Tag Archives: week 10

The Anatomy of Understanding

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In Chapter 77, “The Great Heidelburgh Tun,” as Ishmael meticulously describes the anatomy of the sperm whale, he pauses for a moment to reflect and observe, “But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.” (Melville 371) On the surface, this line refers to the practical work of cutting into a whale’s body, but it also captures something larger about Moby-Dick itself. Melville constantly reminds his readers that understanding, whether of the whale, the ship, or just life at sea, requires looking beneath the surface, especially for us “landsmen.” Ishmael’s words turn the act of whaling into an act of reading: the body of the whale becomes a text, and true comprehension demands attention to all of its inner workings.

This idea aligns with the recurring chapters that anatomize the whale and ship in almost scientific detail, such as “The Sphynx,” “The Blanket,” “The Line,” and “The Monkey-rope.” In each, Ishmael insists on showing the interior, from the bones and the blubber to the lines and ropes, because for him, meaning resides in the hidden systems that actually sustain life and labor. Just as a ship can’t be understood by its sails alone, the whale’s mystery cannot be captured by its surface or exterior. Melville’s fascination with “internal structure” becomes a metaphor for how the novel itself operates: each detailed dissection of the whale’s body or the ship’s machinery draws us closer to the unknowable essence of existence and knowledge, even as it reminds us how incomplete that comprehension will always be.

By linking comprehension to dissection, Melville transforms the very physical and almost brutal act of cutting into an intellectual one. To “know something of the curious internal structure” is to recognize the layered complexity of every object and idea that is presented to the reader in the novel. The whale, the Pequod, and even Ishmael’s narrative share the same architecture. They are massive, mysterious, and full of unseen parts that demand exploration and much deeper thought. Through this, Moby-Dick becomes a kind of living anatomy, a work that invites readers to participate in its own operation, continually digging deeper for a truth that resists full capture.

Extra Credit – Moby Dick Costume

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For class on Thursday, October 30th, I dressed up as Queequeg at the beginning of Moby Dick. He is presented to us, in his and Ishmael’s first endeavors outside the Spouter-Inn, in a long coat, slacks, and a Beaver skin top hat. While I could only assume the attire he wore underneath (most sailors portrayed in media are placed in plain white button-up dress shirts), I decided to include a rope to my costume, ties around my belt loops, to incorporate the passage on Ishmael and Queeuqeg’s wedding by the anchoring of the rope they share on the Pequod while Queequeg assists in skinning the whale. While not very noticeable (since I wear these rings quite often to class), I assigned specific passages/meanings to the designs of each of my rings. 1) A coffin, symbolizing the crew’s imminent and constant threat of death, and the foreshadowing of the shipwreck of the Pequod at the end of the novel, 2) a skull, referencing chapter 80 – The Nut, and Ishmael’s rant about the phrenology and craniology of the Sperm Whale, 3) a sun, made of bronze, gold, and silver, referencing the numerous times Melville uses terrestrial language and points out the use of light in representation of the feature of the whale and whiteness, and 4) a ring I received from my eldest brother’s grandmother containing different parts of an Abalone shell. Another piece of jewelry I used to reference the book was my cross earing (I know, I wear it all the time and hardly switch it for something different), which I used to represent Queequeg’s desire to learn from Christians for the betterment of his people and himself, and later his repulsion of the behavior of so called Christians, and rebuttal for them to learn from cannibals instead.

Chapter 75: The Right Whale’s Head—Contrasted View

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Throughout the chapter, there is one passage that particularly caught my attention. It is chapter 75, where Ishmael is doing a deep dive-in on the Right Whale’s Head. The passage states, “But if this whale be a king, he is a very sulky looking fellow to grace a diadem. Look at that hanging lower lip! What a huge sulk and pout is there! A sulk and pout, by carpenter’s measurements, about twenty-feet long and five-feet deep; a sulk and pout that will yield you some 500 gallons of oil and more.” (Melville 365). This passage is very interesting to me because it reminds me of an Anthropology class where I was learning about sustainability, where fishermen have their own alternative way  to hunt fish without exploiting its species till the point of extinction. The reason why fishes have been on the verge of extinction in today’s society is because humans have been exploiting the ocean for years. We hunt for food, for fish oil, and other vitamins that benefit us, and we exploit them by exceeding the limits every single day. When I look at this passage, I believe the same concept applies to whales. They produced a huge amount of oil equivalent to just one whale, to be exact it’s at least 500 gallons of oil and more. I believe Melville is trying to tell readers how the sulking/pouting whale represents all of the fishes that went extinct in today’s society. Back then, fishes were insanely large, but in today’s society, their sizes reduced significantly. This tells us that humans have purposefully hunted fishes over the limits, and now there are no large fish left to produce. I believe whales are in the same situation because the whale offers oil as an opportunity for humans to exploit. With that being said, the fishes (including the whales) are on the verge of extinction, and the ocean is extremely unsustainable since humans keep exploiting it. As a result, we won’t have anything left to hunt, and all of the species will go extinct. Melville brought in a really good point of how this novel is not just about whales, but about sustainability/ unsustainability to all the fish species.

