In Chapter 100 ‘Leg and Arm’, a juxtaposition is made between Ahab’s whale versus another ship’s version, “So what you take for the White Whale’s malice is only his awkwardness.” Ahab’s knowledge of the whale is isolated, purposefully, so that no other explanation can penetrate his mind about the creature. In posing the whale as a being without a grand plan, Melville rewrites this entire story in just a sentence, the whale becoming a victim of circumstance rather than a violent perpetrator. Melville also uses Ahab’s intentional ignorance to emphasize the multifaceted nature of knowledge, exemplifying his failure to understand the whale as a complicated creature instead of a monster. 

When the whale’s ‘malice’ is exchanged for ‘awkwardness’, this prompts images of innocence and inexperience. The whale is not by nature violent, but when attacked it is forced to defend itself by means outside of its nature, its violence is unnatural and awkward. In rewriting the whale as a docile being, biting Ahab’s leg to save its own life, the whale is able to exist as multiple things, violent and awkward. Ahab does not want to actually know the whale, he has already written his narrative and has his perfect ending for it. Knowledge requires the will to be proven wrong, something Ahab refuses to do, resulting in his struggle against a villain that doesn’t exist. This struggle puts not only himself, but also those around him in danger for a vain pursuit. In just a sentence, Melville offers much on the way we see the world, and the choice we have in this perspective, its consequences affecting more than our own selves.