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Hands on Science Learning
An anonymous reader writes "Now that school is starting up, the perpetual challenge of making learning interesting and fun is back. The YesICan! Science project at York University has tried to help by creating activities for students which involve real-time (or recent) science experiments.
For example, the current activity involves measuring the size of the moon using measurements of the solar position from a Russian nuclear icebreaker on its trek to the North Pole. Another had a webcast from the International Space Station. Are there other such resources out there to help bring real science into the classroom?"
'Twas the night before Goatse, when all through the house
Not a penis was stirring, not even with mouth;
The Giver was hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Goatse soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of anal-sex danced in their heads;
And Katz in his 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a fuck in the sack.
When up in my anus there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see Katz start to splatter.
Away to the bathroom I flew like a flash,
Tore open my anus and looked at the gash.
The moon in the glass had a vibrant red glow
Gave the lustre of sunset to my nutsack below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer!
With a little old driver, so lively and quickse,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Goatse.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, TACO! now, JAMIE! now, MICHAEL and TIMMY!
On, CHRISD! on HEMOS! on, PUDGEY and CLIFFY!
To the top of the ass! fronts to the the wall!
Now pound away! pound away! pound away all!"
As faggots that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with a hetero, mount the next guy,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of sex-toys, and Goatse pics too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The moaning and pawing of each little poof.
As I drew in my ass, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Goatse came with a bound.
He was dressed as a furry, from his head to his feet,
And his clothes were all tarnished with urine and shit;
A bundle of sex-toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a hooker just flapping his sack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His ass cheeks like roses, his cock like a cherry!
His cute little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his scrotum as white as the snow;
The stump of a blunt he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and was a bit smelly,
He shook, when he wanked like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him beat off himself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings with smelly big turds,
He layed a big log right under my nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like a fucking great missile.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight
"HAPPY GOATSE TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"
the girl i like goes to york, and i won't get to see her until christmas...
bah
PLEASE MOD THE PARENT UP, I LOVE THIS GOATSE.CX POEM, IT BRINGS A TEAR TO MY EYE!
lalalalalla goatse goatse, he's the best, i like clit as well, i have to get up for school in 3 hours, oh fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
Directly across from the strange painting is a group of
clubs, spears, lances, and harpoons, reminders of how violent an
occupation whaling is. Ishmael enters the inn's public room
(bar), where the landlord tells him he'll have to share a bed
with a harpooner. Ishmael has little choice but to agree.
After dinner, the crew from the whaling ship Grampus invades the
public room. Ishmael is curious about one of the crew, a tall,
brawny man who is sober and quiet while the others are noisily
drunk. The man is Bulkington, and he will later be Ishmael's
shipmate, also silent on board ship.
Ishmael, less and less enthusiastic about sharing a bed with
a harpooner, tells the landlord he prefers to sleep on a bar
bench. He can't make himself comfortable, however, and goes
back to his room. The landlord, who enjoys seeing his guest's
nervousness, increases it by announcing that the harpooner is
out peddling his head. Ishmael's amazement grows when the
landlord adds that the harpooner won't have any luck because New
Bedford is overstocked with heads. At last comes the
explanation--the harpooner has been selling embalmed heads from
New Zealand, and still has one left.
The landlord now tries to calm Ishmael. That bed, he says,
is large enough for four harpooners. Ishmael studies the bed,
studies the room, and even tries on a mysterious object that
looks like a large door mat, before going to sleep.
The roommate enters. He holds a light in one hand and his
embalmed head in the other. His face is covered with purple,
yellow, and black markings that Ishmael takes for brawl injuries
before realizing that they're tattoos. When the dark-skinned
man undresses, Ishmael sees that the tattoos cover him from head
to toe. He is a South Sea islander, Ishmael decides, perhaps a
cannibal.
Terror and curiosity fighting within him, Ishmael watches as
the islander reaches into a heavy coat, pulls out a small black
wooden idol, and sets it in the fireplace. Soon he has lit a
fire, and is offering the idol burnt biscuits, all the time
singing a strange prayer.
Ishmael is ready to flee. But before he can the harpooner
takes his tomahawk and leaps into bed. "Landlord, for God's
sake," Ishmael cries. The landlord runs in, grinning, and says
that the harpooner, Queequeg, would never harm him.
All at once Queequeg acts comfortably and civilly, and
Ishmael realizes his fears are exaggerated. They sleep
soundly.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 6: THE STREET
Ishmael wakes the next morning to find Queequeg's arms thrown
around him affectionately, a sensation that makes him remember
an unpleasant childhood experience, when he awoke to feel what
he thought was a detached hand pressing down on him.
As Ishmael watches Queequeg dress, he is both amused and
impressed by the harpooner's mix of strange customs and
politeness. Queequeg dresses backwards, first putting on his
beaver hat, then, while hiding under the bed, wrestling on his
boots. Only later does he step into his trousers and
shave--with his harpoon.
Ishmael goes down to breakfast with an assorted group of
sailors who look strangely out of place on dry land--a reminder
that the world Ishmael is about to join is in some ways very
different from the one he's about to leave.
You see another indication of the importance of whaling when
Ishmael goes outside to explore New Bedford. The streets are
jammed with people from every corner of the globe, all drawn
here by whaling. The parks, mansions, even the beautiful women
testify to the wealth that the industry has brought to New
Bedford.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 8: THE PULPIT
Wrapped in bearskin against a day that has grown sleety,
Ishmael enters the small Whaleman's Chapel, a traditional stop
for men about to embark on a long whaling voyage. Silent men
and women eye the tablets that memorialize those killed while
hunting whales. At least the survivors of men who die on land
have the comfort of knowing where their loved ones lie buried;
these mourners are denied even that. Ishmael broods on death,
asking himself does it cause sorrow when religion teaches that
the dead live on in immortal joy? Yet somehow he cheers up.
There is death in whaling, he admits, but the life we live on
earth may be unimportant compared to what comes later.
NOTE: DEATH IN MOBY-DICK From the opening paragraph of
Moby-Dick, with its mention of funerals and coffin warehouses,
death is a strong presence in the novel. Here you're reminded
how close death is to sailors on board a whaling ship. Ishmael
now accepts the possibility with equanimity, but then he hasn't
really come face to face with the danger yet.
A robust, elderly man enters the church. He is Father
Mapple, once a harpooner, and now the famous minister of the
chapel. With his white hair and red cheeks, he gives the
impression of enormous vigor despite his age.
The pulpit of the church is so high off the ground that a
regular staircase would take up too much room, so Father Mapple
climbs a rope-and-wood ship's ladder, hauling it after him so
that he finally stands alone and unreachable above the
congregation.
NOTE: Ishmael wonders why Father Mapple has used what seems
like a cheap, theatrical trick to impress his audience. The
climb up the ladder, he decides, must "symbolize something
unseen." Melville wants you to remember that many objects and
actions in the book have a symbolic meaning beyond the one you
see at first. For now, Ishmael decides that Mapple's lofty
perch symbolizes his withdrawal from the day to day concerns of
the world. Do you agree? Melville will have further comments
later in the novel.
As Ishmael continues to study the pulpit, he gives us another
clue in understanding his story. "Yes," he says, "the world's a
ship on its passage out." We may not be whalers; we may never
set foot on the deck of a boat. But we are human beings who
journey through life, and the story will have meaning for us as
well.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 9: THE SERMON
Father Mapple begins the service as if giving orders to
sailor's on a ship. "Starboard gangway, there!" he says.
Solemnly, then joyfully, he reads a hymn dealing with the
subject of his sermon, Jonah and the Whale. With resounding
eloquence, Mapple tells the congregation that the lesson of
Jonah has meaning for all of them, and particularly for himself.
God ordered Jonah to journey to Nineveh to preach against its
wickedness. But like all sinful men, Jonah found God's commands
difficult to obey. He fled and boarded a ship for Tarshish.
The Lord sent a fierce storm down on the ship, and Jonah was
thrown into the ocean and swallowed by a great fish. He
remained inside the fish for three days and three nights, until
his prayers to a merciful Lord earned his release.
NOTE: THE STORY OF JONAH With its lesson of obedience to God
(and of course its seagoing setting), the story of Jonah is one
of the most telling of the biblical stories Melville refers to
in Moby-Dick. (Another is the story of Job.) Later on, you'll
see the experiences of Ishmael, and his captain, Ahab, compared
to Jonah's. But as often happens in Moby-Dick, the lesson can
be read in more than one way. On the one hand you can take it
at face value, as Ishmael seems to here: disobedience to God
results in horror and death; obedience brings happiness and
salvation. On the other hand, you can argue that, as Ishmael
first suspected, Father Mapple is playing an actor's trick on
his audience. You'll have to decide whether the lessons that
sound so inspiring inside this false ship make sense aboard a
real one. Father Mapple says that God is merciful, yet that He
is chiefly known to man by His rod--by His punishments. Don't
these punishments sometimes seem unjust? Isn't there something
within most of us that makes us want to defy them?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 12: BIOGRAPHICAL
When Ishmael returns from the chapel, he finds Queequeg
practicing his own form of worship, with the help of his wooden
idol, a jackknife, and a book. Ishmael is puzzled, but not
disturbed, for it's become clear to him that, despite his
strange customs, Queequeg is at heart a noble man. Ishmael in
fact now prefers this pagan friend to his Christian ones.
Queequeg returns the friendship, sealing the bond between them
by pressing his forehead against Ishmael's. They are "married"
now, as Queequeg's people would say; Queequeg would die for
Ishmael if necessary. (This promise foreshadows events at the
end of the book.) Ishmael joins Queequeg in worship, knowing
that he would want Queequeg to do the same for him.
NOTE: FRIENDSHIP You'll remember that at the start of the
book, Ishmael was alone, an outcast. Now he has found a friend.
Throughout Moby-Dick Melville indicates that possibilities for
friendship and brotherhood exist, if only occasionally. These
possibilities provide an alternative to the extreme
self-reliance practiced by many of the book's characters.
Perhaps the kind of friendship Queequeg and Ishmael promise here
is necessary to avoid the doomed, arrogant isolation of Ahab.
(A few critics see a homosexual undertone in Ishmael's
friendship with Queequeg.)
As the two friends smoke Queequeg's tomahawk pipe, the
harpooner tells Ishmael his life story. He stems from an
island, Kokovoko, and is of royal lineage. Like Ishmael,
Queequeg had a strong desire to see the world, specifically to
learn about Christianity. But he has found Christians more
prone to evil than his own people, and he's afraid Christians
have corrupted him.
NOTE: CHRISTIANITY You'll notice throughout this section and
elsewhere in the book that Melville is uneasy with traditional
Christianity. Queequeg has made Christianity seem less
honorable than pagan religion, and Ishmael, though a good
Presbyterian, finds it easy to worship Yojo.
When Ishmael and Queequeg discover they both intend to go
whaling, they decide to sail together. Ishmael has a practical
reason for wanting Queequeg's company: it will be helpful to
have someone more experienced sailing with him.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 13: WHEELBARROW
Ishmael and Queequeg take their goods by wheelbarrow to the
packet schooner that will take them to Nantucket. Once aboard,
Ishmael feels excitement at being back at sea. When two
bumpkins from rural New England rudely make fun of Queequeg, he
becomes so annoyed that he somersaults one of them high into the
air. While the captain is warning the harpooner not to pull any
further stunts, the ship's wooden boom sweeps the rude passenger
into the sea. Having already proved his strength, Queequeg now
proves his tolerance and bravery by rescuing the man.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 14: NANTUCKET
Ishmael begins to describe Nantucket, the island that was
whaling's first American home. Living on land bare of trees,
grass, even of weeds, inhabitants from Indian days to Ishmael's
had turned to the sea for a livelihood. Other empires may
expand on land; Nantucket owns the waves.