Chapter 80: A Whale’s Uniqueness for Profit

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This section from chapter 80 made me step back to really look at how vast this whale truly is, as it described how large the head of this creature is. Though the brain does not fill the entire cavity, these whales are still very intelligent. These whalemen could tell these creatures’ intelligence by how the creatures might have grouped in formations and more, yet they still hunted them down. These whales were killed for money and were drained of what makes them unique for profit. Their profit from the whale’s communication and life is a big factor in their industry.

“The brain is at least 20 feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications of Quebec. So like a choice, casket is the secreted in him, that I have known some whalemen who peremptorily deny the sperm whale has any other brain than that palpable semblance of one formed by the cubic yards of his sperm magazine. Lying in strange folds, courses, and convolutions, to their apprehensions, it seems more in keeping with the idea of his general might to regard that Mystic part of him as the seat of his intelligence.”

Melville uses particular words to describe the vast leviathan creature and even to tell us how small the brain is amongst the massive skull. He exaggerates his description by telling us that the head of the whale is so big that the brain is so far back in its melon. The brain is very safe in that massive skull of the sperm whale; it is almost hidden in a way. He tells us it is like a very important part of a city being protected by thick walls surrounding it. Melville uses his own scientific knowledge of whales to show us that these creatures are immense but have a small brain compared to their large body.

The use of the word “casket” is not used how you might think; Melville is using it as a case, as the very valuable oil which they hunt for is in their braincase. These very smart creatures were used for their own gain. The sperm magazine is a description of where the spermaceti is stored, as they saw these whales as their money source. That is the substance which they use for candles, lubricants, and more. These whale heads were very important to the sailors, as that is where their money source comes from.

Again, the very large head of the whale is seen as their money source; they might not take into account how important these whales are to the ocean and how smart they are, as they do have large brains. These whales are killed for profit in the end, and were close to extinction during the worldwide whaling from the 1800s to the 1980s. Profit or the extinction of a majestic creature?

Chapter Seventy-Nine

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In Chapter 79, “The Prairie”, Ishmael decides to examine the head of the sperm whale from a physiognomic approach, the art of judging human character from facial features. Physiognomy is a race science theory, one that campaigns for the justification of slavery and the barbaric treatment of colonized people. This practice was used to develop proof of the superiority of Europeans over others, justifying their dominance. Melville exposes the absurdity of physiognomy by having Ishmael equate physiognomic analysis with the practice of old religions deifying animals through their physical features. Ishmael narrates “They deified the crocodile of the Nile, because the crocodile is tongueless; and the Sperm Whale has no tongue, or at least it is so exceedingly small, as to be incapable of protrusion. If hereafter any highly cultured, poetical nation shall lure back to their birth-right, the merry May-day gods of old; and lovingly enthrone them again in the now egotistical sky; in the now undaunted hill; then be sure, exalted to Jove’s high seat, the great Sperm Whale shall lord it.” (Melville 380) Through this irony, Melville uses a consistency argument through Ishmael’s narrative to argue that we might as well treat the sperm whale as a god if we are going to believe in something as ridiculous as physiognomy; Melville plays on the idea that modern society is no better than people before us who thought the crocodiles in the Nile were a divine creature. 

Melville’s irony emerges in this passage’s tone. Ishmael speaks with a mock seriousness, slowly drifting into absurd conclusions. His proposal that the whale might one day be “exalted to Jove’s high seat” taunts the claims of theology and science. Ishmael stating that “the Sperm Whale has no tongue” becomes a metaphor for the silence of nature. Whales can’t “speak” their truth, every human attempt to interpret it becomes an act of projection. Melville turns this into a critique of arrogance, the desire to know and name the environment around us as a form of domination. The same impulse that once justified deifying animals now justifies hierarchies among people. In exposing this continuity, Melville dismantles the illusion of progress and underscores the enduring arrogance of human knowledge.