Throughout the book, Melville tells and suggests that the reader stop and read closely what he is painting for us, how to read and make diligent study of the messages that hide in the lines of Melville’s work. “The slanting sun playing upon this crimson pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every face, so that they all glowed to each other like red men… At last, gush after gush of clotted red gore, as if it had been the purple lees of red wine, shot into the frighted air; and falling back again, ran dripping down his motionless flanks into the sea. His heart had burst!” (Melville 311). The word reflection is strong in this passage; to read and reflect on what you’re reading, in a sense, we are glowing red in the reflection on these men. We should be reflecting on how the dirty work of whaling is an overlooked aspect of American history,  especially to the people on land. Whaling is a bloody battlefield that can’t be overlooked by the men on the boat, but is by the people on the land. Melville is making a clear critique of the land-based reader for their ignorance by giving them a glorious description of the exploitative practices carried out on the boat to produce the civilized lifestyle on land. Melville teaches readers how these civilized goods are produced, such as electricity, a bone corset, and perfume. Ignorance is bliss to the land-based reader, out of sight, out of mind, but in this case, the details are never in mind when it comes to our land people. 

Reflection is what Melville suggests the reader do: open this book and read these glorious details about whaling and how it’s done. Ignorance is bliss; that’s something Americans are being criticized for, wanting the benefits of whaling, which is the oil, the bone, and the ambergris, which provides Americans with electricity and perfume. The part of which they’re choosing ignorance is not knowing where they got their electricity and perfume from; it comes from the whale, and they don’t know where or how. “The slanting sun playing upon this crimson pond in the sea, sent back its reflection into every face, so that they all glowed to each other like red men.” (Melville 311). Glowing to each other, they all glowed together; their act of killing reflects blood rather than the actual blood spread out. Melville is pushing us to read the blood on the pages and reflect, and put the land-based reader up for critique for their greed, their greed to send men out to sea to bring back oil for their pleasure.  Melville is pushing the reader to read this passage and critique the land-based reader. To bring back what I said, we are glowing red in the reflection of these men, watching them in their glorious act. Also, to mention “that they all glowed to each other like red men.” (Melville 311), they glowed to each other like red men; the blood isn’t what is making the men red, it’s the actions of the men that make them all glow red.

“At last, gush after gush of clotted red gore, as if it had been the purple lees of red wine” (311 Melville).  This line in the passage alone shows us how Melville is showing the two different sides of the people on the sea vs the land, the men who are on the sea killing whales have seen and get caught in the red gore and gushing blood clots, while the people on land drink red wine and wait for the whale oil to come to land so they can live like civilized people. The upper class drinks red wine while the people on the boat have to do the bloody work; that’s their red wine, blood, and clots. The land-based reader sits back and drinks their wine, while the men on the boat are murdering whales for a living, so the land people can live in such luxury. This passage is stating the two differences in ocean and land readers, one strikes blood that resembles red wine, while one is drinking the blood that has been struck. I want to dive into not only how it states the two but how it’s displayed as two. “gush after gush of clotted red gore,” and as if it had been the purple lees of red wine” (Melville 311). The use of the comma is what displays the marking of the difference between the land and ocean people. On one side, we have the glory and the blood, while on the other side, we have the red wine. What’s happening in the ocean vs what’s being brought back to the land? 

The glorious detail of the whale’s killing is important to read, and Melville is pushing the reader to understand its significance. Whaling isn’t natural, but what comes from the whale is their blood, their blubber, and ambergris, which is natural. When talking about the land-based reader, we are talking about most readers of “Moby Dick”. The idea of whaling may be simple, but when it comes to the details of watching this beauteous creature die in glory to provide the land with such materials to live a luxurious life is far overlooked in American history. It’s a brutal battlefield against man and whale, where the whale doesn’t really stand a chance. Montinless to most whales, it’s murder to whales for their goods. Melville wants the reader to understand man vs whale, what man does to the whale. “shot into the frighted air; and falling back again, ran dripping down his motionless flanks into the sea. His heart had burst!” (311 Melville). Watching the heart burst like it’s nothing but material goods, the whale’s heart belongs in the ocean. It starts in the ocean and ends in the ocean. Glore is motionless to the land reader; you don’t hear or see the blood, you sit and drink your red wine.