman. Two men during this period were not typically seen as a “cosy, loving pair” and by Melville depicting them in this way goes beyond “normal” masculine and feminine roles. 

Before the two men had become roommates, Ishmael’s perception of Queequeg was shaped by fear and assumptions. He would refer to Queequeg as a “savage”, expressed his discomfort at the idea of sharing a room with him, and even acknowledged his own prejudices against him. However, through sharing an intimate space, Ishmael’s perspective changes completely– what had begun in fear and judgment progressed into understanding and comfortability. The bedroom allows them to interact without judgment or care, which allows Ishmael to witness Queequeg’s true self and grow to it. From calling him a savage to calling themselves a “cosy, loving pair” clearly shows their companionship deepening beyond friendship and reaching the point of romance. 

In their room, where it is just the two of them, they are in a safe enough space to do whatever they want without judgement and they are able to live freely as a couple does. By presenting the bedroom– an intimate environment, Melville is highlighting how companionship between two men has the ability to transcend into something more where judgment and societal norms are absent. 

Through their physical closeness in a shared and private space, and the way they refer to each other as a married couple explores how companionship between the two men transcended into something more intimate— a romance. Showing that true intimacy begins in private spaces where the individuals(s) feel safe to express themselves fully. Melville uses Ishmael and Queequeg’s relationship as a way to combat societal norms because a relationship springing between two men as fast as theirs was seen as suspicious. But Melville explores the possibility of a relationship happening and because of a shared space with no judgments.

Essay 1

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Melville’s novel is peppered with chapters dedicated to illustrating the history of the various places that we inhabit throughout the book. I am focusing this essay on chapter 14 Nantucket; Particularly the exposition of the history of Nantucket. In the quote, Melville demonstrates an ongoing refusal to contribute to the erasure of the Native Americans of the land and how their contributions have been elemental in the construction of America. This passage struck me as important because Melville makes us, the readers, consider how the story of America is constructed and what is lost when truths are omitted.

The passage goes as follows: “Look now at the wondrous traditional story of how this island was settled by the red-men… in the olden times an eagle swooped down upon the New England coast, and carried off an infant Indian in his talons. With loud lament the parents saw their child borne out of sight over the wide waters. They resolved to follow in the same direction. Setting out in their canoes, after a perilous passage they discovered the island, and there they found an empty ivory casket, —the poor little Indian’s skeleton. What wonder, then, that these Nantucketers, born on the beach, should take to the sea for a livelihood! First they caught crabs and quohogs in the sand; grown bolder, they waded out with nets for more mackerel; more experienced, they pushed off in boats and captured cod; and at last, launching a navy of great ships on the sea, explored this watery world; put an incessant belt of circumnavigations round it…and in all seasons and all oceans declared everlasting war with the mightiest animated mass that has survived the flood; most monstrous and most mountainous! That Himmalehan, salt-sea mastodon,” (Melville 69-70)

The first point that I want to draw attention to is Melville’s command to the reader, “look now”. He uses it often throughout the novel when he wants the reader to pay particular mind to what he is about to say. It is the way that he emphasizes the importance of the picture he wishes to paint. With this in mind he immediately draws our attention to the next claim he makes. The story does not start with western settlement. The story begins with the settlement of the Native American on the island. In using the word ‘traditional’ to begin this story, he also does something very insteresting; he makes it clear to the reader that this is an old story that was passed down lines of generations. This claim denies the assumption that history begins when the western settlers arrive and commit the story into writing or any kind of physical permanence. He gives attributes the importance of oral tradition in creating history. I find this fascinating because the common myth that goes into creating American exceptionalism is that of a virgin and uninhabited land. That the western settlers arrived and set the land to work and produce for the building of their country. This idea would have us believe that the amount of natives present in the continent at the time of settler arrivals to be of little note. A number of so little significance as to be neglected. Within the first line, Melville dismantles this idea and posits the story of the stolen baby as a sort of origin story for all the inhabitants of nantucket, regardless of race.

I now turn my attention to the next point of interest in the excerpt. “In the olden times and eagle swooped down upon the new ngland coast and carried off an infant indian in its talons…”. He starts with the telling of a myth rather than any factual information. I think Melville understands that a history is not just built on facts but also on the mythologizing aspect. If his aim is to show the reader what a unique an powerful nation America has become then it also needs to have this mythologized history. Just like that of the founding of Rome or the founding of the Aztec empire. While he is using the modern day whalers to create this American mythology around, he is also including the founding story to create grandiosity through antiquity. In short, He claims that like other empires, America—though a young country— cannot be said to have no long history as a land. The story of Nantucket then, is a story borne out of search; much like the story of the settler search for a land of possibilities and opportunity that we have grown up with.

Short essay: Close reading #1

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When it comes to isolating yourself from others and being in the most strenuous environment, we humans tend to seek out ways to tap into our unconscious ( incomoda) state and be able to feel that sense of dopamine and pursue that freedom, which allows us to step outside ourselves and feel alive. Alone at the top of the ship’s mast surrounded by nothing, but sea and sky, Ishmael ascends himself into a dream-like trance. Herman Melville’s, “Moby Dick”, this accurate moment transforms a simple task of whale-watching into an intense reflection of the human mind. As Melville describes in this quote on Chapter 35, “ “but lulled into such such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thought, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature….” (172) Melville demonstrates the beauty and rhythm of the ocean can disintegrate the boundaries of thought and reality. Melville uses philosophical imagery and hypnotic language in this quote to explore the meaning of isolation and nature can be blurred by the line of self-awareness and self-loss. The passage becomes more about daydreaming, it slowly becomes a meditation form to Ishmael and how easy it is the dangers of transcending and the fragile nature of the human identity.

