Tag Archives: week 12

Chapter 113- The Forge

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In chapter 113, we are able to see how Ahab’s obsession has taken over him. It consumes him so much that he turns away from God and does not wish for his blessing but instead wishes for the blessing of the devil. This becomes more clear with the forging of the specialized harpoon and the covering of the weapon in blood from the three pagan harpooners. Melville writes “‘Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, see in nomine diaboli!’ deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood” (Melville 532). This part really caught my attention especially since it is in Latin. What Ahab is saying here is he baptizes the weapon not in the name of the father but in the name of the devil. We can also see Ahab performing this “satanic” ritual by using the blood from the three pagans. With the baptizing of Ahab’s weapon we can see how his obsession with the whale has corrupted him. His fixation is so intense it calls forth an alliance with evil. The upgraded harpoon is more than a weapon, it is a symbol of Ahab’s madness—his devotion to vengeance. Ahab wishes for chaos and has Perth forge a weapon of death to use for the Great Whale. Instead of using faith to keep the vengeance away, it is being twisted to keep the vengeance near. Another thing I want to add is the whale has been referred to as a mystical and god-like thing a number of times. So, to see Ahab bring up the devil’s name to bless the harpoon shows just how deep his obsession runs. He has to turn to darkness itself to help destroy this divine being. Melville uses this moment to reveal the destruction obsession causes. 


Chapter 113: The Forge: I’m Crazy, Your Crazy, We’re Crazy!

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The more and more and more I read this book and Melville’s obsession with sanity and insanity for his characters is quite strategic since he wants us to understand, but explore the truth, obsession and limits if human understanding. In chapter 113, ” The Forge”, Melville transforms a simple craftmanship to more of a symbolic ritual of obsession and sacrilege. Ahab commands the blacksmith to forge him a new harpoon, that he swears will actually kill Moby Dick. When the forge of the harpoon is done, he asked for his three harpooners-Tashtego, Queequeg, and Daggoo to offer some of their blood as a symbol of baptism.

“Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!” (532), meaning ” I do not baptize you you in the name of the Father, but in the name of the Devil,” Ahab reverses the role of a sacred baptism, not to God, but to his own rage and obsession. This demonstrates Ahab’s rebellion towards Christianity and his hellish transformation of pure revenge. In this scene, he kind of acts like an anti-priest who performs a dark sacrament and using blood from his “disciples” as a sacrifice for the “sake” of revenge. It gave me the chills, just imagining what’s going through Ahab’s mind and how slowly and cruel he’s becoming, demonstrating his way of thinking and how he craves revenge like a man thirsting for water. Melville deepens the atmosphere in the lines of this quote, “This done, pole, iron, and rope-like the Three Fates- remained inseparable, and Ahab moodily stalked away with the weapon; the sound of the hickory pole, both hollowly ringing along every plank. But ere he entered his cabin, a light, unnatural. half-bantering, yet most piteous sound was was heard. Oh Pip! thy wretched laugh, thy idle but unresting eye; all thy strange mummeries not unmeaningly blended with the black tragedy of the melancholy ship, and mocked it!” (533) in the quote, Melville invokes the usage of the Greek mythology the myth of the Three Fates who are goddesses who control the destiny of every living being from their birth to death, it demonstrates on how Ahab’s destiny is now sealed with a weapon and as his creator, he’s now set for what’s coming to him by fate and death. This moment reflects Melville’s warning towards the use of the destructive power of man’s obsession and man’s defiance against religion.

The only thing I like about this book so far is about how Melville uses metaphors, imagery, and philosophical moments, but also the bashing of religion that intrigues me. Even the mythology references.

Week 12: Starbuck reads the musket

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We’re finally near the end of our journey. It took us twelve weeks and a few off days, but reading and discussing Moby-Dick as a class has really paid off. Our destination is on the horizon.

The second half of Chapter 123 has Starbuck sneak into the cabin and stumble upon a musket. It’s a long paragraph, but a part of it that stood out to me is found in the middle of page 559: “But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?—Yes, it would make him the wilful murderer of thirty men and more, if this ship come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship will, if Ahab have his way. If, then, he were this instant—put aside, that crime would not be his.” (Melville 559)

Remember that conversation Starbuck had with Captain Ahab back in Chapter 109 that escalated into Ahab pointing his musket at Starbuck and telling him off? It’s the same musket; “the very musket that [Ahab] pointed at [Starbuck]” (558), and he is reading it just like how Stubb read the doubloon in chapter 99, ruminating on it and contemplating its goods and bads. And it makes me wonder: why is he choosing to read the same musket that he was threatened with by this “crazed old man?”

