Tag Archives: Mylo Duong

Ishmael foreshadows a prominent future event. 

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Throughout these chapters, what I noticed, or I believe to be a foreshadowing event is when Ishamel slowly woke up from a nightmare. The passage states, “At last, I must have fallen into a troubled nightmare of a doze; and slowly waking from it half steeped in dreams—I opened my eyes, and the before sun-lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness. Instantly I felt a shock running through all my frame; nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard.” (Melville 29). This passage is portraying a future event where Ishmael will be woken up from a nightmare, and instead of seeing his sun-lit room now wrapped in outer darkness, Ishamel will be seeing the vast ocean at night where darkness will completely swallow the whole ocean. He will experience the void of nothingness, where he felt shocked and trapped in the middle of nowhere. Ishmael’s dream of being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman will be crushed due to the mysteries of the sea. We all know that every man who travels through the sea have hopes and dreams of being recognized due to their efforts, but once they experienced the true terror of the sea, they will realize that everything they have ever wished for were just a hoax, and that the terror is waiting for them on the other side of the earth. Another interesting point I wanted to make is that the way Ishmael and Queequeg act in front of each other is very suspicious. I feel like they both like each other, but at the same time, referring to themselves as ‘friendship’ feels a little off. My theory is perhaps back then, homosexuality was not recognized yet, so both Ishmael and Queequeg who liked each other’s company decided that it is just an intimate friendship, and that they were very close to each other. But the truth is they like each other, and want to spend time together like other couples do. Or perhaps I am completely wrong and my theory is literally me being delusional about it. I would love to hear everyone’s perspective on these chapters next week. 

We’re currently looking through Ishmael’s perspective in the first 3 chapters.

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After reading all 3 chapters of Moby-Dick, I have to say the introduction is getting really interesting. How come? You might ask. I would say that we are currently being put through Ishmael’s perspective, everything that he described, how the inn looks, how the people act, and his thoughts being unraveled around them, is something that I find quite interesting to read. There is this one passage where Ishmael talks to himself, and he said: “So, wherever you go, Ishmael said I to myself, as I stood in the middle of a dreary street, shouldering my bag, and comparing the gloom towards the north with darkness towards the south—wherever in your wisdom you may conclude to lodge for the night, my dear Ishmael, be sure to inquire the price, and don’t be too particular.” (Melville 10). I really like this passage, and it is probably one of my favorites so far because Ishmael is feeling anxious here. He obviously knew no one, and when he stood in the street, there was anxiousness creeping around as he was uncertain about the choices that he is going to make. Ishmael is taking up this completely new path, and his uncomfortable feeling makes him even more nervous. That is why he stood there and assured himself not to be too particular as he knew he was going to just do that. I also love how this passage feels a bit poetic because there is repetition while reading out these lines: “the gloom towards the north with darkness towards the south”. To me, it feels like the story is foreshadowing Ishmael’s future, like the path ahead of him is dark no matter the choices he makes. Even though the passage is short, it surprises me how many hidden meanings are used behind these lines. This brings back the conversation we had for the last couple of weeks in lecture, of how we said everyone will eventually have different interpretations of the book because we are highly intelligent human beings. We will bring out many different meanings and interpretations that others did not manage to find. 

Questions for Steve Mentz

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  1. Do you believe that technology in modern days plays a huge role in helping humanity connect to the ocean a bit more visually?
  2. Do you think poetry could change a person’s perspective about the ocean? Even if they think about it negatively?
  3. What is the one poem you would like to recommend to students if they want to learn more about the vast ocean?
  4. What are your thoughts about the deep sea and the mysteriousness that lies beneath it?
  5. What would be the one advice you would give to students as they start to read Moby Dick for the next couple of weeks?

Steve Mentz’s article is truly noteworthy. 