We describe the ocean as a marvelous one of a kind part of our existence as human beings and planet earth. We try to connect ourselves with the sea in the phrase, “..blending cadence of waves”(172), Melville starts to incorporate the language tone with rhythm and imagery in the passage mirrors of the sea; it makes you feel like you’re in a hypnotic state. He merges the sound and the mind together and creates this melodic tone of repetition and softness, just like the waves of the ocean. It makes both the reader and Ishmael be in a trance-like state. The sea’s rhythm becomes like a lullaby, almost like a natural feeling of comfort and safety, imagine like a rocking chair where your mother would carry and sing to you to fall asleep, it soothes you and forget about everything around you. Through this sensory and mental imagery, Melville uses these effects because he suggests that the power of nature can weaken the human consciousness, which I find credible, hence why some people tend to connect more and live in areas surrounded by trees and nature. We can see in the chapter how Ishmael is starting to slowly dissociate himself from everything around him and his mind starts to synchronize with something bigger and dangerous, the ocean. The more he surrounded himself  with the ocean itself, the more he started to lose himself mentally wise.

One of my preferred parts of the phrase in the chapter, “ opium-like listlessness” (172) Melville reveals both the pleasure and the danger of losing oneself in their own thoughts. The word “opium”, which defines an actual narcotic, is like an escape and intoxication and having freedom from the pain and reality. I think for Ishamel the ocean became a drug for him, and starts to seduce him into a state of numbness and forgetfulness, obviously being under the influence of a drug, which is why he uses the imagery of the word, “ opium”. Melville demonstrates to us in this scene of the chapter, that transcendency is not a part of an understanding, but more of an erasure. He demonstrates to us how Ishamel starts to lose his identity and experiences both the pleasure and terror. The sea is giving Ishamel the freedom he wanted from the beginning, but it will also consume him entirely spiritually and mentally.

The most philosophical part of the chapter to me was Ishamel being on the mast-head of the ship. The mast-head represents a place between heaven and earth, Ishamel is among the sky and sea. The higher he rises, the more he isolates himself from reality. Melville uses this metaphor for the mast-head as a separation from reality due to the fact he is up in the mast-head, which disconnects Ishamel from bottom, obviously the human world (earth). The scene reflects the balance between self-knowledge and self-loss through the unlimited whether is nature or knowledge or even faith. We see Ishmael’s identity start to fade due to the immenses of existence he confronts which makes the human thought be diminished.

Herman Melville portrays the conflict of human consciousness with a perception of wanting to transcend to a sense of freedom, even if it costs us into disappearing into a state of the unknown. Just has how Ishmael’s trance in the mast-head becomes more of a distraction for him from reality, we as humans tend to seek the same way to escape the reality of existence. It’s what makes us feel human at one point in our lives, even if it make us feel has if we are losing and have that feeling of discomfort with ourselves, it makes us be who we are.

Essay 1: Authority, Self-Awareness, and Obsession

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In the 19th century, authority at sea was absolute. The captains had the say in everything, and this unchecked power was a matter of life or death. Being able to lead means understanding your people’s capabilities, and in a whaling ship, the boat’s life are the shipmates, like organs in a body. As the brain, Ahab from Moby-Dick knows this, but instead, he uses his position to satisfy his vengeance and obsession. When Starbuck questioned Ahab’s pursuit, Ahab saw it as a motivation. He calls himself “demoniac” and “madness maddened,” revealing his self-awareness as part of his insanity rather than a barrier. Ahab turns his madness into justification for his actions as captain.

Ahab’s self-awareness enables his rationality to make obsessive decisions, turning his authority as captain into an outlet for vengeance. In chapter 37, Sunset, Ahab was sitting alone in his cabin, staring out the windows, when he pondered, “They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!” (Melville, p. 183). The sentence “They think me mad—Starbuck does…” shows Ahab acknowledging how people see his craziness, but instead of denying it, he redefines it. By saying, “I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened!” he is claiming a higher, almost supernatural-like, form of madness. Melville’s choice of using repetition and the word “demoniac” shows how Ahab consciously justifies his abuse of authority with madness. He portrays how someone under emotional obsession can be dangerous regardless of clarity. In the phrase, ”That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself,” that calmness is not sanity but a moment of control inside insanity. Ahab acknowledges the chaos he controls rather than resists. He understands he became the embodiment of absurdity, insanity, vengeance, and obsession, and he lets it all define him. Such madness isn’t blinding Ahab; it sharpens his vision. He clearly sees what he’s doing and he still chooses destruction.