The musket reading, in essence, is not just a critique on Ahab’s monomaniacal personality, but it also serves as a commentary on power disparities in the social hierarchy: those at the top are harder to take down. Because Ahab is at the top of the hierarchy, Starbuck fears that if the captain were to sink the Pequod with everyone on board, “that crime would not be his.” Even if it makes him “the wilful murderer of thirty men and more,” his name would be cleared rather quickly since he is a very wealthy and powerful (and tyrannical) captain.

A side note: I also think this passage is reflective of today’s American government. We have a 34-time convicted felon president who controls all three branches of government, but despite all he has done, he is somehow still able to win re-election and continue his tyranny. His supporters follow him blindly, and even if he committed a crime or broke a law during his presidency, he would only receive a slap on the wrist because of “presidential immunity.”

It baffles me how people would still support such a president when it’s clear that he is unfit to take on that role. Like Ahab, he is a crazed old man tamely suffered to drag a whole country down to doom with him.

Week 12 : Chapters 109 – 132

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I really enjoyed reading this section of chapters. I think now that we are getting towards the end, the action and story are starting to ramp up so I am definitely gaining a newfound interest in the novel. Within this section, chapter 123 really stuck out to me. I think Starbuck is such a fascinating character and is honestly such a reflection of people in our society today.

The quote that I think stuck out to me the most was at the end of the chapter, “The yet levelled musket shook like a drunkard’s arm against the panel; Starbuck seemed wrestling with an angel; but turning from the door, he placed the death-tube in its rack and left the place.” Starbuck, since the beginning of this voyage, has been having a battle with both himself and Ahab and this battle truly comes to ahead in this chapter. In this chapter, Starbuck goes down to tell Ahab something and in the process finds the perfect opportunity to kill him and truly start a mutiny on the boat knowing that this journey, if not stopped, is going to lead to the demise of every single person on the boat. I think the internal battle Starbuck has in this chapter is just fascinating because of the true moral dilemma it presents. Murder is wrong, as Starbuck notes, but which is truly morally worse, killing one person or remaining complicit when you know that that person and their ambition will result in the deaths of so many more.

I think this is a true reflection of our society here in America. So many people hate the way in which the government is run and want it to change and know that if it continues to be run the way it is so many people’s lives will be ruined, but they refuse to do anything about it. It is written into our constitution that if the people deem the way in which the country is governed to be destructive, we hold the right to alter and abolish it. Yet, this is something that never happens because people hate discomfort more than they hate injustice. People may dislike the way in which the country is run, but they are comfortable with it and morally believe that somehow changing it could be worse than all of the lives that are being ruined at the present moment. I think this is so representative of the fight Starbuck is having. He knows making this change and taking control will be what saves them, but he doesn’t want that responsibility or that action on his conscious and he decides in the end to risk everyone else in exchange for his morals to remain somewhat intact.

Historically, complicity is what truly allows for things to go out of control and situations to escalate as much as they do and I think Melville putting themes of complicity and sitting back and watching when you know what is happening is wrong in the novel is so interesting because it truly shows just how common of a thing it is. Complicit behavior is not something that is singular or rare, it is something that is present everywhere and it being present on the Pequod is one of the most accurate depictions of society within the novel.

Week 12: Queequeg in his coffin

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“Now, at this time it was that my poor pagan companion, and fast bosom-friend, Queequeg, was seized with a fever, which brought him nigh to his endless end.” (519) This quote is interesting because Melville once again uses words that are in direct contradiction to each other. One of the first times that this is noted is in the introduction of Ahab when he is described as being a “grand, ungodly, god like man.” Just as this description of Ahab reflect the complexity and contradictory nature of the character, so too does the use of contradiction imply a similar complexity to the state in which Queequeg finds himself in. Queequeg is at the brink of death and this expression of endless end implies the permanence of the soul after death. As Ishmael stresses in this sentence, Queequeg is pagan and the common Christian belief is that his pagan soul is damned to existence in hell. The language in this quote does not indicate any doomed judgment of his soul. Queequeg is described as a companion and bosom friend to Ishmael and the reader it makes no sense to imagine that Ishmael thinks or fears for his friend’s soul. Melville uses the word endless to refer to the soul but he has also used this word to refer to the ocean. Thus, as readers, we can make the argument that in dying Queequeg is leaving mortality to become an immortal being something akin to an ocean in it’s vastness. This gives him a spirit like quality that is at interesting odds with the god like yet ultimately mortal Ahab. It’s worth bringing it up because Ishmael is once again showing the reader that he does not blindly follow the doctrine in which he was raised but rather lets his own lived experiences inform his own opinions in regards of the condition of the soul after death.

