Something that has truly stuck out to me through reading both last week’s and this week’s section of the novel was the way in which Melville utilizes similes throughout his descriptions.

In chapter 85, The Fountain he is describing the way in which whales breath and regulate the amount of time they can stay above or below water. When describing the windpipe, he says “as his windpipe solely opens into the tube of his spouting canal, as as that long canal – like the grand Erie Canal – is furnished with a sort of locks (like open and shut) for the downward retention of air or the upward exclusion of water”. To me, this simile is perfect for demonstrating the impact the similes that Melville uses have on his writing. His writing is already extremely vivid with every single word he writes, but his use of simile takes it to another level, allowing for the text to be even richer with description through comparison. Especially when he is describing the whale or features of the whale, he is so vividly descriptive and a massive part of the description is the similes he utilizes. This one in particular allows us as readers to truly think about how large just one part of the whale may be through his use of comparing it to something extremely massive. It sort of puts it into perspective a bit for us, while still bringing the text and the story back to the country of America and the land over there. His use of simile allow for the text to remain both symbolic and vivid.