What does that have to do with life or death? Simple: if madness himself is the brain, the rest of the body is obliged to follow it. You are reading this essay because you want to understand my insight, and just now you may have been wondering what authority, obsession, and self-awareness have to do with anything, or maybe you just came here to find something to talk about in the reply section. Whatever your reason for being here, you wouldn’t have been able to if your fingers, blood, and/or nervous system refused to obey. The same goes with captains: their team, or in the context of Moby Dick, their crew would not be able to do anything without a voice to follow. However, there would be a little voice in the mind that goes against their wishes. For Ahab, that little voice of reason is Starbuck. When Ahab thought, “They think me mad–Starbuck does,” he isn’t rejecting the warning. This is the first domino to fall before the ship’s fate: as the more these two bicker, the higher chance the ship would split before Moby Dick the whale is back in the action. This reveals how obsession overrides reason and sets the crew to an inevitable downfall. The type of captain matters far more than being charismatic, and much like the captains, leadership in the historical and modern context are just as vulnerable to emotions.

During that time, royalty and those that could taste that similar power were often indulging in said power. Melville’s warning still resonates today: a leader driven by obsession leads their followers to ruin. Our politics, our social circles, our families, our social media circles like influencers, there is a reason why there are followers. For Captain Ahab, his followers are the crew of the Pequod, and with one incentive, he managed to convert regular sailors and whalehunters into soldiers to do his bidding. This is what Melville criticizes about authority: awareness without restraint, paired with obsession, is just another form of power that can destroy the very people meant to be protected.

Essay 1 – The Dangers of a Charismatic Leader

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In the novel, Moby-Dick, author Herman Melville is critiquing charismatic leaders through the character Captain Ahab, who represents the dangers of an influential leader that is filled with anger, vengeance, hubris, and a destructive obsession. This is seen throughout the novel with his ability to steer the crew members of the Pequod to have the same animosity towards Moby Dick, which in turn fuels both his and their need for vengeance against the whale. Captain Ahab’s ability to influence and disrupt the natural state of democracy on the ship shows how leaders like himself are dangerous and a threat to society.

In Chapter 36, titled “The Quarter-Deck,” Captain Ahab uses his charisma to take control over the Pequod, and establish himself as the de facto leader of the ship. This is seen when he offers the men a gold ounce to whoever spots Moby Dick: “[Ahab] advanced towards the main-mast with the hammer uplifted in one hand, exhibiting the gold with the other, and with a high raised voice exclaiming: ‘Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke – look ye, whosoever of ye raises that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce my boys!’ ‘Huzza! huzza!’ cried the seamen” (Melville 176). This shows how easy it is for Captain Ahab to influence the men on the Pequod, and to put himself in a position in which they will do what he tells them to without second guessing it. What was originally supposed to be a normal whaling boat, has turned into a hunting boat by orders of Captain Ahab. What was originally supposed to be democracy on the ship, has turned into an attempt at tyranny because of the Captain’s desire to find and kill Moby Dick. The dangers of his charisma are shown very clearly. He uses it to gain control over the ship, and to enact a proposition that the man who finds the white whale will be rewarded with gold. This further divides the already diverse ship and creates a competitive environment amongst the men. Captain Ahab’s influence and leadership is a threat to democracy, and the men on the Pequod don’t even try to resist.

The men on the ship are all in for Captain Ahab’s plan, despite it disrupting what the original purpose of the trip was. Ahab is well aware of his influence, and knows that the crew members will have his back and follow his lead: “The crew, man, the crew! Are they not one and all with Ahab, in this matter of the whale?” (Melville 178). The awareness of his ability to control the men on the Pequod is what makes Ahab especially dangerous; he doesn’t care what happens to them so long as they do what he asks of them. It is strange but certainly not surprising to see the men be so on board with the Captain’s takeover. Once again in Chapter 36, Ahab is seen using his charisma to further establish his push for tyranny on the ship by involving the crew members in a toast to his leadership and their goal to kill Moby Dick. “Commend the murderous chalices! Bestow them, ye who are now made parties to this indissoluble league… Drink, ye harpooners! drink and swear, ye men that man the deathful whaleboat’s bow – Death to Moby Dick! God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!’ The long, barbed steel goblets were lifted; and to cries and maledictions against the white whale, the spirits were simultaneously quaffed down with a hiss” (Melville 181). The crew members fiercely and willingly drink to the fall of democracy on the Pequod, falling into the trap that has been set by Captain Ahab. The men relate with Ahab’s anger, his need for revenge seeps into their minds and overtakes their own thoughts, they feel what he feels, think what he thinks, and do what he tells them to do. As the narrator of the novel, Ishmael, puts it: “A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab’s quenchless feud seemed mine… I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge” (Melville 194). Captain Ahab has convinced the crew that his anger and need for vengeance is theirs as well. It leads to the question of what exactly is Captain Ahab’s obsession with the whale Moby Dick?

In Chapter 36, “The Quarter-Deck,” Captain Ahab is successful in convincing the men of the Pequod to submit to his leadership and join him in his journey for revenge against Moby Dick. However, there is one man that Ahab is unable to influence, that being the ship’s First Mate, Starbuck. Starbuck is left unconvinced by Ahab, and questions his pursuit of the white whale, to which Ahab begins to tell Starbuck about his unwavering need for vengeance on Moby Dick: “How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there’s naught beyond. But ‘tis enough. He tasks me; he heaps me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” (Melville 178). Ahab’s obsession for Moby Dick stems from the idea that all the wrongdoings in his life are because of the whale. Anything bad that happens to him is at the fault of Moby Dick, he cannot get live while that whale which has caused his life to spiral into madness is still out there. His life is intertwined with Moby Dick, and his obsession and hubris will certainly lead to the downfall of himself and the Pequod. 

