I am nervous about it, but I am going to write Pip into The Deep by Rivers Solomon. I believe that Melville purposefully delivered Pip to his ancestors. I can’t stop thinking about the intersection of Pip’s soul lost to the Antilles and the mermaids from the Middle Passage.

Thesis:

In Chapter 110 of Moby Dick, while Queequeg is laying in his coffin preparing for death, Pip asks a favor of him. “Seek out one Pip, who’s now been missing long: I think he’s in those far Antilles.” (522) By conveying Pip to the Antilles, Melville delivers him to his ancestors. This delivery directs focus to the savage, immoral foundations of America. This subtle critique not only assesses Christianity and capitalism, but delivering Pip to the Middle Passage critiques the values of ‘civility’ compared to so called savagery. Melville indicates that there is no such thing as civility, only justified savagery.