NOTE: WHALING AND AMERICAN EXPANSION Here you can see
Melville linking whaling with other examples of America's rapid
growth. On land, the frontier is being pushed rapidly
westward--the United States has just annexed Texas. And thanks
to Nantucket whalemen, the nation's power is growing at sea as
well.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 15: CHOWDER
Ishmael and Queequeg find a room at the Try Pots, "fishiest
of all fishy places," where the innkeeper serves chowder for
breakfast, chowder for dinner, chowder for supper, and where
even the milk tastes of fish. Queequeg wants to sleep with his
harpoon, but the landlady won't let him. She remembers how one
young whaleman, disappointed in his hopes for a profitable
voyage, killed himself with a harpoon. This is another reminder
that the perils of whaling can take many forms.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 16: THE SHIP
Queequeg tells Ishmael that the idol, Yojo, has chosen
Ishmael to select their ship. Ishmael had been hoping the
more-experienced Queequeg would make the selection, but he gives
in. As Ishmael leaves for the docks, he notices that Queequeg
is shut in with Yojo, apparently performing a ceremony of
fasting like during the Christian Lent or the Muslim Ramadan.
Three whaling ships, the Devil-Dam, the Tit-bit, and the
Pequod, are tied at the docks.
NOTE: THE PEQUOD The ship Ishmael sees, and eventually
selects to sail on, is named for Massachusetts Indians brutally
exterminated by the Puritans in the 17th century. It's a
reminder of the dark side of the American experience--that
Christianity can breed killing, that American expansion was
sometimes achieved at the expense of others.
The Pequod is a strange-looking ship, small, weather-beaten,
its masts as stiff as "the spines of the three old kings of
Cologne" (the three Magi), its decks as wrinkled as the stone
floors of Canterbury Cathedral. Moby-Dick contains numerous
references to religion, including references to the three Magi,
ancient seekers after God. Is the Pequod sailing to seek God
too? The ancient wood has been further decorated with
whalebones so that the ship becomes "a cannibal of her craft"--a
whale that hunts other whales.
Inside a wigwam pitched on the deck Ishmael finds a cranky
old man named Peleg, who, from his clothing, appears to be a
Quaker. Ishmael assumes that Peleg is the Pequod's captain, but
in fact he is one of the ship's owners. Peleg tells Ishmael
that Captain Ahab will command the ship on this voyage, and that
Ishmael can find him by looking for a man with only one leg.
The other was "crunched by the monstrousest parmacetty [sperm
whale] that ever clipped a boat!" And so we learn about the
existence of Moby-Dick.
Peleg takes Ishmael to meet another of the Pequod's owners,
Bildad. The two men are comic opposites: Peleg loud and cranky
and not at all religious; Bildad grave and pious. Though the
two men still use the "thee" and "thou" of good, peaceful
Quakers, they are, says Ishmael, "fighting Quakers." Such men
are strange mixtures indeed, Ishmael believes, and if their
mixture should unite in a man of greatly superior force it would
produce a creature formed for noble tragedies." (You'll shortly
meet a man who fits that description very well.)
The two captains agree to hire Ishmael but immediately begin
to argue about how much to pay him. Each crewman on a whaling
voyage receives a percentage of the voyage's profits, called a
lay. Because of his inexperience, Ishmael has decided that the
most he should ask for is the 275th lay, or 1/275th of the
profits. He's all the more distressed when Bildad offers only a
1/777th share. Peleg argues for 1/300th and the difference
between the two owners almost boils over into a fistfight. When
it is over, Ishmael ends up grateful to accept 1/300th.
Ishmael leaves, but he begins to worry about what the
Pequod's captain is like, and returns to ask about Ahab. The
captain is not really sick, but not really well, Peleg answers.
He's a strange man, one who has traveled much, seen much, fought
much. His name is that of a very evil biblical king, but Peleg
reassures Ishmael that the name was only the crazy whim of
Ahab's mad mother. Yet he also recalls that an old Indian woman
said the name would prove prophetic. Still, Peleg thinks Ahab's
a good man, moody because he lost his leg, but a man with a wife
and child, a man who "has his humanities."
As Ishmael leaves the two Quakers, he thinks of Captain Ahab
and feels sympathy, almost awe.
NOTE: AHAB In this scene you can see how Melville
masterfully builds interest in a character before the character
appears by having others talk about him. It will be many pages
before Ahab appears, yet he's already a vivid figure. There are
a number of things to remember about him. One is his biblical
name, that of a wicked king who disobeyed God. A second is
Ishmael's earlier comment that a Quaker whaler might make a
noble and tragic figure. Others are Peleg's descriptions of him
as "a grand ungodly God-like man," and a man who still "has his
humanities." After such a build-up you may feel the same kind of
sympathetic curiosity that Ishmael feels toward this mysterious
figure.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 17: THE RAMADAN
Ishmael avoids his room, not wanting to disturb Queequeg's
Ramadan. Good Presbyterians, he says, dare not be smug about
other people's religions, for they need Heaven's mercy as much
as pagans. But when by evening Queequeg still doesn't answer
the door, Ishmael assumes that his friend is seriously ill, and
the landlady jumps to the conclusion that Queequeg has, like
another of her roomers, killed himself with his harpoon. When
they break down the door, however, they find Queequeg sitting
silently and still as a rock, with Yojo on top of his head.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 18: HIS MARK
When Ishmael takes Queequeg to sign on with the Pequod, Peleg
says at first that he won't permit cannibals aboard his ship.
But his opinion of Queequeg--or Quohog, as he mispronounces the
name (a quahog is a New England clam)--rapidly improves when
Queequeg shows his skill by hurling his harpoon from the dock
and hitting a small drop of tar. The harpooner is hired at much
better wages than Ishmael was offered. Nothing can impress
Bildad, though; he presses into Queequeg's hand a Quaker
pamphlet, warning him to change his pagan ways. Peleg
disagrees. "Pious harpooners never make good voyagers," he
says. "It takes the shark out of them." You'll encounter that
image--man as shark--again later in the book.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 19: THE PROPHET
The instant Ishmael and Queequeg leave the ship, they're
accosted by a pockmarked man who asks if they've signed aboard
the Pequod. When Ishmael says they have, the man issues a
seemingly crazed warning. Captain Ahab--Old Thunder, as the man
calls him--is not recovering from his illness; nor will Ahab
ever recover. The leg lost to the whale is only the latest and
most terrible occurrence in a lifetime of sinister
occurrences.
Ishmael asks the man his name. "Elijah," is the answer.
Again Melville uses a biblical reference to underline his
meaning--in I Kings it was Elijah who quarreled with King Ahab
and then prophesied that dogs would drink Ahab's blood.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 21: GOING ABROAD
Queequeg and Ishmael watch as the Pequod is readied for a
three-year voyage. Whalers must carry more items than merchant
ships, for accidents are more frequent, and duplicate boats,
lines, and harpoons must be stored. Overseeing the preparations
is Bildad's sister, Charity. Strangely, Captain Ahab is still
nowhere in sight.
Word is sent out that the ship is ready to sail, and at six
on Christmas morning Ishmael and Queequeg make their way to the
docks.
NOTE: Here is more Christian symbolism. Christmas is the
day Christ was born, and the beginning of the Christian
liturgical year leading to the redemption of Easter, when Christ
rises from the dead. Some critics have seen the book as the
story of Ishmael's voyage of salvation, ending when he rises
from the Pequod's watery grave.
Ishmael sees sailors running ahead, but before he can
determine who they are Elijah calls to him. "Did ye see
anything looking like men going towards the ship awhile ago?"
Elijah asks. "See if you can find 'em now, will ye?" When
Ishmael searches the boat, he can't find a trace of the shadowy
men--but you'll see them reappear many chapters from now.
In the meantime, Queequeg has made himself comfortable
sitting on a sleeping rigger's rear end--a common custom on his
island, he says, where peasants are fatted up to be used as
sofas. Queequeg's pipe wakes the rigger, who announces the ship
will sail today. Ahab remains secluded in his cabin.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 22: MERRY CHRISTMAS
By noon the chief mate and other men are gathering aboard
ship. The Pequod then sails out of Nantucket harbor, piloted by
Bildad, who sings hymns to drown the sailors' bawdy songs.
Ishmael is dreamily contemplating the voyage when he feels a
sharp poke in his rear as Peleg kicks him and warns him to get
busy.
The boat moves into the Atlantic proper. Peleg and Bildad,
no longer needed as harbor pilots, return to Nantucket, at last
showing emotion in leaving men who have a long, difficult
journey ahead of them. But Bildad's final words show the
conflict between his religion and his business sense--the men
shouldn't work on Sunday, he piously advises, but if on a Sunday
there is a fair chance of catching a whale they had better not
reject heaven's gifts. The conflict between leading a Godly
life and a profitable one is also apparent in the holiday on
which the Pequod sails--Christmas Day.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 23: THE LEE SHORE
Ishmael discovers that Bulkington, the tall, silent man he
had seen at the Spouter-Inn, is now at the helm of the Pequod.
Yet this brief chapter is this intriguing figure's "stoneless
grave"--we never hear anything more about him. Some critics
have suggested that Bulkington may have played a more important
role in an earlier version of the novel. Here Melville uses the
helmsman as a way of contrasting land and sea. The land means
safety, yet, paradoxically, during a storm a ship is safer in
the open sea than near shore. The sea is the home of
independence and truth; it is--and this is an important clue to
Melville's view of the universe--"indefinite as God."
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 25: POSTSCRIPT
You've had glimpses of Ishmael's fondness for knowledge. Now
we get the first of many essaylike chapters that display his
knowledge of whales and whaling and their importance to human
society. Whalers, he says, have been treated unjustly. They're
considered butchers, even though generals who are greater
butchers are awarded medals. In the past, kings and countries
have valued whalers highly, and in the mid-19th century the
industry produces millions of dollars for the United States.
Whalers have explored the world from South America to Japan.
In reply to the charge that whaling is an unfit subject for
great literature, Ishmael points out that the first account of
the Leviathan--a biblical name for a great beast often thought
to be a whale--was written by none other than Job. (The
biblical story of Job will become even more important later in
Moby-Dick.) And Ishmael feels that if he learns anything in
life, it will be a result of whaling. A whaling ship, he says,
is "My Yale College and my Harvard."
NOTE: WHALING AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE You've already
seen that for Ishmael whales represent the mysterious and
unknown. He obsessively gathers facts about the creatures in an
attempt to understand not just whales but the entire universe.
As the story unfolds, you'll see whether Ishmael gains that
understanding.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 27: KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES
Ishmael introduces the officers and men of the Pequod. The
chief mate is Starbuck, a Nantucket Quaker, a courageous but
cautious man. If he has a weakness it is that his courage
allows him to confront natural but not man-made horrors. (This
flaw becomes important toward the end of the book.) Ishmael's
thoughts about Starbuck lead him to think about people in
general: Though particular individuals or groups sometimes seem
evil or stupid, people "in the ideal" remain noble. In a
democracy a common sailor has as much dignity as a king. It is
for this reason, Ishmael says, that God gives his sailors tragic
graces and illuminates them with a heavenly light. God is
democratic; he allowed John Bunyan, a convict, to write the
great Christian allegory, Pilgrim's Progress; He allowed Andrew
Jackson to rise from humble origins to the presidency.