Captain Ahab is a criticism of leaders who use their influence to take control of a nation and turn democracy into disorder. The men on board who cannot see past his charismatic speeches and nature will also perish because of their own willingness to take part in a madman’s journey to fulfill a prophecy by which an unknown force has forsaken him with. Melville wrote this novel to critique dangerous leaders, whose obsessions overtake their lives, and lead nations into dangerous waters in which those who were following blindly will finally see the disaster that they cheered for and toasted to. Captain Ahab is not just a character, but a warning to all those reading Moby-Dick.

Essay 1: “Oh Father, Where Art Thou”

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As Ishmael and Queequeg are seated in the chapel, a chosen individual with the illustrious title of Father Mapple, dramatically approaches the pulpit, looking down at his “simple hearers” to deliver an illustrious and ‘truthful’ sermon. However, this sermon is not just a delivery of divine truth, but a masterful manipulation of fear, guilt, and seduction. “Shipmates, God has laid but one hand upon you; both hands pressed upon me. I have read ye by hat murky light may be mine the lesson that Jonah teaches to all sinners; and therefore to ye, and still more to me for I am a greater sinner than ye.”  (p.53) By retelling the story of Jonah to an onlooking crowd of sailors, he is “preying” upon the souls of those who want and are willing to do good, and therefore inconspicuously creating a narrative that ultimately suggests our fate is predetermined. Even so, one must repent for one’s sins to free oneself from damnation.  Mr Mapple diminishes the character of Jonah for the well-being of himself and those who would benefit from the prosperous tale. Because of Jonah’s ultimate martyrdom, he is revered as a beloved saint, a goal Mr. Mapple aspires to achieve. Mr Mapple, according to himself, is a “pilot of the living god.” By spreading the word, he is holier than thou, and by instilling this fear and need for redemption in his fellow onlookers, he creates a path for the rich and powerful to prosper, suggesting that God’s world is only meant for those who are the survivors of the fittest. 


The story of Jonah is the heart of Father Mapples’ sermon, and by addressing the crowd as shipmates and exhorting his congregation with the professional language of sailing, he is able to be relatable but also personify the fear that they too can be another example of God’s punishment or, as he elquentyly says, “ a model of repentance.” (p.52) This sermon and the setting and stage of the sermon are not by mere coincidence. As a reader, we are aware of the time this takes place, at the height of the whaling industry and the word of a Christian God in America. This is reminiscent of the present-day America, where we don’t see the separation of church and state, but the congealed conformity of what is considered right or wrong based on the majority of its so-called “people.” “To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood!” (p.54) I noticed how the words Truth and Falsehood are capitalized, giving them that proper noun, and to show that the word is used in a specialized sense, that there is only one truth and everything else is simply false.


Hence why this is such an important model in the times the American people are living today. Where the government and church are tied together to spread this Truth and to denounce anything and everything that doesn’t align with the Truth even though that Truth may have zero validity or proof, but as Father Mapples preaches this so called Truth, from the word of God, it plays into our fears that as someone who’s Gods hands has supposedly been laid upon twice, it gives it this crediabiliy that if to question would be a sin. They, too, just like Jonah, by not heeding the warning of God, can end up in the “belly of the beast.” If you sin, you must repent, even knowing a horrible fate may welcome you. This lesson has allowed us to separate church from the bases of moral humanity. 


This idea of man unable to comprehend the will of God allows for the individual to become a sheep heard by another sheep in wolf’s clothing. It plays into this idea that you’re either with us or against us and that one’s existence is just a stepping stone to spreading this radicalized Truth. Ishmael is constantly doubting that anyone could ever know the exact truth about anything. Because of that doubt, “while he was speaking these words, the howling of the shrieking slanting storm without seemed to add new power to the preacher, who when describing Jonahs sea storm seemed tossed by a storm himself” (p.52) begins to plant the seed in ones mind (in this case Ishamel) that maybe Mr. Mapple is speaking the Truth. Ishmael has already struck a friendship with Queequeg, who has an entirely different religious perspective than him and who has seen that goodness can be found in anyone regardless of faith, but by the installation of this fear of Truth, could cloud (in a sea storm) Ishmael’s judgment of what it means to be tolerant and to love thy neighbor. 

Essay 1: Our Ever-Rocking Existence: Humanity Between Sea and God

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At the end of Chapter 35, “The Mast-Head,” Ishmael closes his reflection on watchkeeping with a particularly haunting sentence: “There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship: by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God” (Melville 173). This single line collapses the sailor’s physical experience into more of a spiritual chain of dependence. Melville ties the ship, sea, and God together in a rhythm that both sustains and erases any individuality. Through its careful structure and imagery, the sentence expresses a sentiment that runs through Moby-Dick: life itself is not autonomous but “borrowed,” seemingly passed through vast systems of motion and meaning that render human existence both sacred and unstable.

