Tag Archives: week 13

Final Project Brainstorm

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What you still need to learn/do for your final project

Honestly, I am not entirely sure what I want to focus on for my final project. But to throw an idea out there, I will be doing a close reading expanding more on obsession and the negative effects it has on a person while specifically focusing on Ahab. I still need to do the research though and figure out what examples I want to use. I would still like to explore other ideas for the final though. And, something I still need to learn is close reading and explaining myself more. Close reading has never been my strong suit and I still have a lot to learn.

Week 13: What’s next….

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What do you need to do/learn for your final project?

I feel like I still need to learn more and understand a bit more about close reading certain things. I’ve been to overwhelmed with the class and by all the information that I have zero idea on what I’m going to do. I’m not much of a creative artsy type of person, so I’m just bee doing an essay. For my final project, I will be discussing about mental health, alcoholism, obsession and more into the mental health part of the chapters, I’ll mostly be focusing on Ahab, Pip and Ishmael depending on how it goes and the subject. Close reading has become such an experience to do in my life and still need practice on it too. I still need to do research and find some examples from the chapters of the book and see where this goes.

A Lasting Impact

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What you still need to learn/do for your final project?

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of course I want to be creative and do a romantic music video with one of our peers, Omar, where we recreate My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion and him and I play Melville and Hawthorne and recreate scenes from the Titanic and Moby Dick. Being the more handsome of the bunch, I would clearly play Melville. Listen, I didn’t make the rules Dr Pressman did and I’m just abiding by them. Omar has a better idea for his project so he rejected me! How rude! 😉

So ive been pondering what to do, and being in the last week of class and seeing the impact Moby Dick has had on the entire entertainment industry, I would like to explore that with close reading and symbolism that has kept this book alive for so long and how many have adapted and interpreted in serval different ways. It’s going to research heavy and a challenge but this sounds fun actually for me. I may be Ahab and if done right this could be my Moby Dick… without the sinking ship part of course.

Ahab’s power, an illusion

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In chapter 133, our crew finally comes face to face with Moby Dick, their deadly foe. In the skirmish that ensues with him, Ahab and other mariners fall into the sea after Moby Dick bites their boat in half, and then he starts circling them. In page 599, Melville writes, “Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of the whale’s insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim,–though he could still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that; helpless Ahab’s head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock might burst.” Our captain, this indomitable force of revenge and hate, seems fragile. In this passage, Melville brings to our attention two important points: Ahab is old and he is missing a leg. While these things have been discussed in the story before, they were really never liabilities, but now they have completely humanized Ahab for us and even made him seem weak. The picture Melville paints for us of old Ahab struggling to stay afloat in the water undercuts the image of the powerful and maniacal sea captain we have been getting up until now. Ahab’s element is sailing the sea, but being in the water itself has made him vulnerable like never before. He is tragically unequipped for this environment although he has spent his life in it. Not only do we realize that Ahab’s greatness has limits because of his physical condition, but because he is a mere human. The phrase, “helpless Ahab’s head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the least chance shock might burst” prompts us to think about the littleness and inadequacy of man in the face of nature. Even great Ahab is helpless in the sea and his head in the water is compared to a bubble. What is a bubble in the vastness of the ocean? This moment is prompting us to juxtapose the previous idea we had of Ahab, of supernatural power, with his current helplessness brought about by nature. The indomitable spirit of man (or his obsessive hatred) is nothing in the face of the natural world. Our power is an illusion that bursts like a bubble as soon as we touch the water. Melville destroys our previous perception of Ahab and uses imagery to illustrate a larger truth about humanity, that when faced with the savageness of nature, our greatness and power are revealed to be constructs of our own creation, and that though it might be easy for us to forget, nobody can tame the sea.

Of love and learning

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The very things that Ahab denied allowed Ishmael to survive the sinking of the Pequod – love and learning. For what could have kept the Rachel near but the unending search for the lost boy, for the love of a parent with a missing child? And what but love drove Queequeg to stave off his impending death so that his coffin can be the thing that saves Ishmael? Back in Chapter 10, Ishmael declared that “we were bosom friends; he would gladly die for me, if need should be.” (57) When Queequeg’s death was imminent, when his final moments neared, he changed his mind about dying, stating that “he had just recalled a little duty ashore, which he was leaving undone.” (523)

Without a doubt, that “little duty” was his pact with Ishmael, as he proceeded to use this coffin as a sea chest for all his earthly belongings – as was promised with their declaration – and he set about the journey aware of its inevitable end. Queequeg took the time “carving the lid with all manner of grotesque figures and drawings; and it seemed that hereby he was striving, in his rude way, to copy parts of the twisted tattooing on his body.” (524) This coffin, in turn, took the place of Queequeg. He carved it to use as a stand-in, when he knew he would likely not be able to keep his word.