NOTE: TRAGEDY Greek and Elizabethan tragedies had as heroes
noble figures--common folk were relegated to lesser roles and to
comedy. But in a democratic society like America's, Melville
says, tragedy can involve common people. Many critics have
noted the similarities between Moby-Dick and tragedies like
Shakespeare's King Lear.
The second mate, Stubb, a happy-go-lucky, Cape Cod man, is
completely undisturbed by the more profound thoughts that might
disturb Starbuck or Ishmael. The third mate, Flask, comes from
Martha's Vineyard. He's always ready to battle whales, but far
from regarding them as the majestic beasts they are to Ishmael,
he treats them as "a species of magnified mouse."
NOTE: THE MATES Melville presents three very different types
of men: Starbuck, sober and cautious; Stubb, matter-of-fact and
easy-going; Flask, hot-tempered and unimaginative. Melville, it
seems, wants to test how three very different approaches to life
stand up to the obstacles met on the voyage.
Each mate selects a harpooner to sit in his boat. Starbuck
chooses Queequeg; Stubb, the Indian, Tashtego; and Flask, an
African, Daggoo. And the rest of the Pequod's crew? Though the
ship is American and led by an American, its crew is as
international as the U.S. Army or the gangs of workers who
built the nation's railroads and canals. The Pequod's men stem
from many nations, but Ishmael says nearly all of them share a
common trait--they're from islands and therefore
Isolatoes--solitary.
NOTE: THE PEQUOD'S CREW In describing the Pequod's crew,
Melville makes three important points. First, he again links
whaling to other types of American expansion. Second, he
emphasizes the isolation of the men. Ishmael began the book as
an islander and Isolato himself. He's found brotherhood with
Queequeg, but will the other isolated men find brotherhood?
Melville makes his third point by manning the Pequod with
sailors from many corners of the world. The ship is a
microcosm--a little world that symbolizes the world at large.
The voyage is one of self-discovery--for the crew and for you,
too, as you think over the events of the journey.
Ishmael ends Chapter 27 on an ominous note, hinting that few
of the crew will survive the journey. Certainly Little Pip
won't survive; called a coward on the boat, he will be hailed as
a hero in heaven.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 28: AHAB
The Pequod has been sailing for days, but Ishmael still has
not seen Captain Ahab. He's worried about Elijah's
warnings,--despite the obvious sanity and skill of the mates who
have taken over for the missing captain.
Then, on a gray gloomy morning, Ishmael sees the man he has
heard so much about (standing on the quarterdeck). Whatever
Ahab's illness, it was nothing common--he looks like a man who
has survived being burned at the stake. The scar blazing on his
cheek makes him appear like a great tree struck by lightning.
Strangely, Ishmael says, that scar is seldom mentioned, though
one of the Indians on board whispers that Ahab received it not
in a fight with men but in a fight with nature during a storm at
sea.
NOTE: FIRE AND LIGHTNING IMAGERY Almost as soon as he steps
on the quarterdeck, Ahab (who, we remember, was called "Old
Thunder" by Elijah) is associated with lightning. We'll see
Melville repeatedly linking thunder, lightning, and fire imagery
with the Pequod's captain, as if to lift him above common men
and rank him with great forces of nature.
Ahab soon returns to his cabin, but from then on he becomes
regularly visible, standing with his ivory leg planted in a hole
specially drilled in the deck for him or sitting on his special
ivory stool. Within a few months the warm spring weather has
helped improve his temper enough so that he occasionally shows
what might be called a faint smile--a reminder that, as Peleg
said, he does have his humanities.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 30: THE PIPE
Although his temper has improved, something is bothering Ahab
very deeply. Unable to sleep, he spends his nights on deck,
trying not to pace out of consideration for the men sleeping
below. One night, however, he can't help himself, he begins
pacing, and the noise from his ivory leg wakes Stubb. When
Stubb mildly suggests that Ahab muffle his steps, Ahab answers
with scorn and hatred, and seems about to strike the second
mate.
Stubb flees below deck, surprised at his own reaction. He
doesn't know whether to turn around and fight Ahab, or to kneel
and pray for him. It's an indication of how unusual Ahab is
that even a matter-of-fact man like Stubb reacts with this kind
of awe. The problem, Stubb thinks, is that Ahab has a
conscience, an affliction as painful as tic douloureux (a nerve
condition). Stubb hopes he's never bothered with a
conscience.
One other strange thing about Ahab--every night he disappears
into the ship's afterhold, as if he had an appointment there.
(Melville hasn't forgotten the shadowy men whom Ishmael saw
running toward the ship.)
As Stubb goes below deck, Ahab calls for his ivory stool and
his pipe. Already we've seen that the pipe is a symbol of human
kindness--Queequeg and Ishmael sealed their friendship by
smoking the harpooner's tomahawk pipe, and Ishmael has suggested
that Stubb's good temper comes from the pipe he constantly
smokes. But when Ahab lights his pipe he gets no pleasure from
it. "Oh my pipe," he says, "hard must it go with me if thy
charm be gone." And so it is hurled into the ocean--and with it
a little bit of Ahab's humanity.
NOTE: POINT OF VIEW Up until now Moby-Dick has been a
conventional first-person narrative--we've been dependent on
Ishmael's eyes and ears, and have seen and heard only what he
could logically see and hear. But now the point of view shifts.
The narration moves closer to being omniscient, with a narrator
able, for instance, to report Stubb's thoughts below deck and to
describe Ahab at the same time throwing his pipe into the ocean.
Some of you may object to altering the point of view well into
the book, but there are advantages for the author. Naive,
youthful Ishmael has entertainingly led us into the world of
Moby-Dick, but Melville now needs greater freedom to develop his
complex and wide-ranging story. You'll note that the point of
view will switch back and forth in the coming chapters.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 31: QUEEN MAB
The title of this chapter refers to the fairy queen who in
English folk tales governs people's dreams. It's an appropriate
title for Stubb has had a very peculiar dream, in which Ahab
kicks him and an old man claims it's an honor to be kicked with
such a fine ivory leg. The unimaginative Flask can see no
meaning in the dream; Stubb takes it as a warning not to speak
angrily to Ahab. Captain Ahab interrupts with a shout to be on
the lookout for a white whale--your first hint of Ahab's actual
goal in this voyage.
^^^^^^^^^^
Read my journal for more valuable informati
You know. I took my time and read through this elaborate troll of yours that you worked on for so long, after avoiding it for a long time.
I got to say, you have valid point.
But you lost me on the *BSD is dead line. That is the most stupid shit.
So try again, you lose.
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 32: CETOLOGY
In this chapter, whose title means the study of whales,
Ishmael tries to make sense out of nature. Cetology is a
difficult science, he says; some people classify the whale as a
fish, but others, noting its lungs, warm blood, and reproductive
organs, declare it to be a mammal. Ishmael sides with the first
group--wrongly, of course, and perhaps Melville is making fun of
sailors who know about whaling but not about science.
Ishmael divides whales into three groups, based on size, and
named after different sizes of book pages--Folios, Octavos, and
Duodecimos. Once again Ishmael is linking the whale to
learning; the whale is in one sense the book that Ishmael wants
to study, the book of life. Chapter I of Book I is about the
Sperm Whale, the largest, most formidable, and most valuable
whale. Its value derives from its spermaceti, oil used for
lighting and many other purposes and once mistakenly thought to
contain the whale's semen.
NOTE: THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE Ishmael ends
the discussion of cetology by saying that his classification
system can't easily be perfected, like all great works, it will
remain unfinished. The chapter ends on a note of
near-desperation: "This whole book is but a draught
[draft]--nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength,
Cash, and Patience!" We've seen that whales represent to Ishmael
the mystery of the universe; if he can't fully understand
whales, how can he--or anyone--fully understand other mysteries?
Perhaps Melville's point is that we cannot.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 34: THE CABIN-TABLE
Ishmael now turns his attention from whales to the routine of
the Pequod. A specksynder is a harpooner, whose position of
responsibility earns him separate sleeping quarters near the
captain's cabin. As for the whaling captain, he commands as
much power as any navy skipper. Though Ahab doesn't at first
seem to demand all the rights of his position, he still uses his
authority to advantage. That immense authority, Ishmael
suggests, may have helped corrupt him.
The meal routine, too, is a reminder of Ahab's power, and of
the ship's hierarchy. Ahab calls Starbuck to supper; Starbuck
calls Stubb; and Stubb calls Flask. Such is Ahab's somber
personality that even the boisterous Flask is cowed by the
captain's presence.
Though mates and harpooners use the cabin for meals, they
seldom spend much time in it otherwise--it belongs to Ahab. And
he remains inaccessible.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 35: THE MASTHEAD
A crucial job on whale ships is searching the sea for whales
from the mast-head. Once again Ishmael links a whaling practice
with great historic endeavors. What were the builders of the
tower of Babel doing if not constructing a mast-head? Ishmael
finds the job of standing watch pleasant, especially in fine,
warm weather. Can't you practically hear him sliding off into
sleep as he describes the drowsy trade winds.
Ishmael likes standing watch, but is terrible at it, tending
to lapse into deep thought when he should be scanning the
horizon for whales. Watch out, he warns shipowners, for men
like him--men who are more concerned with philosophy than with
work. Too many young men who go to sea have read Byron (the
19th-century romantic poet) rather than navigation manuals;
they're Platonists (students of the Greek philosopher, Plato)
rather than sailors. In fact, Ishmael seems to be saying, not
only can deep thought be costly to a ship, it can be fatal to
the man engaged in it. It's easy to think that the ocean
represents the soul of the universe and that the fins of
swimming fish are that soul's elusive thoughts. But if you slip
back an inch you'll find that these objects aren't merely
symbols, they're real, as you fall through the air into the
ocean, never to be seen again.
Ishmael is parodying his own desire to see importance in
every natural object. But in particular he's parodying writers,
like many in mid-19th-century America, who found a too-easy,
too-happy meaning in the universe. Pantheists believe that
every part of nature reflects an essentially benevolent God.
This is a cheerful belief, Ishmael says, until you fall into the
sea--and drown.
NOTE: What do you think Melville means by these criticisms
of thinking and philosophy? Is he suggesting that speculating
about the universe is very difficult and can't be practiced
while engaged in another job? Is he saying that such
speculation is futile, and that philosophic systems are likely
to be silly in some ways? Do you find it odd to read such
criticisms in a book that is a profound exercise in deep
thinking and philosophy? Isn't Melville somewhat like Ishmael
at the mast-head--concerned with whaling, but really focused on
greater things?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 36: THE QUARTER-DECK
Melville begins chapters 36 to 40 with stage directions, as
if to emphasize the building drama. In this chapter, as Ahab
gathers his men on the quarterdeck, his face looks like the
horizon when a storm is developing. He paces, shouting at his
men questions like "What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?"
Then he stomps toward the mainmast, a sixteen dollar Spanish
doubloon in his hand. The doubloon, he promises as he nails it
to the mast, will be paid to the first man who spies a
white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and crooked jaw.
Tashtego, the harpooner, asks if the whale is the one called
Moby-Dick. Queequeg and Daggoo are familiar with the beast as
well. "Was it not Moby-Dick that took off thy leg?" Starbuck
asks the captain.
With a "terrific, loud, animal sob," Ahab answers that it
was. He vows to chase the whale around Africa, South America,
into the fires of hell, before he gives up. And the men will
chase as well.
"Aye," shout the men. But the cautious Starbuck is not
convinced. He'll gladly kill Moby-Dick if he sees him, but the
Pequod is sailing to make a profit for its owners, not to
satisfy Ahab's desire for revenge. That revenge seems all the
more wasteful because Moby-Dick is a dumb brute who bit off
Ahab's leg out of animal instinct.
Now comes one of the most famous speeches in Moby-Dick. Read
it closely.