            This moment imparts Melville’s broader interest in the interdependence of creation to his reader. Ishmael’s phrasing builds a very visible ladder of being, starting at the top with God, then sea, ship, and finally man, each one feeding life to the next. Yet the syntax Melville uses suggests that none of these entities truly possesses life in isolation. Instead, they each simply carry the current onward. The rhythm of the line, marked by semicolons, replicates the rocking motion it describes. The pauses create a gentle swaying in the reader’s breath, by her; by the sea; by the inscrutable tides of God, as if the sentence itself moves into and with the ocean. Melville transforms punctuation into motion and the syntax into tide. The line becomes performative, enacting through its form exactly what it claims in meaning: life as continual transfer, an oscillation that never stills long enough to belong to any one being, no matter how big or powerful.

            The word “imparted” in the passage is particularly revealing. It does not suggest a permanent gift or state, but more along the lines of a temporary transmission. Something given with the possibility, or inevitability, of being taken back. “Life imparted” is not the same as “life possessed” or “life given.” Melville’s diction, then, implies both grace and dependence; existence is granted in passing. Even the ship, that symbol of human mastery and control, draws its motion “by her, borrowed from the sea.” To “borrow” life is to live on loan or rent, to move only through forces larger than oneself. The ship’s agency, and by extension, you could argue Ishmael’s own, is quite contingent and not absolute. This layered borrowing, from ship to sea to God, diminishes the idea of human self-sufficiency that Ahab so violently defends in the novel. Ishmael’s observation undermines that illusion of control by reminding us that every movement, even our own heartbeat, depends on something inscrutable and beyond human command.

            Melville’s choice to describe the sea’s tides as “inscrutable” situates this chain of dependence within both spiritual and existential uncertainty. The word implies not only mystery but also this almost impenetrability that denies any outside interpretation. If the tides of God are truly “inscrutable,” then even Ishmael’s recognition of his own dependence offers no comfort of understanding. Instead, it opens the readers to the unsettling realization that the origin of life’s motion is unknowable. The “tides of God” do not offer stability or salvation to the ship; they offer only continual movement, indifferent to the human need for meaning. Melville thus inverts the traditional idea of divine order. God is not the fixed point around or toward which the world turns, but the unfathomable depth from which motion flows. Vast, silent, and beyond measure.

            Still, within this recognition of dependence lies a subtle peace. Ishmael’s description of the “gently rolling ship” tempers the potential terror of the message of the passage. The adverb “gently” softens the image of divine force into something almost maternal. The rocking motion recalls a cradle as much as a wave, suggesting that Ishmael, suspended there between sea and sky, finds an almost kind of spiritual intimacy in his isolation. Here, the sea becomes not merely a site of danger or judgment but a living intermediary between man and God. Through it, Ishmael participates in a rhythm that unites the material and the metaphysical. Even if that rhythm is “borrowed,” it is still shared by all of them in a form of belonging that does not require control.

            This passage also gains resonance when considered within the broader context of Ishmael’s experience at the masthead. The rocking motion of the ship is both soothing and destabilizing to him, offering a sense of connection to the sea and, through it, to something larger than himself, yet it also carries the potential for danger. Melville’s imagery of this borrowed motion encapsulates the tension between transcendence and vulnerability. To lose oneself too fully in the sea’s rhythm, to mistake that same spiritual unity for safety, is to risk death. That earlier moment illuminates the closing line’s ambivalence: the same “rocking life” that sustains Ishmael can also erase him by blurring the lines between body and ocean. The sea offers a connection to divine mystery, but it also threatens to absorb the self entirely. These both simultaneously remind Ishmael of his fragility, which highlights the novel’s central struggle between surrender and control as well as faith and human ambition.

            Even the sentence’s structure enacts this fragile equilibrium. The repetition of “by” creates a chain of agency that simultaneously affirms and undermines itself. Each “by” displaces life one step further from the speaker: by the ship, by the sea, by God. The preposition functions like a tide itself, pushing the source of vitality outward into the distance and far away from the ship and the reader. Ishmael’s view here emphasizes that humans are not the most important beings but are part of a larger, interconnected world. Humanity does not stand at the center of creation but floats within its circulations. The “rocking life” that passes through Ishmael is only one little eddy in an immense current. His humility before that current distinguishes him from Ahab, whose defiance of dependence leads to ruin. Where Ahab insists on mastery over the sea’s inscrutable power, Ishmael learns to survive through surrender.

            Melville’s use of rhythm, imagery, and syntax in this single line crystallizes one of the novel’s deepest spiritual insights: that to live is to be in motion, and to be in motion is to depend. The hierarchy Ishmael outlines of God, sea, ship, man, might appear stable, but the verbs undo that structure. Each “borrowed from” erases any form of ownership, leaving only movement behind. The theology implied here is fluid and dynamic: God’s presence manifests not as authority but as motion itself. In this sense, Melville’s “inscrutable tides of God” show us the novel’s larger cosmology, where meaning is not contained in static and stationary symbols but in the ceaseless interplay of opposites: creation and destruction, calm and storm, surface and depth.

            The comfort Ishmael finds in this realization contrasts sharply with the terror that grips Ahab. For Ahab, dependence seems to be quite intolerable; to borrow (and not own) life is to admit weakness. His pursuit of the White Whale is an attempt to shatter that chain, to confront the inscrutable source directly and demand explanation. Ishmael, by contrast, accepts that explanation is impossible. His survival depends on yielding to what cannot be known by him or by anyone.

