Ryan Reeder

NeLg 345

April 7, 1999



Moby Dick or the Whale

by Herman Melville



I originally intended on reading Hugh Nibley's Temple and Cosmos because of the relationship that book would have to this class. This book, however, appears to be highly in demand, and could not be found at the library by the time I needed to start reading it. (After looking at the BYU Library's web page, I found that all copies are still checked out). So I instead decided to read one of the classic novels of American literature, Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

I had been feeling a desire to read this book for several weeks, and this assignment gave me an opportunity to do so. During my junior year in high school, more than six years ago, a few selections from this book were included as literature material. I found these selections to be extremely boring, even though they came from what was supposedly the most exciting parts of the book. Because of this, I felt that I would never read that book. However, after reading it for the last two weeks or so, I have found it to be very interesting, one of those books that compels you to continue reading until the end.

"Call me Ishmael," is the book's famous opening line. The book describes what happens to the narrator, Ishmael as he decides to put himself out on a whaling ship commanded by the one-legged Captain Ahab, whose limb deprivation has infused him with a monomaniacal obsession to kill the white whale, Moby Dick. While awaiting passage to the nearby island of Nantucket, Ishmael takes board at the "Spouter Inn" run by one Peter Coffin. He is told that he will have to share a bed with a harpooner, who turns out to be the cannibalistic savage, Queequeg, who has been out trying to sell shrunken heads. After an initial fright, the two become bosom friends, and decide to seek passage together. Queequeg's idol god Yojo determines that Ishmael, who has never been whaling before, should choose the ship that they sail on. Ishmael decides on the Pequod, and is given a modest pay, but when the owners see Queequeg's prowess with the harpoon, he is given a wage "more than ever was given a harpooner yet out of Nantucket" (p. 129). Before the ship leaves port on Christmas Day, they are confronted with a man they dismiss as crazy who warns them of the ship and its captain. The ship leaves, and we are introduced to the mates, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask, and finally Captain Ahab, all Americans. We also meet the harpooners, Ishmael's friend Queequeg, an islander, Tashtego, an Indian, and Dagoo, a black man. Soon after their departure, Captain Ahab calls everyone to the quarter-deck where he indoctrinates them into the object of this hunt, that of capturing Moby Dick, the white whale, and posts a reward of a sixteen-dollar Ecuadorian gold doubloon to whomever raises the whale. He then has all hands swear allegiance to him in his quest to kill the whale.

After these scenes, very little action takes place for the next 400 pages or so. Instead, Melville, (or Ishmael) tells us about all the fine points of whales and whaling, including "his skull, spouthole, jaw, teeth, tail, forehead, fins, and divers other parts" (p. 650). We see an occasional lowering after a whale, which sets Ishmael off on another tangent telling about pitchpoling, ambergris, harpoon darts, or three chapters of whales in art. As he says "out of the trunk, the branches grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in productive subjects, grow the chapters" (p. 419). There are a few plot-furthering parts interspersed in these chapters. At one point, a mysterious Chinese known as Fedallah appears. Ahab consults with him from time to time regarding the voyage and his [Ahab's] fate. We see Ahab musing over a chart, which Melville later says was "as important [a chapter] as will be found in this volume" (p. 293). From time to time the Pequod meets up with other ships; the Albatross where they hear the town-ho's story, the Jeroboam and its unfortunate tale, the Virgin and its incompetence, the Rose-bud, a French ship from which they obtain ambergris, the Samuel Enderby whose captain had lost an arm to Moby Dick, the Bachelor which was returning home after a very fortunate expedition, the Rachel which had the day before lost a boat to the white whale, and finally, the Delight, an ironic name, since Moby Dick wrecked it.