"Hark ye yet again," Ahab begins, then says:
All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But
in each event--in the living act, the undoubted deed--there,
some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings
of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will
strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach
outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white
whale is that wall, shoved near to me.... He tasks me; he heaps
me; I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice
sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and
be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I
will wreak that hate upon him. Talk not to me of blasphemy,
man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me.
Ahab reveals a number of things here, both about the book and
about himself. Objects and actions are only masks; true meaning
lies beyond them. But what is that meaning? Ahab seems to
believe it can only be malicious. (Do you think Melville
agrees?) Ahab compares himself to a prisoner trying to escape.
The whale is either the source of evil or the agent of evil; in
either case it must be battled. Don't tell Ahab he's being
blasphemous towards God and his creations; Ahab considers
himself God's equal.
NOTE: Do you think Ahab is overstepping the proper bounds of
human conduct? Should he battle Moby-Dick, the great force of
nature, or should he accept the workings of God's universe and
not seek revenge?
Starbuck is no match for Ahab's iron will nor for the
excitement Ahab has stirred in the crew (excitement that grows
after he gives the sailors a pewter flagon of liquor). With the
crew on his side, Ahab orders Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask to
cross their lances before him in a show of obedience. He orders
the harpooners to present their barbed harpoons to him and, to
continue what has become a blasphemous parody of a religious
service, he baptizes the harpoons with liquor, shouting, "Death
to Moby-Dick!"
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 39: FIRST NIGHT-WATCH
Now you hear what in the theater would be three soliloquies.
The first is Ahab's. He compares himself to a ship leaving a
wake through the envious waves; his head feels as heavy as if it
were burdened by a crown made with nails from Christ's cross.
Once he had been encouraged by sunrise and soothed by sunset;
now, in the middle of Paradise, he can't enjoy anything--this is
his damnation.
NOTE: Is Melville comparing this driven man with Christ? Is
Ahab battling evil to save mankind? Or is he Lucifer, rebelling
against God out of pride?
Ahab knows he's convinced everyone but Starbuck to join his
quest; they may think he's mad, but it is madness of a high
order. It was prophesied that he would lose a leg; now he
declares himself a prophet and says the whale that cost him a
leg will be dismembered. He will be the prophet and the
fulfiller of the prophesy. Nothing will stop Ahab; his will is
like a railroad running on iron rails to its goal. "Naught's an
obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!"
Next we hear Starbuck. He knows that he's sane, and that
Ahab is mad, yet he knows as well that Ahab has defeated him.
Ahab has placed himself above all other men and equal to God.
Yet Starbuck can't bring himself to revolt (a hint that
Ishmael's suspicion about Starbuck's fatal flaw may be correct).
Starbuck feels like a rundown clock; the noisy cries of the crew
are only signs of life's horrors.
Stubb has an entirely different outlook, fatalistic,
unconcerned. Ahab may be odd, but "a laugh's the wisest,
easiest answer to all that's queer." For in any case, it's all
predestined.
NOTE: Do you think Melville is saying that one of these
views is true? That all are partly true? That none is true?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 40: MIDNIGHT, FORECASTLE
The rest of the crew has erupted in a riot of singing,
drinking, and dancing. You'll notice something desperate about
the celebration, though; Pip doesn't want to share in it;
Tashtego doesn't want to join in; Daggoo takes offense at the
Old Manx Sailor, and a Spanish crewman tries to start a fight.
Earlier Ahab had united the men behind his quest, but it seems
now a false unity: The men are still, in Ishmael's words,
isolatoes. It is not a unity based on love, like the unity of
Ishmael and Queequeg. The atmosphere of tension increases with
the winds and waves of an approaching squall.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 41: MOBY-DICK
Now, at last, you're given a full introduction to the
creature that gives the book its name. Ishmael uses all his
skills as a researcher to uncover facts about Ahab's great
enemy. This chapter and the next are very important sections of
the novel.
NOTE: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO MOBY-DICK The whale,
Moby-Dick, has at least some basis in fact. Newspapers and
magazines of Melville's day thrilled readers with accounts of
ferocious whales battling whaling ships. One of the most famous
was an enormous sperm whale Mocha Dick, named for Mocha Island,
the Pacific island near where his first attack took place. One
expert credits Mocha Dick with as many as 30 deaths. The
whale's legend grew over the years; he became, among other
things, white as wool. And so with only a slight change of
name--and with the addition of an enormous amount of
philosophical importance--he became a major character in
Melville's novel.
Not all whalers know of Moby-Dick, Ishmael says, and not all
consider him particularly ferocious. Still, as the number of
mishaps credited to him has increased, he has taken on mythic
proportions and acquired supernatural traits. Some mariners say
he is ubiquitous, able to appear in two places at one time; some
say he is immortal; many believe he possesses an enormous but
evil intelligence. No sinister killer could have removed
Captain Ahab's leg with greater skill.
Ahab has come to believe all the legends about Moby-Dick,
blaming the whale not only for his lost leg but for all the
evils that afflict him, for all the evils that afflict mankind.
Ahab's is a strange madness, Ishmael says, because it hasn't
destroyed Ahab's own genuine brilliance. If you could probe
deeper into his mind (which is compared to Roman ruins) you
would see that he knows he is mad and that he does his best to
disguise that fact, having others attribute his moods to
physical pain rather than something deeper. Peleg and Bildad
back in Nantucket will never know the real goal of this voyage.
They want profit; he wants revenge.
And who can stop Ahab? It seems as if Fate has given him a
crew perfectly suited to his purposes. Starbuck is virtuous but
somehow weak; Stubb is laughingly indifferent; Flask is
mediocre. Even Ishmael has admitted taking Ahab's oath with the
rest of the crew. Ahab towers over them all. He has made his
hate their hate.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 42: THE WHITENESS OF THE
WHALE
In this chapter Ishmael and Melville work to convince you of
the universal significance of the great whale.
You've seen what the whale was to Ahab, but what was it to
Ishmael? Ishmael tells us that the whale has many frightening
features, and none is more frightening than its whiteness.
Whiteness can enhance the beauty of marble and pearls.
Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Christians regarded it as a symbol
of holiness. But there is something about whiteness that
terrifies. The terror we feel at Polar wastes or white sharks
results not just from the danger they represent but from their
bleak whiteness. Perhaps, Ishmael suggests, whiteness is so
frightening because it isn't a color at all, merely the absence
of color. All other shades--the tones of a sunset, the "gilded
velvets" of butterflies, even the "butterfly cheeks" of young
girls--are just a thin, false layer covering that absence.
Whiteness seems to suggest that beneath the surfaces of the
universe lies nothing at all.
NOTE: You may agree or disagree with Ishmael's analysis of
whiteness. Some critics have called it illogical, even
hysterical. But Melville's technique of piling on symbol after
symbol has power. You won't easily forget that for Ishmael the
universe can be chaotic and empty, and that Moby-Dick can be a
mighty symbol of chaos and emptiness.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 43: HARK!
Melville uses a common literary tactic to maintain suspense.
Two crew members hear noises, indicating that someone may be
hiding in the ship.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 44: THE CHART
As a squall strikes and the crew drunkenly celebrates the
hunt for Moby-Dick, Ahab retreats to his cabin to study ocean
charts, a practice he continues night after night. Someone
unfamiliar with whales might think it impossible to find
Moby-Dick among all the whales in all the seas. But Ahab
studies, knowing that sperm whales tend to migrate in set
patterns at set times and congregate in set feeding grounds.
They gather especially at one time in one part of the Pacific--a
pattern that is called the Season-on-the-Line.
For these reasons Ahab's search isn't impossible. But the
search is taking its toll. As he pencils the charts it seems as
if a matching "invisible pencil" were tracing lines on his
forehead. He sleeps with clenched hands and wakes with his
bloody nails digging in his palms; his dreams seem to create a
chasm in him filled with the fire and lightning of hell.
(Notice the hellish fire images again.) Ahab's mind and soul are
given over to his obsession, which has a will of its own. The
obsession eats away within him, like the vulture that in Greek
mythology ate the liver of Prometheus.
NOTE: PROMETHEUS Melville uses a classical allusion to show
us the complexity of Ahab. Prometheus angered Zeus by stealing
fire from the gods and giving it to man; it was an act of
disobedience but also a noble act. By comparing Ahab to
Prometheus, Melville wants to show that at least in some ways
Ahab is a hero, and provides us with one interpretation of
Ahab's behavior.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 45: THE AFFIDAVIT
Ishmael uses a legal term (an affidavit is a sworn statement)
to signify that he is telling the truth when he says that whales
possess enough strength to survive harpoonings and to sink
ships. Ishmael knows of three instances where a whale has been
shot with a harpoon, escaped, and survived for years before
being killed. And many sperm whales have become known
individually not for their physical markings but for their
ferocity. Timor Tom and New Zealand Jack are among the most
famous of such ferocious whales. (Here again Melville uses his
knowledge of whaling facts in his fiction: New Zealand Jack was
indeed a famously destructive whale.) As for whales sinking
ships, Melville can cite various actual incidents, the most
famous being the sinking of the Essex in 1820.
Melville is trying to convince you about the nature of
whales. If you think that whales aren't bad-tempered, and
aren't strong enough to sink a boat, you'll have difficulty
believing the rest of his story. He's eager to give you
proof.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 46: SURMISES
Ahab, Ishmael says, is ready to sacrifice everything in his
hunt for Moby-Dick. But he must keep up the appearance of
leading a normal whaling voyage. He doesn't want Starbuck to
rebel against him; he doesn't want his men's minds as obsessed
with the whale as his is. Nor can he afford to deny the crew
their chance to make money by catching other whales. In fact,
because he's employed by Peleg and Bildad, Ahab has an
obligation to make the voyage profitable for them. By turning
the voyage to his own purposes, he's given the crew every right
to revolt on the grounds of "usurpation." For all these reasons,
Ahab must hunt other whales besides Moby-Dick.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 47: THE MAT-MAKER
On a sultry afternoon, Queequeg and Ishmael weave a mat to
serve as additional lashing for their whaleboat. As usual,
Ishmael indulges in philosophical day-dreaming. The mat, he
thinks, represents the forces that make up life: necessity,
free will, and chance. (You'll see the image of life as
something woven developed in a later chapter.) Ishmael's
thoughts are interrupted by a shout from Tashtego: "There she
blows!"
The first sperm whale of the trip has been spotted, and the
whaleboats are readied for the chase. The boat crews gather,
and Ahab is suddenly "surrounded by five dusky phantoms that
seemed fresh formed out of air"--the shadows Ishmael saw board
the ship, the voices in the hold.
NOTE: Throughout the book, Melville refers to these men as
"phantoms" or "shadows." Are we intended to think of them as
spirits? If so, are they good or evil?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 48: THE FIRST LOWERING
The five phantoms are the subject of much talk among the
crew. Their appearance seems undeniably sinister--their leader
wears a "glistening white" turban with his dark hair braided
through it, and his followers resemble an island people said by
some to be in league with the devil.
The boats are lowered. You'll notice how Melville moves from
boat to boat contrasting the characters of each of the Pequod's
mates. Stubb shouts angrily at his men, but the anger seems all
in fun. Starbuck is serious and profit-minded. Flask stands
recklessly up on the shoulders of his harpooner, Daggoo. But
Ahab's boat remains a mystery.
All the boats are manned by skilled whalers. A non-whaler
would not be able to tell a whale was swimming nearby, but these
men can, from the troubled green water and the puffs of vapor
that float in the air.