I include learning in my analysis because Ahab never took the time to learn about anyone – he assumed that all he knew was all he needed to know, allowing his monomaniacal focus to hold sway over all aspects of his life. This meant that he did not try to learn about Queequeg beyond the fact that he was a cannibal. He did not try to learn from the misfortune of others that his own demise could be more than “the gallows.” Ultimately, learning from Starbuck or even listening to Stubb regarding Captain Gardiner’s request could have changed the shape of his life. Yet, because he did not, he was doomed to a predetermined fate of his own making.

Chapter 134: Seeking the Thing That Could Destroy

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Towards the beginning of chapter 134 I read this part which had their impending doom coming for them. “Clinging to a spar with one hand some reached for the other with impatient wavings; others, shading their eyes from the vivid sunlight, sat far out on the rocking yards; all the spars in full bearing of mortals, ready and ripe for their fate. Ah! how they still strove through that infinite blueness to seek out the thing that might destory them.” This foreshadows what is to come of their fates in just one more chapter as they finally come across the whale.

These lines prove that these men were ready for what was to come upon them with this mission to find and kill this whale. “Clining to a spar” illustrates that these men were armed with the means to kill this whale with their harpoons. “Impatient wavings” shows that their are waiting to see this whale so they can kill him immediately and get this mission over so that they can get their money that Ahab promised them. Some of their other crewmates waited patiently as they were “shading their eyes from the vivid sunlight” showing that they were waiting for the sun to go down as they were in their positions waiting to see the whale breech in the water. They were very adamant about finding this whale as this was Ahab’s wish, to find and kill the whale even if it was dangerous. The line “all the spars in full bearing of mortals, ready and ripe for their fate” shows that these men were in a vulnerable position abord the Pequod as they were hunting down the thing that would surely destory them easily. They were all in their designated spots in case the whale was seen to that they can easily take him down. Ahab was so crazy that they did all of this for a whale that he was so passionate about killing that they “strove through that infinate blueness” the world’s many oceans so that he can take vengance against this whale. This Moby Dick is the most dangerous and powerful creature in this ocean and they wanted “to seek out the thing that might destory them” which again proves they would do all of this for money and passion.

Ahab and these men were so adamant about finding this whale that it does lead to their destruction in the end. This foreshadowing shows us that they are doomed in the end. They won’t return home, Ahab won’t get his victory, but they did so much to get to this point.

Chapter 113 The Forge (So much to unpack)

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When it comes to writing these blog posts, I read and most of the required reading and then go back and talk about a chapter or line that stood out for me, but this has so much to unpack and dissect with its allusions, nods to Shakespeare, and what the hell are Mother Carey’s chickens? Don’t worry, I looked it up, and it makes even more sense. BTW, if you don’t know what they are, it is simply a good omen from the Virgin Mary that calm seas and winds would be provided, and no disastrous storms are in the future. Let’s be honest, Ahab has enough to worry about, then some godforsaken storm. 


Perth has gone mad, Pip has gone mad, and Ahab knows he’s mad, but is somehow keeping it at bay for now. “Thou should’st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can’t thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can’st not go mad?—What wert thou making there?” Okay, I really hate Shakespearean talk, but here we see Ahab slightly annoyed that someone in Perth circumstances hasn’t gone completely insane, but In contrast, in my eyes, he has entered borderline depression. This scene reminds me of Dickens’ Christmas Carol, where Perth is the Ghost of Christmas Future, a haunting figure that shows Scrooge the potential consequences of his actions, and Ahab is staring directly at this future if the great whale doesn’t get caught. Two characters battling their own demons, one internal and the other God like. All of Ahab’s senseless muttering is evidence of his madness, but in these last few chapters, Ahab has become a pretty likable character in a strange, sadistic way. Ahab is also similar to Hamlet. Mellville and his love of Shakespeare… He’s seeing the ghost… but he doesn’t quite believe what it says. He has not given in to the world of the phantom and fantastical; he must have solid evidence and attend to practical concerns. He’s forming plans and plotting to get his way, not merely pursuing what he believes is in his true heart.


Lastly, I love this line, “Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli.” This line, which translates to ‘I do not baptize you in the name of the father, but in the name of the devil,’ is a powerful rejection of conventional authority. It’s almost as if Ahab knows that Moby Dick is a God, and to confront this God, you have to reject conventional authority and be defiant, fighting fire with forged fire. Ahab has now rejected any faith and has accepted his madness and forged a path that can not be undone. (Pun intended)


I’m eagerly looking forward to what unfolds next.