Ahab – a brother of the sea

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In Chapter 116, “The Dying Whale,” we see that the Pequod has killed four whales, one of which was killed by Ahab’s boat. In this chapter Ahab opens up more about his own turmoil and inner thoughts, what he believes in and what he worships. While killing the the whale, he notices that the whales always turn their heads towards the sun, as if they were worshipping it in their final moments; “He too worships fire; most faithful, broad, baronial vassal of the sun!” (Melville 539). Ahab then goes on to discuss the similarities between both living things on land and in sea. This part of the novel almost feels like I’m reading a Shakespeare play, I can feel and understand the emotions that Ahab is feeling, his deep feelings of connection with the ocean. Ahab tells us that he may have been born on sea, but he belongs on the water; “Born of earth, yet suckled by the sea; though hill and valley mothered me, ye billows are my foster-brothers!” (Melville 540).

I think the purpose that this chapter is serving is to remind us that both man and whale, livings things on land and living things in the sea, are all connected and the same. A whale may worship the sun, the same way a human might’ve in ancient times. We are no better than those animals that live in the ocean, they are our brothers and sisters of this earth, and it is important for us to recognize that. However, of course, this doesn’t stop Ahab and the rest of the Pequod from killing whales for money, perhaps showing the superiority complex that humans have developed.

Ebb and Flow

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In Chapter 111 on page 525, Melville wrote “The waves should rise and fall, and ebb and flow unceasingly…” It was part of a sentence, but what caught my eye is the word “should.” Why “should”? Why not “will” or “can”? But as I read further, I realized that this explains the inevitability of life itself. It is the only part of the full sentence that sounds rhythmic, like how waves themselves move. The word “unceasingly” simply means “eternal.” In other words, the waves move eternally. Adding the implication, Melville presenting the sea as a symbol of constant motion also becomes how life is in constant motion.

“The waves should rise and fall” suggests the ups and downs of life. It’s basically not normal for an entire lifespan to be completely calm and serene. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be happy. We have emotions so we can experience life like a rollercoaster, or rather a storm in a voyage. Mistakes are made to teach. Failures and setbacks show flaws. You can strive for the calm and serene, but the journey to get there will never be.

“Ebb and flow” suggests a cycle of experiences. Many things can restart, many things can be relived. The most vivid example is the damning fact Moby Dick teaches you how to read after already knowing how to read. The phrase “ebb and flow” shows how life teaches: even with everything you have learned, there’s still thousands more to know.

Why Melville consciously chose “should” and nothing else is because life “should” rise and fall, ebb and flow, as you grow as a person.

The enlightenment of death

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In chapter 110, we readers get a good scare from Melville, because it seems certain that our beloved Queequeg is going to die. I enjoyed this chapter very much, but there was a section in page 520 that especially caught my attention. Melville writes, “But as all else in him thinned, and his cheek-bones grew sharper, his eyes, nevertheless, seemed growing fuller and fuller; they became of a strange softness of lustre…And like circles on the water, which, as they grow fainter, expand; so his eyes seemed rounding and rounding, like the rings of Eternity.” Here, Melville presents a new kind of enlightenment, one that comes not from madness like in Pip’s case, but one that arises from proximity to death. For Queequeg, this enlightened state transcended the abstract and was physically visible in his body. Ishmael says that his eyes were getting bigger and gained a “softness of lustre.” The eyes are through which we take in the world around us, and the bigger they are can metaphorically represent a higher awareness and a deeper perspective on life. His eyes also had “lustre,” which is a glow (light) on reflective surfaces. Not only are eyes for taking in information, but some would say they are the window to the soul, and a visible shine on them is representative of an enlightened soul that can’t keep from outwardly reflecting that. Queequeg’s eyes are subsequently compared to “circles on the water,” another reflective surface, exemplifying the outward manifestation of enlightenment; but water isn’t just reflective, it is also a fluid, shifting surface, where marks expand and grow “fuller and fuller,” but also fainter. After all, Queequeg’s expanding eyes and thin body are a tangible sign of decay as much as they are a metaphorical sign of enlightenment. The human body is as impermanent as moving water. But while the body is temporary, the soul is eternal. Ishmael finally compares Queequeg’s expanding but fading eyes to “the rings of Eternity.” As he nears death, in Ishmael’s eyes, Queequeg becomes infinite in spirit. His body will fade away, but his soul, which is accessible through his eyes, becomes eternal. Aside from the spirituality in this scene, we also see Melville once again addressing the question of how we acquire knowledge. As he has shown us before in the book, existence is not exactly fit for certainty, but maybe death is. Melville questions that we can really know anything when we are alive, but in this scene, Queequeg’s expanding eyes and eternal soul display death as a true path to knowledge and revelation. In an ironic turn, when death begins to take the place of life, that is when a being may truly grasp their existence. It seems to be impossible to know anything with certainty, but that changes when we cease to exist. Though a very sad scene of sickness and decay, Melville uses lovely and serene language, giving the reader a sense of peace and almost as a way to dispel fear and restlessness. This is a tranquility that comes from finally understanding that which you could not in life, but the price to pay for that is death.