Melville's writing about the hunt is particularly powerful:
A short rushing sound leaped out of the boat; it was the
darted
iron of Queequeg. Then all in one welded commotion came an
invisible
push from astern, while forward the boat seemed striking on a
ledge;
the sail collapsed and exploded; a gush of scalding vapor
shot up
near by; something rolled and tumbled like an earthquake
beneath us.
The whole crew were half suffocated as they were tossed
helter-
skelter into the white curdling cream of the squall. Squall,
whale,
and harpoon had all blended together, and the whale, merely
grazed
by the iron, escaped.
Thanks to Melville's vigorous prose, you probably feel like
you're in the boat with Ishmael as the whale surfaces, a harpoon
is thrown, the boat is swamped, and Ishmael jumps into the sea.
It's hard to imagine any writer giving you a greater sense of
the thrills and perils of whaling than Melville does in this
scene.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 49: THE HYENA
As an inexperienced whaler, Ishmael has been frightened by
the near sinking of his boat and the hours spent in the cold,
dark ocean. After an experience like that, life itself seems a
cruel and humorless practical joke. (The title of the chapter
probably refers to the similarly humorless laugh of a hyena.)
Ishmael is sufficiently afraid to make out a will (he's
apparently had similar fears before--this is the fourth will
he's made at sea). You'll notice that Queequeg is the
beneficiary of Ishmael's will. It's another indication of their
friendship. It also suggests that Ishmael is cut of from the
rest of the world--that the Pequod is his home.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 51: THE SPIRIT-SPOUT
Certainly the Pequod's owners never intended the one-legged
Ahab to face the dangers of going out regularly in a whaleboat,
much less have his own secret crew. But he does go out, and not
just after Moby-Dick. And as the ship sails around the stormy
Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, Ahab stands
day after day on the gale-swept deck of the Pequod. Along with
this bravery is a darker side, represented best by Fedallah, who
seems to have some evil influence over Ahab. The comments of
his mates indicate what a complicated man this captain is. "I
never yet saw him kneel," says Stubb, meaning that Ahab is both
brave and blasphemous, never kneeling in humble obedience or in
prayer. "Terrible old man!" thinks Starbuck.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 53: THE GAM
Southeast of the Cape of Good Hope the Pequod for the first
time encounters another ship, a bleached-looking vessel with
pitifully torn sails. Ahab shouts out, "Ship Ahoy! Have ye
seen the White Whale?"
This is the first "gam" of Moby-Dick. As you'll learn, a gam
is a meeting of two ships to exchange mail and news. The Pequod
will meet nine ships during its voyage, and each of the meetings
will throw some light on the quest for the great whale.
Ahab waits anxiously for the captain of the Goney, or
Albatross, to answer his question. But the captain's speaking
trumpet falls into the sea, and his unamplified voice doesn't
carry in the wind. To the Pequod's sailors, the accident is a
symbol of Moby-Dick's evil power. To some readers, it's
Melville's way of saying that there are mysteries that can't be
communicated to others, and that the future is unknowable.
Melville gives another clue to Ahab's personality when he
describes the captain's reaction as the wakes of the two ships
intermingle and schools of fish that had been swimming alongside
the Pequod go over to the Goney. Such movements by fish are
common at sea, but Ahab reacts with shock. "'Swim away from me,
do ye?'" the captain murmurs with "deep helpless sadness." Why
do you think Ahab reacts in this way? Does he realize that his
quest for Moby-Dick is unreasonable, even abhorrent, a judgment
confirmed by the departure of the fish? Or, perhaps, does he
want help--spiritual or physical--in his quest, and is saddened
when the fish won't accompany him?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 54: THE TOWN-HO'S STORY
The Pequod encounters another ship, the Town-Ho. This time
Ahab does get information about the white whale--but not the
complete truth, because the truth wasn't even known by the
Town-Ho's captain. Ishmael tells the story as he later told it
to three friends in Peru. Two years before, the Town-Ho was
sailing the Pacific when she began to leak. On board was a
brutal mate, Radney, and a swaggering seaman, Steelkilt. As the
ship was being pumped out, Steelkilt and Radney began a quarrel
that lead to Radney's threatening the seaman with a hammer.
Soon Steelkilt was leading a mutiny that ended with his being
locked in the forecastle and flogged within an inch of his life
by Radney. Still leaking, the Town-Ho made for land. Steelkilt
was about to kill Radney, but fate made murder unnecessary.
Moby-Dick was spotted; boats went out to hunt the whale, and
Radney fell from his boat to be killed by Moby-Dick.
NOTE: Many readers have puzzled over the meaning of the
Town-Ho's story. Perhaps Melville is trying to show how
difficult it is to interpret an event--or a symbol--in any one
way. For in this episode Moby-Dick is an instrument of justice,
not just destruction.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: SHEET-IRON; IN STONE; IN MOUNTAINS; IN
STARS
In these chapters Ishmael describes centuries of
whale-inspired art to remind you of the species' importance to
mankind. Egyptians and Greeks sculpted the whale; the noted
English artist, Hogarth, painted him, as did more scientifically
inclined artists. But all such portraits are inaccurate,
Ishmael says. Accurate depictions of the whale can't come from
studying a dead whale cast up on a beach, or from studying its
skeleton. The only way to know the whale is to go whaling, and
risk your life. The search for complete knowledge, Melville is
saying, can be both futile and fatal.
Ishmael does admit, however, that a few adequate portraits of
whales do exist, especially those painted by the French. Other
good representations have been carved by whalemen on whale teeth
and bones. The outline of a whale can be glimpsed on mountain
ridges and in star constellations. Whales--to Ishmael and to
Melville (and, they hope, to you too)--are to be seen in the
entire universe.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 58: BRIT
The Pequod moves through a large "meadow" of brit, a yellow
substance (probably tiny crustaceans) on which right whales
feed. The right whales Ishmael sees look more like lifeless
masses of rock than living animals. In fact, according to
Ishmael, few sea animals resemble those living on land. The sea
is an unknown; it is a foe, not just to man but to its own
offspring; and it is treacherous--its most dreaded creatures
swim invisible just under its lovely blue surface.
Ishmael then asks you to think of the land. Isn't the
division between land and sea like the division within our own
souls? Just as the appalling ocean surrounds a peaceful island
like Tahiti, terrible fears surround the peaceful center of
man's soul. Don't try to leave that peace, Ishmael warns; you
can never return to it.
NOTE: IMAGES OF THE SEA Once again the ocean is a symbol for
Ishmael. When he stood on the masthead the sea looked dreamily
peaceful, though he knew it could kill him if he fell. Now he
has a much bleaker view of it--an indication, perhaps, that his
time aboard the Pequod is making him lose some of his
optimism.
^^^^^^^^^^
Read my journal for more valuable informati
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 59: SQUID
On a morning so quiet the waves seem to wear slippers (notice
the lovely rhythms of Melville's descriptions here), Daggoo
sights a strange white object and shouts out, "The White Whale!"
But when the boats reach their goal they discover the object is
an enormous long-armed squid. Starbuck looks on the squid as a
grim warning; many sailors, Ishmael says, hold similar views of
the animal, because so little is known about it. Once again the
mysteries of nature seem to be beyond man's understanding.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 60: THE LINE
One of the most important pieces of equipment in whaling is
the line attached to the whaleman's harpoon. The line is just
two-thirds of an inch thick, and is more than 200 fathoms (or
1200 feet) long. It must be coiled very carefully because in
the frenzy of a whale hunt a tangle or kink could slice off a
person's arm. Or a person could be dragged into the ocean by
the whizzing rope.
NOTE: WHALING AS A METAPHOR FOR LIFE Melville points out
that the voyage of the Pequod is not so different from your
daily life. All people "live enveloped in whale lines"--any
could meet death at any moment.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 61: STUBB KILLS A WHALE
Though to Starbuck the squid was an evil omen, to Queequeg it
"was quite a different object": a signal that a sperm whale was
nearby. (Once again you see the difficulty of interpreting
things.)
Queequeg is right. The next day Ishmael spots the broad
glossy black back of a sperm whale.
In describing the hunt, Melville seems determined to show how
brutal a profession whaling can be. The whale hardly seems like
a fiend; Melville compares him to a plump businessman smoking a
pipe. As the boats are lowered he grows alarmed enough to swim
slowly away, then "sounds"--dives deep into the water. He
returns for air, now fully aware of the danger.
Stubb, all the time smoking a pipe, leads his men in the
chase. The boat churns through the water. Tashtego hurls his
harpoon, and Stubb throws dart after dart into the fleeing
creature, who is now spouting so much blood the ocean runs red.
Stubb twists his lance inside the disabled whale until it
convulses. "His heart had burst!"
"Yes; both pipes smoked out!" says Stubb, scattering the
ashes from his pipe on the water. The image of twin pipes makes
the whale seem fully as human as Stubb, and makes his death seem
all the sadder.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 63: THE CROTCH
In killing a whale, the mate and the harpooner must help row
the boat until it is time to shoot at the prey, all the while
shouting encouragement to the crew. It's an exhausting task--no
wonder so few harpoons find their mark, so many harpooners
suffer burst blood vessels, and so many whaling voyages lose
money.
Ishmael now describes the crotch, a notched stick inserted
into the gunwhale to serve as a rest for the two harpoons (the
first and second iron). Once the first iron is thrown the
second must be thrown immediately after, or else, still attached
to the line, it will fly dangerously around the boat. The
danger is multiplied, too, because in a whale hunt there are
four boats, each with its own lines and harpoons. Ishmael goes
into detail about these dangers now, and they'll become
important later in the story.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 64: STUBB'S SUPPER
The three boats slowly tow the immense whale back to the
Pequod so it can be butchered. Ahab seems depressed, as if the
sight of this dead whale is a reminder that Moby-Dick still
lives. But Stubb is excited, in large part because he has a
chance to enjoy his favorite food, whale steak. Nor is he the
only one enjoying the whale--beneath the waves, thousands of
sharks are scooping out huge pieces of flesh. Sharks always
haunt ships, Ishmael says. In time of war they wait for slain
men to fall to them, there being little difference between men
killing each other above water and sharks killing men below.
Stubb calls for the cook, old Fleece, to complain about the
whale steak. It's overdone, Stubb says. Fleece should know
that sharks like whale rare: so does he. Also, Stubb says, the
sharks are making too much noise. In his jolly but vaguely
threatening way, he orders Fleece to tell the sharks to be
quiet.
The cook limps over to the sharks, and with Stubb's goading,
the talk becomes a sermon. "Well, den, belubed
fellow-critters," he begins; he says he knows that sharks are by
nature voracious, but that their natural greed must be governed.
In that way they can become angels, "for all angel is noting
more dan de shark well goberned." But Fleece gives up. It's no
use, he realizes, the villainous sharks will keep fighting each
other. He offers a final curse: "fill you dam' bellies 'till
dey bust--and den die."
NOTE: SHARKS AND MAN Many critics consider Fleece's sermon
one of the most important scenes in Moby-Dick. In some ways you
might see it as a bitter parody of Father Mapple's sermon.
Mapple said that by obeying God, man could find heavenly joy.
Fleece says that if the sharks obey God by governing themselves,
they can be angels. But Fleece realizes he's asking the
impossible. Does this mean Mapple is asking the impossible,
too?
Perhaps, because Melville frequently compares sharks to man.
Chapters before, Peleg told his partner Bildad, "Pious
harpooners never make good voyagers--it takes the shark out of
'em; no harpooner is worth a straw who ain't pretty sharkish."
Some critics take a less bleak view, though. They suggest
that there are characters in Moby-Dick who represent "the shark
well-governed"--the noble savage Queequeg being one example.
