While reading Chapter 1, Loomings, I was struck by the following quotation on page 4. “Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.” The reason this sentence spoke to me in particular was just because of how beautiful it is. I particularly like the use of alliterations, in this case “silent sentinels” and “mortal men”. To be honest, this feels more like poetry than a line from a novel.

Later in the same paragraph this is expanded upon, when Melville, through the voice of Ishmael, says that “these are all landsmen”. None of them are carrier sailors, so, as Ishmael puts it “What do they here?” Especially because, at the time, the beach was not a recreational place. But I’d like to think that these people still saw beauty in it, although they weren’t brave enough to enter the waters. Maye they were just conptemplating the endlessness of the ocean, or the mythical beasts and sailors that ventured it’s endless waters.

In a lot of ways, we are those people. How many of us have actually spent time as crew on a ship? Most likely none of us. But, as people who live in San Diego, we tend to go to the beach at least every once in a while. Some people surf, or play in the waves. But some, like me, start attempting to read a book, but instead find ourselves staring at the waves, wondering if someone on the other side of the ocean is doing the exact same thing.

The ocean inspires all humans, in some way or form. Melville later writes about how it inspires the artist (like him). Because the vastness of the ocean is so unexplored, we can really run with our minds, imagining what lays in its depths. Who knows? There may even be mermaids.