White, the color of absence and death, in flame

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Throughout Moby-Dick, there has been a kind of attention to the number 3. There are 3 mates for the ships, 3 mast heads to the ship, and the 3 peaks featured on the doubloon, but there are also supernatural connections to 3 sprinkled through out the novel, such as the blood of 3 harpooners to temper Ahab’s barb, the 3 fires alight the top of the mast heads, as well as 3 people prophesizing Ahab’s demise: the prophet, Gabriel from the Jeroboam, and the Parsee.

This is a number present in the Bible – the holy trinity – and even Pythagoras, a great philosopher of Greek History that has been mentioned at least once in the novel, believed that the number three was special. One such reason was that it is the only number where the numbers that come before it add perfectly to it. Another reason, and one that I link more to this section of the novel than his other reasons, was that it seems to reflect our world on a conceptual level – beginning, middle, end; birth, life, death.

In the chapter, The Candles, this number is repeated and emphasized as the spectral lights cast brilliant shadows onto the ship below.

“All the yard arms were tipped with a pallid fire; and touched at each tri-pointed lightening-rod-end with three tapering white flames, each of the three tall masts was silently burning in that sulphurous air, like three gigantic wax tapers before an altar.” (549)

This all comes two chapters out from Parsee’s prediction of Ahab’s death by hemp rope, after Ahab calls it a strange sight the idea of a hearse and its plumes floating over the ocean. For reference, hearse plumes were ostrich feathers that would adorn hearse carriages at the time, signaling the departed’s wealth and status. Having 5-6 plumes meant you were wealthy, more meant that you were truly rich. In reference to this, the flames are described as pallid and tapering. What are the flames but Ahab’s own funeral plumes, floating atop the ocean he so desperately searches for his monomaniacal need for revenge?

Chapter 110: Queeqeg Returned From the Grave!

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As I was closing out reading chapter 110, I started to become concerned for Queeqeg and his health as he started to become very ill as he had requested for a coffin to be made for him so that he could be laied to rest at sea. As Queeqeg was not looking well at the beginning of the chapter but towards the end, we see that Queeqeg now wants to push through the sickness as he doesn’t want it to overtake him just yet. This highlights that internal strength which Queeqeg has over the course of nature which came over him. It shows Queeqeg’s beliefs as well that he will overcome what is happening to him.

“They asked him, then, whether to live or die was a matter of his own sovereign will, and pleasure. He answered, certainly. In a world it was Queequeg’s conceit that if man made up his mind to live, mere sickness could not kill him: nothing but a whale, or a gale, or some violent, ungovernable, unintelligent destroyer of that sort.” This shows that Queeqeg had dedicated his life to being on this boat now and that he would not be overcomed by nature yet, he wanted it to live his life as long as he could.

From Ishmael’s and the sailors perspectie, they had even questioned Queeqeg and how he had made this decision as he even prayed to his God, Yojo, for guidance as he was ill aboard the Peqod. He seemed so confident in his decision and he micraculously became better after that! He didn’t want a plain sickness to take him away from this world. He then proceeds to list what I am imagining he would prefer to take his life away like the whale, or a very harsh breeze that could blow him over board. Queeqeg appeared to want to go out some way that was not natural. He wanted something that was placed upon him like those things.

Yes he did get better but he still overcame what was put upon him. He overcame the sickness as he was wanting to push through to his very end as he knew that was not his true end of how he would live out his life, not by sickness.