This week’s chapters of Moby-Dick were some of the most challenging, but exciting chapters for me. As we finally dive into life on the Pequod, I have found it exciting to learn more about sailing, whaling, and even discovering the ways I have formed opinions on certain aspects of life at sea without ever realizing.  The chapter that I found myself constantly being pulled back to was “The Quarter-Deck” where readers finally get a closer look at Ahab, including his intention and motivation for this voyage. This chapter made me think deeper on nature and the influence that humans have on something that is rather innocent. Ahab hypes up the men for their voyage of getting his revenge on the whale that took his leg, he states “And this is what ye have shipped for, men! To chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out” (177). Within Ahab’s long winded speech Melville turns the white whale into a symbol of vengeance, taking something of nature and demonstrating how humans often create their own meaning that turns violence onto something rather innocent. It feels that Melville is proving a point to readers by showing us how humans can turn nature into a reflection of their own fears and need for control by creating this thought process that justifies their actions. The white whale is simply in its home and is constantly being chased and hunted, later we find out that Ahab was going after the whale with a knife which is when his leg gets taken. However, through this speech Ahab makes it seem as though the whale had done this horrific thing, when in reality it has been hunted by countless humans and seemed it might be tired and pissed off over constantly being on the lookout. Later in that section, Starbuck has another quote that stuck out to me, stating “Vengeance on a dumb brute!… that simply thee from blindest instinct! Madness!” (178). Melville adding this demonstrates how quickly people are to follow one another without critically thinking for themselves. Starbuck points out that the white whale is simply a “dumb brute” that is acting out of pure instinct and not attempting to be violent. His reaction to Ahab calls out both the captain but also the reader on how insane it sounds to seek destruction against nature. With this chapter it felt that Melville was challenging readers to think deeper on the effect that we have on nature and to take a step back to reflect on how quick humans are to destroy something they can’t understand.