You decide as you read which stand you think is more correct.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 65: THE WHALE AS A DISH
Ishmael turns his attention to the whale as food, giving
examples of cultures that considered whales a delicacy. But
today's landsmen don't like the whale, partly because it is too
fatty and partly because it seems terrible for "man to eat a
newly murdered thing of the sea, and eat it too by its own
light" (whale oil is burned for illumination). But Ishmael
won't let those of us who live on land off so easily. We eat
land animals, and come Judgment Day a cannibal may be judged
less harshly than "...thee, civilized and enlightened gourmand,
who nailest geese to the ground and feastest on their bloated
livers in thy pate-de-foie-gras."
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 66: THE SHARK MASSACRE
Normally, when a whale like Stubb's is tied to the ship late
at night the tired crew waits until dawn to start the
butchering--the "cutting in." But thousands of sharks are
tearing at the carcass; when Queequeg and another seaman stab at
them with whaling spades the sharks only grow more vicious.
Even after death they're nasty, one of them almost biting off
Queequeg's hand. "Queequeg no care what god made him shark,"
the harpooner says, "wedder Feejee God or Nantucket god; but de
god wat made shark must be one dam Ingin." Now it's Queequeg
bringing up the nature of God and the universe. And with his
hand hurting as much as it does, the answer is: God is a
savage. Do you think Melville intended this to be the true
answer, or just a human reaction to pain?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 69: THE FUNERAL
The butchering of the great whale begins in an atmosphere
that is distinctly un-Christian. The bloody work is being done
on the Sabbath, and the whalers might as well be offering up
oxen to pagan sea gods. Melville uses great skill in describing
the butchering process; these chapters are marvels of clear,
journalistic description. Cutting tackles are lashed to the
masthead; with a great tilting of the ship, blubber hooks are
attached to the whale, and the whale is stripped of its blubber
in the way you might peel an orange.
The blubber, Ishmael says, is the whale's skin, and on an
average sperm whale it will weigh eight tons. The whale wears
its blubber like a blanket that keeps him warm in cold seas,
cool in warm ones. The whale possesses the "rare virtues" of
thick walls, strong individual vitality, and interior
spaciousness: man should model himself after the whale. But
Ishmael knows that's not likely to happen.
Once the whale has been stripped of its blubber and been
beheaded, it's cut loose from the ship to float away. still
enormous, the carcass is a terrible sight, and its funeral
mourners are terrible, too: vultures and sharks.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 70: THE SPHYNX
While the whale was being stripped of blubber, it was also
beheaded--a difficult task as a whale lacks a neck to chop and
the operation must be performed on a sea-tossed ship; little
wonder Stubb takes pride in being able to behead a whale in ten
minutes. Once removed, the head is hung off the side of the
ship, heavy enough that the Pequod tilts with it.
Ahab goes up on deck, takes Stubb's spade and sticks it into
the whale's head. To him the head resembles the Sphynx of
Egypt, the enormous monument with a human head and a lion's body
that symbolizes eternal mysteries. It knows the secrets of the
universe; it has dived deeper than any other creature, seen
sunken navies, drowned lovers, beheld sights that would cause
even the biblical patriarch Abraham to lose his faith.
NOTE: AHAB AND THE SPHYNX In his speech to the whale head,
you see Ahab trying to break through the "pasteboard mask" to
find true meaning. But notice how he assumes that the meaning
behind the mask must necessarily be evil. He can imagine only
that the whale has seen countless horrors.
A shout from the mast-head announces that another boat has
been seen, and Ahab hopes it will cheer him with news of
Moby-Dick.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 71: THE JEROBOAM'S STORY
The ship that approaches is the Jeroboam of Nantucket, but it
won't let the Pequod "gam" with her. There is an epidemic on
board, the first sign that this meeting will be an ominous one
for Ahab.
The Jeroboam's Captain Mayhew and Ahab communicate by shouts,
but soon they're interrupted by a small man in a strangely cut
coat. Stubb immediately recognizes the man from a story about
the Jeroboam the Town-Ho had earlier passed along. The man, an
insane, self-styled prophet, managed to fool the Jeroboam into
taking him on as a whaleman; once on board he announced that he
was the archangel Gabriel bringing news of the Last Judgment and
was terrifying enough that the crew began to believe him, all
the more after the start of the epidemic.
"Think of thy whale-boat stoven and sunk," Gabriel says in
answer to Ahab's question about Moby-Dick. And Captain Mayhew
tells Ahab that the Jeroboam, too, had been hunting the great
whale when its first mate, Macey, was killed.
Ahab remembers that the Pequod carries a letter to one of the
Jeroboam's crew--a letter, it turns out, addressed to the late
Harry Macey. Ahab throws the letter to Captain Mayhew, but
magically it lands in Gabriel's hands. Gabriel tosses it back.
Ahab should keep it, for he will soon be going Macey's way--that
is, to a watery death.
NOTE: AHAB AND THE JEROBOAM In every way the Jeroboam is a
warning to Ahab. Its name, like Ahab's, is that of a wicked
king of Israel mentioned in I Kings; the ship has been punished
for disobedience by the death of its first mate. Gabriel is one
of a series of prophets (like Elijah earlier, and Pip later in
the novel) able to speak a mad truth about the dangers of Ahab's
quest. To Gabriel, as to Ahab, the whale is a symbol of God's
wrath. But where Gabriel madly flees the whale, Ahab, perhaps
more madly, pursues it.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 72: THE MONKEY-ROPE
Ishmael backtracks to tell us part of the cutting-in
procedure he neglected to describe earlier. How is the blubber
hook first attached to the whale? It's the duty of the
harpooner to climb onto the whale's back to attach it, then
remain there as the mostly submerged beast rotates like a
slippery treadmill beneath him.
Queequeg was the harpooner who performed this task on Stubb's
whale, and Ishmael the man assigned to assist him. They stood
like an organ grinder and his ape, joined together by a rope on
a sliding whale, while sharks hungrily swam a few inches from
their feet.
NOTE: BROTHERHOOD Ishmael again makes whaling a metaphor for
life. As he stands out on the whale, he has lost some of his
individuality and some of his free will, for his fate is tied to
Queequeg's as surely as Queequeg's is tied to his. But in a
perilous world, Melville seems to be saying, such brotherly
dependence is far preferable to complete independence--the kind
of independence shown by Ahab.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: AND THEN HAVE A TALK OVER HIM
The Pequod has drifted into a yellow sea of brit, favored
food of the right whale. Ordinarily, the ship would not bother
with these whales, but for some reason Captain Ahab gives the
order that if one is spotted the boats will go after it. It
isn't long before Flask and Stubb are towing a dead right whale
back to ship.
The two mates discuss what Ahab might want with the beast.
Flask says he overheard Fedallah telling Ahab that any ship
carrying a sperm whale's head on its starboard side and a right
whale's head on its larboard will never capsize. Neither mate
likes the look of Fedallah; Stubb half-seriously suggests that
the turbaned harpooner is the devil, to whom Ahab has offered
his soul in exchange for Moby-Dick.
Flask's prediction that the right whale's head would be used
to balance the sperm whale's proves to be true. The Pequod
regains her even keel, though the weight strains it. Ishmael
takes this opportunity to attack philosophy while at the same
time indulging in it, warning that following John Locke (a
famous 17th-century English empiricist philosopher) will tilt
you to one side, while following Immanuel Kant (a famous
18th-century German idealist philosopher) as well will weigh you
down; better throw them both overboard.
In the meantime, Melville underlines the devilish aspects of
Fedallah. As he stands next to Ahab his shadow merges with the
captain's. Or perhaps it's that, like the devil, Fedallah
doesn't cast any shadow at all.
NOTE: AHAB AND FEDALLAH Even unimaginative men like Stubb
and Flask are becoming disturbed by the influence Fedallah seems
to have over Ahab. A Parsee (a follower of Zoroastrianism,
likened by Melville to fire-worship), Fedallah is so closely
linked to Ahab that their shadows merge. It's as if he
represents in some way Ahab's darkest side, Ahab without any of
the humanities that Peleg said he possessed.
Fedallah is certainly the least realistically portrayed of
the Pequod's crew; a number of critics have noted that he seems
to come from a gothic romance rather than from a sea tale.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 75: THE RIGHT WHALE'S
HEAD--CONTRASTED VIEW
Ishmael now takes you on a tour of the two great heads
hanging from the Pequod. Both the head of the sperm whale and
that of the right whale are enormous; to Ishmael the sperm
whale's head is the more dignified. Both have eyes on either
side of the head, making them unable to see anything directly in
front of them. Both have ears so tiny they can barely be found.
Ishmael imagines entering the two heads to show the differences
between them: the right whale contains no valuable spermaceti,
no ivory teeth; the sperm whale has no bone blinds (used by the
whale to strain food and by humans in women's clothing) and no
tongue. Becoming jokingly philosophical, Ishmael says the sperm
whale is a calm, indifferent animal, a platonian; the right
whale is marked by suffering endured, a stoic.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 78: CISTERN AND BUCKETS
Ishmael returns to the sperm whale's head to speak about its
power as a battering ram--an important point, for if readers
don't believe in that power, they will never believe a whale can
sink a ship. The mighty head is like an enormous wall,
cushioned with a spongy, blubber-like material that can repel
any harpoon. Pushed forward with all the whale's strength this
head could dig a passage through Panama, and could certainly
sink a ship.
One portion of the sperm whale's head is the junk, a great
store of oil. Another portion, the case, Ishmael renames "the
Heidelburgh Tun," after a huge wine cask in Heidelberg, Germany.
It contains the spermaceti, the valuable oil that gives the
whale its name. When the whale is alive, this oil is liquid;
after the whale's death it crystallizes.
To get at the spermaceti, you have to tilt the whale's head
on its side and cut into it. Tashtego, the harpooner, takes on
this job, climbing out on the yardarm then jumping down to land
on the top of the head that hangs half in the ocean. Using his
spade, he cuts into the whale and with a bucket he draws out the
oil, which is then transferred into large tubs.
After several tubs have been filled, an accident happens.
Ishmael doesn't know whether to blame it on Tashtego's
clumsiness, on the whale's motion, or (a brief echo of
Fedallah's devilish influence) on Satan himself. But for
whatever reason, Tashtego slips head first into the hole he cut
in the whale, and with a terrible roar the entire head drops
into the sea. Dimly Ishmael sees a sword-wielding figure dive
into the water. Seconds later Queequeg reemerges, carrying
Tashtego. He had used his sword to carve holes in the sinking
head, removing the harpooner as a midwife might deliver a
baby.
NOTE: QUEEQUEG'S HEROISM Queequeg has saved a man from
drowning twice now, and this will not be the last time. His
selfless bravery provides an alternative to the narrow
selfishness practiced by others of the crew. Note the unusual
symbolism. Does Melville mean a person is born again when his
or her life is saved? Bear this in mind when you interpret
Ishmael's rescue at the end of the novel.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 80: THE NUT
Ishmael studies the head of the whale hoping to figure out
its secrets, something no physiognomist (one who studies
character as revealed in the contours of the face) or
phrenologist (a student of the bumps of the skull) has ever
done. The sperm whale's nose is as great as Shakespeare's, his
eyes as clear as mountain lakes; if you look at his face you'll
sense God and Satan more strongly than if you look at any other
object in nature. But in the end Ishmael decides the whale's
head is like a series of Egyptian hieroglyphs, something he will
never be able to understand.