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After reading Mentz’s article, it feels like my eyes have opened up a little bit more because of the details that I completely agree with. In the article, he quoted: “For literary writers and scholars, the ocean seems especially attractive because of its metaphorical vastness. The great waters represent a principle of narrative fecundity that Salman Rushdie has described as the “sea of stories.” (140). This quote is so interesting to me because, for a long time, I have been curious about the idea of: is there more to the ocean than just water? We all know that the ocean is vast. We all know it has tons of stories of people who are worth mentioning. This is when curiosity strikes me. I want to know more about the deep-sea creatures. Most people would think that such creatures would never exist, but the deep dark sea contains everything, and when I say everything, I mean creatures that our eyes could not even believe in. Mentz made such great points in this quote because, as scholars, we allow our curiosity to win over us. We study by gaining knowledge. We study by thinking about the possibilities of everything that could possibly happen at any moment. We create thoughts that are beyond the human imagination. We are attracted to the ocean not only because it has water, but because it creates images that allow us to visualize those stories in our heads. This is why Moby Dick plays a huge part in all of the articles we have read so far. The novel allows us to explore the mysteriousness that the sea offers to us. As scholars, we are not meant to know everything about the sea. We are meant to study it, to visualize it, and know the dangers behind it. When Mentz refers to ‘sea of stories’, I believe he is referring to the stories of the people who sail to the sea in the novel. There has to be people who challenge their lives in order to go out into the deep sea. Even though there are some points that I believe are spectacular and worth mentioning, this article still confuses me because it talks about the sea with poetics alongside other poets. Does this mean the ocean is the body of a poem? And people just sort of utilize it as a way to create more poems? I would love to learn more about how the ocean is associated with poetry because it definitely plays a huge role in explaining the vastness of the ocean.

I got hooked while reading this article.

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After reading The True-Life Horror That Inspired ‘Moby Dick’, written by Gilbert King, the one question I would pose for this blog is: Is the book Moby Dick as disturbed as the true-life stories that this article claims to be? And my answer for this is: probably yes. The reason why I think the book is going to be disturbing is that it was inspired by stories that actually happened in the past. The events of cannibalism are what disturbed me the most, not because of how disgusting it is, but because of the thought of what a human being could do when they have reached the lowest point in their life. In this case, it is starvation, which led to cannibalism. Coming back to the question, some might ask what disturbed elements would be in Moby Dick? I would theorize ‘hallucination’ and ‘mythical creatures of the sea’. I have never seen Moby Dick before, but I would say that the reason why these two elements exist in the book is that once the men reach the point of starvation, they will start to hallucinate to the point where they do not know if what they are seeing is real or not. They will hear voices speaking to them out in the sea, and they will probably encounter the sperm whale for quite some time. Perhaps they will meet mythical creatures that humans do not believe are real. Perhaps they will hear voices echoing out into the sea, and it will sort of lure them to join with the water. Coming back to the article, I like how King included a short paragraph of Melville’s life with his published novel, Moby Dick. It saddened me knowing that he suffered a lot while thinking his book is not worth the goal that he was aiming for. I believe nobody deserves to feel this way, and all of his effort in creating the book should be praised and remembered for generations to come. This article is actually a stepping stone for the book because it feels like I am getting a little bit familiar with the materials, and I really do hope I find a lot of hidden meanings while reading Moby Dick. And at the same time, I do hope the book contains dark elements that I mentioned above.

Nice to meet you guys! :) Let’s all be great friends!

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Hello everyone! My name is Mylo, and I am currently a fourth-year student at SDSU. Truth be told, I am not great at public speaking at all. I often find myself struggling to even come up with ways of speaking without feeling nervous, and most of the time, I feel kind of slugghish for paying too much attention to this problem. After coming to this class, and being able to openly talk to everyone in the class makes me feel a sense of relief because I feel comfortable while introducing myself to you guys. I know I will probably struggle a few more times to speak while I’m in the class, and I hope I will be able to overcome this fear so that I’m going out strong instead of feeling like I did not achieve much.

A little bit about myself: I absolutely love films with all my heart. I have been watching films ever since I was young, and being able to grasp onto the stories, the characters, the dialogues, the emotions that the whole film portrayed are so rich and powerful, which inspires me to become a filmmaker one day. I love to cook, especially Italian dishes. I love to play games, instruments, and archery. I feel like these hobbies mostly take up all of my life, and there are probably more to come.

I hope that we can all be great friends while enjoying Moby-Dick alongside the heartfelt discussions that I am excited to have with you all.