            In this light, the passage’s final phrase, “the inscrutable tides of God,” becomes not just a theological statement but a structural principle for the entire novel. Moby-Dick itself moves according to inscrutable tides, shifting from sermon to stage play, from epic to encyclopedia, from tragedy to farce. Like the sea it describes, the book resists containment. Melville’s prose constantly borrows motion from the forces it evokes, such as history, philosophy, and religion, without ever fixing meaning in one place or to one thing. To read Moby-Dick is to be rocked into that same rhythm, to feel language itself imparting a borrowed life to the imagination.

            Ultimately, Ishmael’s reflection at the masthead articulates Melville’s most profound vision of existence. Life, like the ship on the sea, is a constantly ongoing act of balance between faith and doubt, surrender and fear, motion and stillness. The comfort that Ishmael finds does not come from certainty but more from his participation: to be alive is to be a part of a motion that exceeds understanding. When he says, “There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship,” Ishmael acknowledges the paradox that defines all human experience in Melville’s world: that we are most ourselves when we recognize that our life is not our own. By seeing dependence not as diminishment but actually as connection, Melville offers an alternative to Ahab’s destructive pride, a model of endurance grounded in humility. In the end, the “rocking life” that Ishmael describes becomes a metaphor for survival itself: not the triumph of mastery, but the grace of motion sustained by forces we can neither name nor command.

Essay 1: What is one’s true purpose in life?

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What is one’s true purpose in life? There are many questions that pop into my head while reading Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, and I can not help but wonder about this particular question: Is there a purpose in life? Or we just keep chasing one thing after another, like our lives depend on it. This novel not only gives me the confusion of the story and its characters, but it also makes me question the true purpose of life. I keep asking myself why on earth someone would be ready to throw away their precious lives just to hunt whales? And the question is obvious because hunting a whale is the golden ticket to heaven, because of the recognition and the admiration one desires that led them to this decision. In this novel, we are going on an adventure with our main character, Ishmael, as we explore the stories of the sea and its people. We are looking through the lens of Ishmael’s perspective, the novel prompts us with the question: Why does it have to be through Ishmael of all people? And to answer this question, it is particularly because just like Ishmael, readers are born with questions about things in life. In this case, the novel is teaching us how to look at things from a different perspective while interpreting their own ideology, thoughts, and feelings. While Ishmael’s identity is questionable, by looking from his and other captains’ perspectives, it points out the god-like nature that Captain Ahab retains, and through the hatred for white whales, revenge has blinded him to the point that he himself is so odd, bizarre, and god-like to the other whalemen.

Captain Ahab’s unpredictable nature is the reason why other captains and whalemen saw him as a god-like figure. Throughout the many chapters that we have read, there are a few points that I would like readers to ponder as we are going to deduce the meanings behind them. The first point came from the other captain’s perspective, where Captain Peleg states: “He’s a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but, when he does speak, then you might as well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ‘mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales.” (Melville 88). This quote perfectly describes who Ahab is as a person. In Captain Peleg’s perspective, he is a strong man who has faced many challenges to get to where he is today. Ahab is knowledgeable about the whales; he is associated with the cannibals while going to college to gain more knowledge about the world. The way Peleg described him as an ‘ungodly, god-like man’ was a way to tell readers that Ahab did a lot of amazing things while he was one of the whalers. He believes everything Ahab did is impossible, which implies things only a god can do, yet Ahab is still a human being made out of flesh, which is why he is described that way. But while looking at this explanation, readers might wonder what amazing things Ahab did that made him a considerable god-like figure. It is when Captain Peleg told one of the stories to Ishmael, about how Ahab is: “a very vile one…that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he’s been kind of moody—desperate moody, and savage sometimes.” (Melville 89). This is the second point that I would like to make because readers can see that Ahab had fought a whale and was actually alive while losing his leg. Furthermore, Peleg adds in: “When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?” (Melville 88). This proves how Ahab is essentially a god-like figure in Captain Peleg’s eyes because he slew a whale while he managed to keep himself alive. This connects with the metaphor of mysteriousness that Ahab offers because when we listen to this story, we can see a vivid image of Ahab standing with his back arched, and his missing leg oozing blood like a warrior who has just defeated an army, while the dogs act as his loyal pets that are following his orders and serving him dutifully. This explains why Ahab, his unpredictable nature, and his stories are so bizarre that people could not believe it until they actually saw it with their own eyes. It almost seems like he is not a real human being, but a deity who just happens to be slaying whales occasionally. 