As the Pequod approaches the whale, we see several other events. Queequeg, thinking he was dying, commissioned the ship's carpenter to construct a coffin. When he decided he was well, and because of an unfortunate accident to a member of the crew, it was decided to turn the coffin into a life-buoy. Pip, the cabin boy, is thrown overboard on one voyage, and before he can be rescued, he loses his wits. During a storm, Ahab uses an instance of St. Elmo's fire to strike awe into the crew. We also see how Starbuck, the first mate, has a conflict with Ahab's obsession, believing that their purpose should be to hunt whales. Finally, the whale is spotted and is chased for three days. On the first day, he destroys Ahab's boat, and Ahab is left intensely exhausted. On the second day, Stubb's and Flask's boats are smashed, and Fedallah disappears. Finally, on the third day, Fedallah is seen lashed to the whale, Ahab is killed as he takes one final lance at the whale, and the Pequod is sunk. Only Ishmael, clinging to Queequeg's coffin/life-buoy survives to tell the tale.

I've heard it said that Moby Dick is a novel that can be read on many different levels. Its depth of interpretation is supposedly analogous to the unfathomable depths of the ocean itself. I'm sure I didn't catch all of the hidden meanings and themes in the book, but there were several that seemed quite poignant. One might be the frequent allusions to Biblical and mythological references. The story of Jonah is repeatedly referred to. Peleg and Bildad were the names of the Pequod's owners-in Peleg's days the earth was divided and Bildad was one of Job's accusing friends. Elijah, the crazy old humbug, was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Ahab is the name of the wicked king of Israel whose heart was turned away from God because of his Phoenician wife, Jezebel. Ishmael is Abraham's son who was exiled at Sara's request, and the Rachel, looking for her lost children alludes to Jeremiah 31:15, "Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children because they were not." We see the mythological references more and more associated with Ahab, as when he refers to Pip as Prometheus reincarnated. Ahab also relies more on Pagan signs, as shown by Fedallah the Parsee, than Christian entreaties, exemplified by Starbuck. This seems to symbolize Ahab's growing alienation from good and greater affinity with evil as his obsession overcomes him.

The signs and omens that Fedallah gives to Ahab concerning his future course seem to allude to similar signs that the witches' apparitions gave to MacBeth in William Shakespeare's MacBeth. In both cases, the probability of the omens' fulfillment were deemed impossible, leading to rash actions ultimately resulting in the death of the recipient. In MacBeth's case it was to "Beware the Thane of Fife," "none of woman born shall harm MacBeth," and "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him" (MacBeth, IV.i). For Ahab, the signs were "that neither hearse nor coffin can be thine," but that he would see two hearses before he died, one not made by mortal hands and one of American-grown wood. Fedallah also prophesied that he (Fedallah) would precede him in death as a pilot, but would appear to Ahab before Ahab should die, and that Ahab could only be killed by hemp (p. 714). The two hearses were the whale and the Pequod; Fedallah appeared to Ahab lashed to the whale, and Ahab was killed when the rope his harpoon was tied to caught his neck and threw him out of the boat. In this manner, all the prophecies were fulfilled.

This superstitious nature seems to be a common ailment of almost the entire crew. It is a stereotype that sailors are superstitious, and this crew seems to be no exception. Everything is taken as an omen, generally for ill. When seals bark one night, it is seen as the cries of the dead. The St. Elmo's fire fills them with fear. The death of the sailor in Chapter 126 is seen as either fulfilling the omens of the seals' cries, or presaging that which is yet to come. Many other superstitions abound.

Another theme in the book is race. Of the main characters, all of the officers-Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask-are white, while their harpooners-Queequeg, Tashtego, and Dagoo-are foreigners. Pip, the black cabin boy, mirrors Ahab, even as his lunacy mirrors Ahab's monomania for the whale. In addition, the crew of the Pequod is composed of men from all over the world, showing a sort of domination by white man, as well as a treatment of the universality of the Pequod's position.

Overall, I liked the book. It has rich symbolism. While its plot and storyline teach truths about humanity, its divergences into the history and treatment of whales serve to help one appreciate the day-to-day life of whalers, and often give background information essential to the story. For example, a discussion in chapter sixty about the necessity of storing the whaling line with the utmost precaution, lest "a tangle or kink in the coiling. . . take somebody's arm, leg, or entire body off" (p. 405) foreshadows Ahab's death. The book, while it was not recognized at first for the masterpiece it is, was discovered in the early twentieth century and has rightfully earned a place among the classics of American literature.

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