NOTE: ISHMAEL'S EXAMINATION OF THE WHALE Like Ahab a few
chapters before, Ishmael is trying to decipher the meaning of
the whale by looking at its head. But where the embittered Ahab
automatically assumed the secrets seen by the whale to be
dreadful, Ishmael's view is very different. To him the whale
isn't just a symbol of evil, for some things about it are
beautiful. Instead, it's an enigma, something that can't be
understood. Ahab would like to command the whale to give up its
secrets; Ishmael knows he can never do that.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 81: THE PEQUOD MEETS THE
VIRGIN
The Pequod encounters the Jungfrau (German for virgin), a
German whaler captained by one Derick De Deer and so incompetent
at whaling that even its own whale-oil lamps are empty. De Deer
has never heard of Moby-Dick, a further sign that he knows
little of the sea. (Do you think the ship's name has any
significance?)
Soon after the meeting, a group, or "pod," of whales is
sighted, and the American and German ships both give chase.
Swimming behind the rest of the group is an old bull whale. The
German whaleboats are slow, enabling the Pequod's crew to reach
the ancient creature first.
Once again you're shown the brutality of whaling. The hunted
whale is old, sick, missing a fin, and blind. But he is shown
no pity. Flask deliberately plants his harpoon in an ulcerated
spot where he knows it will cause the beast the greatest pain.
But Ishmael reminds us that we can't feel superior to the
whalemen: this whale is being murdered so that we can light
weddings and church services.
The whale's painful death benefits no one, for he begins to
sink after being attached to the Pequod, threatening to capsize
the ship. He must be cut loose.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 83: JONAH HISTORICALLY
REGARDED
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method," Ishmael says to begin this chapter, and
more than one critic has felt this statement to apply to all of
Moby-Dick, with its apparently disorganized combination of
essays on whaling, philosophical speculation, and high
adventure.
Ishmael takes us through human history to prove his point
that whaling is an ancient and honorable pastime. The Greek
hero Perseus was the first whaleman, especially admirable
because he killed his whale with only one dart. Ishmael claims
that St. George's famous dragon was in fact a whale.
And what about Jonah? Ishmael ignores the moral of Jonah's
story and comically focuses on petty details. Among other
things, he's heard a Sag Harbor whaleman say that Jonah couldn't
have been lodged in the whale's stomach because a right whale
doesn't have a stomach.
NOTE: JONAH Here we're returning to the story on which
Father Mapple preached early in the novel. This time, though,
Ishmael's (and Melville's) approval of Jonah's story seems less
certain. On the one hand, Ishmael calls the objections of the
Sag Harbor man "foolish." On the other hand, Ishmael doesn't
seem to take the story very seriously either. He mentions that
Jonah is honored by "the highly enlightened Turks" (who are
Muslim and therefore in traditional Christian eyes not
enlightened at all). The chapter seems to be at least
undermining Father Mapple's sermon if not rejecting it
completely.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 84: PITCHPOLING
Soon after the Pequod's meeting with the Jungfrau, more
whales are spotted, and Tashtego plants a harpoon in one that
attempts to flee. To restrain a whale in a case like this,
whalemen use a technique called pitchpoling, in which a lance
lighter than a harpoon is hurled "in a superb lofty arch" at the
whale. Stubb is an expert at the craft; the whale Tashtego
harpooned is soon dead.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 85: THE FOUNTAIN
Though the spouting of whales has been studied for centuries,
like so much else about whales it remains in part a mystery.
Most fish, Ishmael reminds us, use gills to take oxygen from the
sea. But whales have lungs like human beings and must
occasionally surface to breathe through the spiracles on the top
of their heads. If this breathing period is disturbed, the
whale won't be able to remain under water for as long as he
normally would--making him more vulnerable to the whale
hunter.
Are the spoutings of the sperm whale water or air? Ishmael
prefers to think of them as a mist; he likes to imagine the
whale swimming in a tropical sea, "glorified by a rainbow."
Notice what a beautiful final paragraph this is: the whale is
rainbow-covered, and God is credited for supplying such beauty.
And we come closer here to learning Ishmael's own philosophy:
he has "doubts of all things earthly, and intuition of some
things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor
infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye."
Ishmael is not as pious as Starbuck, but neither is he as bitter
as Ahab; he sees the cruelties of life on earth but still holds
out some faint hope in a heaven.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 86: THE TAIL
Other poets may sing about delicate objects like birds'
plumage, but Ishmael wants to celebrate something more solid:
the whale's tail. On its upper surface alone it measures fifty
feet square, and it's built like the old Roman walls in three
layers for added strength. The tail is powerful, yet graceful;
it never wriggles foolishly, and is the whale's main weapon
against man as well as a plaything. When the whale is about to
submerge, the tail stands straight up to provide one of the
grandest sights in nature.
NOTE: THE TAIL Ishmael continues to build a view of the
whale far more complex than Ahab's. You might want to take a
closer look at his description of the submerging tail:
So in dreams, have I seen majestic Satan thrusting forth his
tormented colossal claw from the flame Baltic of Hell. But in
gazing at such scenes, it is all in all what mood you are in; in
the Dantean, the devils will occur to you; in that of Isaiah,
the archangels.
To Ishmael, the whale can seem what it seems to Ahab,
devilish, something out of Dante (the 14th-century author of The
Divine Comedy). But if you are in a different mood, the whale
can seem heavenly. After all his research, all his thought,
Ishmael is unable to make a final judgment--and that may be
Melville's point. "I know him not and never will," says
Ishmael, and his statement holds true not just for whales but
for much else.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 87: THE GRAND ARMADA
The Pequod sails into the straits of Sunda, home to Malay
pirates but also known to be a major cruising ground for sperm
whales.
On a sparkling day the Pequod's sailors see a two or three
mile semicircle of whale spouts hurrying through the straits
ahead of them. The harpooners cheer as their ship begins its
chase. But when Ahab turns around he sees they are being
followed by a Malay pirate ship.
Ahab angrily paces the deck, one enemy behind him, his
greatest enemy somewhere ahead. But the Pequod outruns the
pirates and soon catches up with the whale herd. The whaleboats
are launched. The great herd of whales seems like a flock of
sheep, some swimming aimlessly, others staying timidly still
despite the danger. When Queequeg harpoons one of the
creatures, it pulls the boat with it through crowds of whales so
thick Queequeg can only poke at them in hopes of moving them out
of the way.
Then, after so much hurry, so much violence, the lone
whaleboat finds itself in the very center of the herd.
NOTE: THE ENCHANTED CALM OF THE GRAND ARMADA This section
is, many critics agree, one of the loveliest in all of
Moby-Dick. As the boat sails into "that enchanted calm that
lurks at the heart of every commotion," whales swim around them
in concentric circles, filling the horizon. Nature here seems
both beautiful and orderly, the complete opposite of the view
taken by Ahab. And, says Ishmael, the scene has a counterpart
in all of us. Earlier in the book, he spoke of each man
containing a peaceful Tahiti within him; now he says that each
man possesses a center as calm as the center of this great
herd.
But the calm doesn't last. A whale pushes into the herd;
he's been harpooned, and, worse, he still carries a cutting
spade attached to him so that with each flailing he stabs his
fellow whales. The herd begins to panic, and Ishmael's boat
barely escapes being crushed. And after all this effort, only
one whale is killed by the Pequod.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 88: SCHOOLS AND
SCHOOLMASTERS
Though great herds of whales aren't uncommon, smaller groups,
called schools, are more frequently seen. As he discusses the
schools, Ishmael has fun anthropomorphizing them--giving them
the characteristics of human beings. The schools are of two
kinds: all male, or all female (with one male in charge). The
all-female schools are like members of high society, traveling
around the world in search of good climate. The male schools
are as rowdy and dangerous as a group of college students.
Notice that Melville adds that lone whales are almost invariably
ancient. As Moby-Dick is a lone whale, he's likely to be very
old--another sign of his uniqueness.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 90: HEADS OR TAILS
What happens if a whale is harpooned by one ship, only to
escape and be captured by another ship? From this question
comes the law of fast-fish and loose-fish. Among American
whalemen, a fast-fish belongs to the boat that is held fast to
it by a whaleline or other connection. A loose-fish belongs to
anyone who can catch it. And people belong in both
categories.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 92: AMBERGRIS
The Pequod meets a French ship enveloped in a smell so
terrible its sailors hold their noses and its surgeon prefers to
hide in the captain's outhouse rather than stand on deck. The
reasons for the smell float alongside the ironically named
Bouton de Rose (Rose-Bud): two dead whales, one of them
especially foul.
Ahab doesn't care about the Rose-Bud once he learns it knows
nothing of Moby-Dick. Stubb, though, spies a chance both to
have fun and to make money, for as he looks at the second whale
he realizes there's a good chance it contains ambergris, the
soft, waxy material valued for its use as a perfume ingredient.
There's no sense in keeping these whales because they don't have
any oil in them, Stubb tells an English-speaking crew member.
Then he promises to help convince the French captain to cut the
whales free. In one of the funniest passages in the book, Stubb
insults the captain in English while the crewman mistranslates
his words into French warnings about the disease-carrying whale.
The trick works; the whale is cut loose, and Stubb happily
removes the precious ambergris.
NOTE: AHAB AND THE AMBERGRIS We see another sign that Ahab
is losing connection with the real business of whaling. He's so
anxious to continue the pursuit of Moby-Dick that he won't let
Stubb remove all the ambergris, though it would make an enormous
profit for the Pequod's owners and crew.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 93: THE CASTAWAY
Not everyone on board a whaling ship goes out in a boat when
a whale is sighted. Some, called ship-keepers, remain. On the
Pequod, the ship-keeper is Pip, the black youth we saw playing
the tambourine during the drunken party on the quarterdeck. Pip
is bright and tender-hearted, but not a good sailor. When he
has to take a crewman's place on Stubb's boat, he leaps into the
water when the whale raps the hull, so that Stubb must choose
between catching the whale and rescuing Pip.
Stubb rescues the boy, but warns that in the future his
decision will be different. "A whale would sell for thirty
times what you would, Pip, in Alabama," Stubb says callously.
(Once again Melville is emphasizing man's sharkish nature.) But
Pip doesn't heed the warning: he jumps again. And this time
he's abandoned as Stubb's boat flies after the fleeing whale.
When, hours later, Pip is finally rescued, he has gone mad.
NOTE: PIP As Melville describes Pip's madness, it is a
peculiar kind of madness. In fact, it may even be a kind of
wisdom. Pip's soul was drowned, Ishmael says--or rather, not
drowned but carried to the depths of the sea where it viewed
"God's foot upon the treadle of the loom." (Remember how the
universe was compared to a loom in the chapter, "The
Mat-Maker.") The description of Pip's descent into the ocean
resembles Ahab's description of the Sphynx-like whale's head.
Like the whale, Pip has seen the secrets of the universe; like
the whale he can't communicate those secrets. Pip will have a
special role to play as the book continues.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 94: A SQUEEZE OF THE HAND
The whale killed when the boat sailed into the "Grand Armada"
of whales is brought back to the Pequod for butchering. As
Ishmael has already mentioned, the sperm oil crystallizes when
exposed to air and must be squeezed back into liquid. He and
several other crewman sit and push their hands into the
violet-scented oil, sometimes mistaking one another's hands for
the lumps of oil they're squeezing.