Captain Ahab’s state of mind, his quietness, and composure match the energy of a warrior, which comes off as oddly strange to other people. When I read these chapters, one thing I noticed was that Ahab rarely speaks. He is so quiet that his actions are being read by people, and by Ishmael, who is excellent at reading him. The passage states: “Over his ivory-inlaid table, Ahab presided like a mute, maned sea-lion on the white coral beach, surrounded by his war-like but still deferential cubs. In his own proper turn, each officer waited to be served. They were as little children before Ahab, and yet, in Ahab, there seemed not to lurk the smallest social arrogance.” (Melville 162). I noticed how the officers are being compared to children, as it is the opposite of Ahab, whose energy is so strong and formidable that it terrifies the people in front of him, and it gives the officers the idea of not messing with Ahab because they also heard the bizarre stories that he once created. Perhaps readers might ask why nobody wants to speak to Ahab since he does not show any social arrogance to them? When we look at Ahab from many different perspectives, we are not afraid of him because we understand his characteristics as a human being. But on a realistic side, if we face Ahab directly in real life, like the officers in the passage, we can see that Ahab is an authoritative figure. He does not want to mess around with or be friendly with others. His job as a captain is to guide people well and to do his job. That explains why everyone seems to be uneasy in front of Ahab because only Ahab can do his job well and effectively. This connects to how Ahab is so odd to others because his presence is so terrifyingly strange that people just rather not talk to him at all.

Captain Ahab’s sense of revenge is the reason why he’s been acting odd to others. In chapter 36, the crew mentions Moby Dick as they refer to every white whale they see. However, Starbucks asks: “Captain Ahab, I have heard of Moby Dick—but it was not Moby Dick that took off thy leg?” (Melville 177). While Captain Ahab: “shouted with a terrific, loud, animal sob, like that of a heart-stricken moose; Aye, Aye! It was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me forever and a day…and I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom…And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and all over sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out.” (Melville 177). This passage is one of my favorites because we are now diving into Ahab’s emotions. There is this strong hatred that Captain Ahab has harbored for a long time, ever since one of the white whales took away his leg. This explains why Captain Ahab always seems to detach from people. He isolated himself from others because his thoughts were too occupied with the white whales, and that pushed him further down to the deep sea, a place where he is just alone, a place where he can be busy with thoughts and emotions. In class, we also talked about how Ahab is on the verge of extinction because there is no one like him. He is his own version, and no one could ever imitate that.Not only does this novel teach us how to understand the characters to the fullest extent, but it also teaches us to know the realistic side of the whalemen who once hunted whales. The novel reveals the mysteriousness that the people and the sea offer while it feeds us with curiosity for us to engage with the meanings behind it, to know what it feels like to be in the position of a whale man. Moby Dick is not just a story of hunting whales; it is a story about humanity, a story of the anatomy of a whale, a story of the ship and the sea. Everything we see in the novel has its own story that will continue to expand infinitely. As we are halfway through the novel, one takeaway for me is to expect the unexpected. There will always be something to learn in this novel, and I hope I will be able to understand all of the meanings that Melville offers.

Essay #1: The Art of Systemic Injustice and the Perpetual Victim

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Moby Dick, written by Herman Melville, calls out how capitalism and greed have dominated the understanding of the social dynamic in hierarchy. Ishmael, an avid whaler, explains the underestimation of the hefty whaling industry that largely generates the economy and monarchy, deeming whalers to be a part of royalty as well. However, like the Pequod, the social hierarchy ladder is not streamlined and is unresolved. With this narrative, Melville challenges the conventional standards of seeing the capitalistic realm through a two-dimensional structure, revealing that even the monarchs are not a stranger to socioeconomic manipulation within their regime. This in itself, changes the manner in which we as readers were meant to view the social ladder, with whalers to royalty, as something beneficial for generating the economy. This symbolic alliance is now tainted with a hierarchy that upholds nuance and censorship, tricking people into seeking individuality and romanticization, in an effort to hide corrupt, social ideological framing. 

Chapter 25 depicts the social ladder in this way; it is not just looking from a lens of good and evil. As the author here cleverly paints the situation in an extensive scale, the depiction thematically aligns with addressing the scale of the colossal Pequod as withstanding, yet having intellectual gaps of socio-economic diversity and complexity tied onto the ship. The social order is not only corrupt but also becomes perilously systemic. At the same time, Ishmael is oblivious to this danger that clearly deludes him into seeking status in tandem with royalty as he overlooks the gap of acknowledging what exactly then controls the monarch’s autonomy. Through the lens and testimony of a perpetual victim, this passage seeks to expose the clear systemic injustice within the capitalistic hiearchy.

After giving praise for the whaling industry over the years through record and analogy, Ishmael interestingly gives readers an ‘afterscript’, almost as if to let us re-evaluate our knowledge of how devastating the downfall of the social system is at that time. He instigates that,

“… at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning … for their functions is gone through…Can it be…that they anoint[salt]…its interior[to run well]…as they anoint machinery? Much might be ruminated here, concerning the essential dignity of this regal process, … in common life we esteem but meanly and contemptibly a fellow who anoints his hair…In truth, a mature man who uses hair oil medicinally… has probably got a quoggy spot in him somewhere. As a general rule, he can’t amount much to his totality ”(Melville 123). 

First, we are prompted to see how the dedicated use of oil is a discussion on uncanny vanity and brainwashing. The coronation of kings and queens is brought up to strike particular skepticism about succession and hierarchical rule that he sums up in an analogy. The use of subtlety and ambiguity to decode the “certain curious process” reveals the nature of censorship seeping within the social hierarchy. While the character may speak to the coronation’s formalities in general, Ishmael rather speculates that the meticulous tradition’s intentionality has more to do with implications of conditioning besides a one-time celebration, such as christening or crowning a ruler. The text’s hyperfixation to social conditioning can be seen where Ishmael gives an analogy of anointing one’s hair as well. From the line, he directs our attention to one anointing his head with oil as respectable in public appearances, but then backtracks this oustide view by indicating that routinal use of the oil, especially as an already ‘mature’ individual, articulates a need for conceivable, vain perfection that is nowhere near reality. Ishmael uses ‘mature’ to encapsulate how uncanny and unsettling this routinal use transforms into. Instead of attempting to abide by the laws, one now creates fantasy laws that fit an ideological idea of orderly and flawless. This vanity towards perfection evidently calls out social, ideological narratives in the nation. Introspectively, this analogy critically exposes how imperialist narratives and social propaganda are formed under a vain, dictated regime that discriminates and exploits, instead of performing ethical, governing responsibilities that affect the nation-state and its people within the social caste system. Two things are then subsequently seen: cultural exploitation and erasure of a foreign concept then further objectification and fetishization.

With this dehumanizing feauture, the author indirectly distinguishes between the  “oil” from whalers and the “salt” used as a medium to season– control– the monarchs. The use of “oil” and “salt” in the sentence serves to dehumanize the people into their roles, instead of seeing them as human beings. This imagery and representation of seasoning also inadvertently works to signal, with that control, a warning of systematic censorship and liminal space that Ishmael wonders about. Indication of two distinct control systems in the social ladder, instead of one streamlined system, adds depth to the worldbuilding behind the capitalist hierarchy we as readers thought we knew about. The clever contrast between these two ‘seasonings’ that ‘anoint’–control– the person shows us that our functions play down to collectively creating social propaganda that discriminates and erases culture. 

In the same vein, dehumanized imagery is present to also add layers to the meditated alienation the benefitted recipients feel, however advantaged or not. As a result of this alienation, the privileged class point fingers at the minorities. In another light, one can turn against their own community and blame their counterparts, rather than seeing the downfall from the start. Ishmael is acknowledgeable about the origin of the oil, but cannot recall the origin of ‘salt’ used to control the monarchs, indicating that there is a gap in information that becomes treacherous. Here, the author now clearly lays out the groundwork of systemic injustice that is a domino effect amongst other possible disadvantaged groups, not just a linear capitalist hierarchy, or a good versus evil side. In other words, with this empty feeling of alienation due to dehumanization, we are inclined to project discrimination onto our own community that makes the nation collapse. 

From looking at the unfortunate effects of dehumanization and projecting this insecurity onto others, the chapter uses this to convey the passage of time and its importance in constructing the ‘regal curious process’ as ancient and practiced. It is known that whales are powerful common symbolic representations to the whalers and sovereignty, but what about what is considered the ‘modern ones’ apart from the ancient ones in the novel then? Even though the text does not adhere to a certain time period, the implied passage of time puts into perspective how the social hierarchy reinforces ideological narratives that are practiced and traditional throughout time, making the manipulative process to be universally cherished, instead of being seen as long-term conditioning; and for this reason alone is it hard to eradicate systemic social narratives that have been generationally learnt, as we are wired to be dependent on ‘tried and true’ symbols that define our infrastructure today. 

Lastly, as conditioning takes over, one is encouraged to push for their false individual liberation in advertisement to dismiss the systemic issue. Ironically, his romanticization of whalers as part of nobility ties back down to the illusion of social status and approval that he tries to steer away from, while simultaneously trying to expose the systemic injustice in society himself. The last sentence then transforms into Ishmael wrestling with the question of ‘how one cannot amount to much in his totality’ because of the social conditioning rooted deeply into the fabric of society. Though Ishmael is cognizant of the fact that we are trapped to become mere parts in a machine, the irony is when he tries to find external validation and credit in the whaling industry. To readers, it becomes clear that irony is portrayed so as to illustrate the hazardous, long-side effects of manipulation within a social construct; Ishmael is blinded and brainwashed by artificial identity in whaling. Instead of becoming a secure nationwide alliance, the connection actually becomes a threat to the common working class because of the advantaged group’s desire to maintain the social divide, glued together by propaganda in public spaces. While Ishmael calls the audience to “look here”, Melville calls readers to look at Ishmael’s lack of awareness in light of him being a perpetual, enticed victim to the social climbing. As a result, community solidarity is squashed by individualized romanticization. 

It is presented that systemic issues start with conceivable, vain constructs that pervade the nation by a strong powerhouse in the social ladder. With this, social narratives start to become practiced then foundational throughout society, shifting our working class perspectives to normalize social discrimination and dehumanization in public spaces; and because these ideologies are traditional, the framework becomes easy to manipulate as something good and beneficial for the economy. The text exposes how calculated the systemic injustice is by instigating two mediums of control that trickle down the social ladder, making it harder to resolve or bring to light the societal issue at hand. As a result of this learnt notion to dehumanize, we end up projecting alienation onto others that ends up hurting instead of helping our trajectory towards human individuality in the nation. His dismissal is a foreshadowing of what might happen if we dismiss the need to educate ourselves about the socio-economic state of the world to the point of illusioned escapism and toxic individuality that tears us down. Even through all the deep contemplation about the systemic injustice Ishmael reveals, the last sentence turns into an actual doomed read of Ishmael’s critical symptoms due to the altering affects of systemic injustice.