NOTE: BROTHERHOOD Melville is showing an alternative to the
bitter sense of isolation that Ahab and others (sometimes
including Ishmael) feel. As he sits squeezing the oil, Ishmael
enjoys the same sense of brotherhood he felt with Queequeg. The
crewmen are united, no longer isolatoes. So powerful is this
feeling of goodwill that it temporarily defeats even Ahab:
Ishmael forgets about the oath he took to destroy Moby-Dick, and
declares that he now knows he won't find happiness in large
things, in theories or dreams, but only in simple day-to-day
living--in "the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle,
the fireside, the country": all the things that Ahab rejects.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 95: THE CASSOCK
You now get some of the bawdy humor Melville includes in
spots. As the whale is cut up, a strange, conical object is
separated, turned inside-out, then stretched and dried so a
crewman can wear it for protection as he minces blubber. The
object is the whale's penis, and Melville uses religious imagery
(the skin becoming an archbishop's robes) to double his joke's
impact.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 96: THE TRY-WORKS
The Pequod leaves the sunlit peace described in "A Squeeze of
the Hand," and moves into a world of such darkness and fire that
it seems to belong to Ahab, although he is not visibly
present.
American whalers contain try-works, brick ovens used to melt
whale blubber into oil. At nine o'clock at night the work
begins. By midnight the ship is licked by flames, and the
atmosphere is like that of some pagan ceremony; the Pequod's
crew have been turned into laughing savages. Ishmael, standing
at the helm to steer the ship, is almost hypnotized by the fire.
He has the feeling not of fleeing towards safety, but of fleeing
from it. He feels near death. Suddenly he realizes that he has
fallen into a nightmare-filled sleep and that he has almost
capsized the ship.
NOTE: FIRE AND SUNLIGHT Ishmael sums up his near-accident by
warning, "Look not too long in the face of the fire." And
because fire is associated with Ahab, Melville seems to be
showing us that Ishmael has turned his back on Ahab's dangerous
and unnatural obsession. You saw a clue to this earlier, when
Ishmael said he would abandon dreams and theories for the simple
pleasure of daily life.
Melville seldom allows you to settle for easy answers to
life's problems; indeed, he seems driven to explore life's
contradictions. Sunlight is preferable, Ishmael says, but he
knows that the sun can't hide what is bad in life. Any fully
alive man will feel more woe than joy--though to concentrate too
much on that woe will lead to madness. And there's a final
contradiction: the Catskill eagle who can plunge into darkness
then soar into sunlight; the eagle who even if he never returns
from the dark gorge, flies higher than other birds. If, as it
seems, that eagle represents Captain Ahab, are Ishmael and
Melville saying that despite his doomed, damned quest, Ahab is
in many ways a greater man than most of us?
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 98: STOWING DOWN AND CLEARING
UP
One of the pleasures of a whaleman's life is that, unlike a
merchant seaman, he can enjoy constant light, thanks to the
plentiful supply of oil on board ship.
After the whale has been boiled down, his oil--the profit of
the voyage--is put into six-barrel casks, which must be securely
stored in sea water deep in the ship's hold. (You'll see later
that Ahab attempts to ignore even this important rule.) Then the
blood--and blubber-stained ship is thoroughly cleaned, only to
be dirtied again when the next whale is slaughtered.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: CHAPTER 99: THE DOUBLOON
It has been Ahab's habit to moodily pace the deck, eyeing the
compass on the binnacle and the doubloon nailed to the mainmast,
as if hoping that one or the other will lead him to Moby-Dick.
One morning he halts in front of the doubloon. Minted in
Ecuador, it shows three peaks of the Andes. From one shoots a
flame, on another stands a tower, and on the third a rooster
crows. In the sky are the signs of the zodiac, with the sun
entering Libra, the scales.
Ahab tries to understand the doubloon's symbolism. To him
the peaks are as proud as Lucifer (the archangel who became
Satan), as proud as Ahab. (Notice how Ahab compares himself to
the greatest rebel against God.) They stand for courage and
victory.
Starbuck wanders up when Ahab is through. To him the three
peaks represent the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, with the sun a symbol of God's righteousness. Next,
Stubb sees a jolly prediction of a happy life. Flask sees only
a coin worth nine hundred and sixty cigars. The
fire-worshipping Fedallah sees something to which he must bow.
NOTE: THE DOUBLOON Melville expects you to look closely at
the objects on board the Pequod, for as Ishmael says here, "some
certain significance lurks in all things." But the question is,
what is that significance? Each man aboard the Pequod sees
something different when he looks at the doubloon. Once again
you're reminded of the difficulty of interpreting the world.
Here, too, we see for the first time that Pip's madness does
contain wisdom. His reaction--"I look, you look, he looks"--is
a description of the way each man sees something different in
the doubloon. His final mutterings are more ominous: "Ha ha
old Ahab! The White Whale; he'll nail ye." Pip has become
another of Moby-Dick's prophets of doom.
^^^^^^^^^^
MOBY-DICK: MEETS THE SAMUEL ENDERBY, OF LONDON
"Ship ahoy," cries Captain Ahab. "Hast seen the White
Whale?"
In answer the captain of the approaching British ship unfolds
his jacket to reveal a false arm. Ahab hurries to meet a fellow
victim of Moby-Dick, though his own bone leg requires that he be
hoisted to the British ship on a blubber-hook. So excited is
Ahab that he continually interrupts Captain Boomer's account of
the milky-white whale that dragged him into the sea where he
sliced his arm on his own harpoon.
With humorous politeness, Captain Boomer now turns his story
over to Bunger, the Samuel Enderby's surgeon, who, with many
interruptions, describes how he amputated the arm. The
conversation, with its drily witty accusations of drinking and
bad temper, is very funny: these are two good friends. But
Ahab is incapable of appreciating either humor or friendship.
Captain Boomer tells Ahab that he glimpsed Moby-Dick twice
more, but didn't chase him. Losing one arm is enough. But what
Captain Boomer thinks is best left alone is the very thing that
most draws Ahab. When Dr. Bunger jokingly checks Ahab to see
if he's feverish, the Pequod's captain roars into a rage so
great Captain Boomer asks if he's crazy. But the man Boomer
asks is Fedallah, fully a part of the mad quest. Ahab and his
dark companion leave the Enderby, ignoring the British captain's
shouts.
NOTE: Aside from being two of the funniest characters in
Moby-Dick, Captain Boomer and Surgeon Bunger are representatives
of a common-sense attitude toward the dangers of the world--if
something has injured you once, it should be avoided in the
future. And Bunger, in his dry, witty way, gives the common
sense view that the whale is not evil, merely clumsy. But Ahab
is incapable of such sense about the creature that maimed him.
Do you think Bunger is right, or is he merely superficial?
Read my journal for more valuable informati
Any student who is interested enough in science to plunge into the examples listed in the story would be just a s fascinated by the same problem as presented in a textbook.
What teachers really need to face up to is the need to make science interesting and relevant to students who come in with an attitude that basic research, and the background knowledge needed to do basic research, is a waste of time.
Let me give you an example from my own experience. I work in construction. I'm an electrician. I often am the only person working on a project. This particular project was a radio station transmitting tower site out in the country.
One day, a black lab wandered by. He was a very friendly dog, and we sorta became friends. I scratched his ears and give him tidbits from my lunch. And he responded like any man's best friend. He lay at my feet and enjoyed life.
I had been intrigued by the sheath on boy dogs for sometime. As a teenager, I enjoyed experimenting with the neighborhood dog, Pal. But I hadn't done anything similar since. I developed a raging boner thinking about Pal and our "love making." [As I'm doing right now as I type.]
I finally got enough courage to reach down and feel his sheath. My head spun lightly. My cock throbbed. I moved my hand back to feel his testicles. The were like marbles. He didn't seem to mind to mind exploring. And my feelings were tingly and rushed. It was a real adrenaline high. My hand moved back to his sheath and I started moving it back and forth on his dog dick. When his pink dick shoved it's beautiful face out of its sheath, I creamed my jeans. I mean my cock spurted cum inside my shorts for a full minute. That was the first time in a long time that I'd shot my load without sucking, fucking or jacking. What a wonderful orgasm that was.
My friend sensed something happening, and as the cum seeped through the material, he sniffed at my crotch and began licking at the wet spot that was occurring on my pants. "Hmmmm! He likes cum!" I thought. As he licked, two different scenarios developed. The first was his cock. He was responding to my fondling of his sheath, and his dog dick had sprung out in its full bloom, all the way to his knot. When I circled his dog dick with my hand, I thrilled again at the wonderful feeling. I began stroking his dick. As my hand would reach the sheath, I endeavored with each stroke to get his knot out. Finally out popped his knot. I then used two hands to manipulate my new friends manhood [maybe that should read doghood].
i massaged his knot with one hand and lovingly pulled back and forth on his dog dick with my other hand. It wasn't too long before he was spurting his dog cum. What a beautiful sight. It must have spurted 2 inches out of his cock, stream after stream, for what seemed an eternity. He came and came.
The second thing that happened related to my man cock. As he had continued cleaning the cum off my pants, I had dropped my pants and boxers to my knees, exposing my 9" uncut manhood and balls. There was a residue of cum on my man cock and balls, and he licked them clean while I made love to his dog dick with my hands. The feel of his tongue n my cock was out of this world. It was rough yet smooth, wet yet dry, nd very thrilling. About the same time he delivered his present of dog perm for me, my cock began spurting with my second load of man cum for him. The first jet hit him on the nose, and he began devouring the head of my cock with his tongue, lapping it all up. When he finished cleaning me up, he cleaned himself up.
By the way, I'm going get my baby oil and vibrator and relive the memories of my black lab friend. MMMMMMMM.
you damn trolls have brought the S/N ratio 50% again. i hope you're happy.
I was out on the West Coast
Tryin' to make a buck
And things didn't work out
I was down on my luck
Got tired a-roaming and bumming around
So I started thumbing back East
Toward my home town
Made a lot of miles the first two days
And I figured I'd be home in week
If my luck held out this way
But...the third night I got stranded
Way out of town
At a cold lonely crossroads
Rain was pouring down
I was hungry and freezing
Done caught a chill
When the lights of a big semi topped the hill
Lord
I sure was glad to hear them air brakes come on
And I climbed in that cab
Where I knew it'd be warm
At the wheel sit a big man
He weighed about two-ten
He stuck out his hand and said with a grin
Big Joe's the name
I told him mine
And he said
The name of my rig is
Phantom 309
I asked him why he called his rig such a name
He said Son
This old Mack can put 'em all to shame
There ain't a driver or a rig
Running any line
That seen nothing
But taillights from
Phantom 309
Well we rode and talked
The better part of the night
When the lights of a truck stop came in sight
He said I'm sorry son
This is as far as you go
Cause I gotta make a turn
Just on up the road
Well he tossed me a dime
As he pulled her in low
And said
Have yourself a cup on old Big Joe
When Joe and his rig
Roared out in the night
In nothing flat
He was clean out of sight
Well, I went inside and ordered me a cup
Told the waiter Big Joe was setting me up
Aw!, you coulda heard a pin drop
It got deathly quiet
And the waiter's face turned kinda white
Well, did I say something wrong
I said with a halfway grin
He said
Naw this happens every now and then
Every driver in here knows Big Joe
But son let me tell you
What happened about ten years ago
At the crossroads tonight
Where you flagged him down
There was a bus load of kids
Coming from town
And they were right in the middle
When Big Joe topped the hill
It could have been slaughter
But he turned his wheel
Well, Joe lost control
Went into a skid
And gave his life
To save that bunch of kids
And there at that crossroads
Was the end of the line
For Big Joe and Phantom 309
But, every now and then
Some hiker'll come by
And like you
Big Joe'll give 'em a ride
Here have another cup
And forget about the dime
Keep it as a souvenir
From Big Joe
And Phantom 309
This made me laugh. Have you not noticed that it is not possible to run X on a GeForce 3 on FreeBSD 4.6?
I noticed, and it's fucking annoying cause I'd love to use BSD on my GeForced box. Instead, I have to use RedHat 7.3, which intalled a fucking gigabyte of shit I didn't need.