lily1792's Blog

Moby Dick Ch. 21-28

lily1792 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:24:59 +0000

This section of Moby Dick starts off with Elijah warning Ishmael and Queequeg about going on board with Captain Ahab.

(Check out the story of Ahab and Elijah here- http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/p122.htm)

Once again Melville uses biblical symbolism. Obviously, Elijah, the man who Ishmael and Queequeg brush away, is warning them of Ahab, for a reason. (Just like God’s prophet, Elijah did of King Ahab) This is another point of how Ishmael is entering this three year voyage blindly. Agreeing with my predictions, as the ship is getting ready to take out to sea, Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg jumped ship on a smaller boat and wished everyone luck. All this time, Captain Ahab is mysteriously in his cabin below deck, not to be seen.

Chapter 24, “The Advocate” (wittily named) was the most memorable to me in this reading section. Let me just first start out by saying, the way Melville started this rant (or chapter) was like this:

“…This business of whaling has somehow come to be regarded among landsmen as a rather unpoetical and disreputable pursuit; therefore, I am all anxiety to convince ye, ye landsmen, of the injustice hereby done to us hunters of whales.” (p.97)

This is quite humorous to me, because Melville, being the “advocate” he is, was obviously FULL of anxiety when he wrote this rant (or chapter) about whaling and how it was more important than anything. I almost felt like he was yelling at me! And then he continues to write a separate chapter, after his rant, to say that “We whalemen supply your kings and queens with coronation stuff!” (p.101) speaking of whale oil being used in royal coronation ceremonies. A complete separate ”postscript” just to add that in, to make the point that whaling is amazing, even clearer.

In chapter 28 we finally meet Captain Ahab, and Ishmael states “shivers ran all over me” (p.108) in his presence. I’m curious to know what the secrets of Ahab really are all about.

Moby Dick Ch. 16-20

lily1792 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:31:18 +0000

In these four chapters of Moby Dick, three new major characters were introduced. The Captains. First, there is the mysterious Captain Ahab, who is said to have lost a leg on a whaling voyage and is in hideaway for now, and Ishmael cannot meet him. Then there is Captain Bildad, and old orthodox quaker who is attatched to his bible, and then the younger fiestier Captain Peleg, who has quite the temper. Ishmael and Queequeg are about to embark on a whaling voyage on the Pequod. From my perception, Ishmael is entering this whaling trip blindly. As I read this, I got the uneasy sense that Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg are letting meeting Captain Ahab go until the last minute so no one is scared off the ship. I think that maybe these two, fighting, co-captains are just stand-ins. They are afterall, owners. Also, reading this, you get the uneasy yet exciting feeling that Captain Ahab is either going to horrible, or wonderful.

Moby Dick Ch. 10-15

lily1792 — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:20:32 +0000

In chapters ten through eleven of Moby Dick, Ishmael and Queequeg start becoming best friends. It’s funny because in chapter three when Ishmael first found out about Queequeg, he spent an entire chapter ranting about how scared he was of who this person was “going to be” and just worrying himself sick about the fact that he had to share a bed with a complete stranger. Ishmael first thinks Queequeg is a savage and shouldn’t be trusted, but in chapters ten and twelve you see Ishmael warm up to Queequeg, and rather, fall in love with him. After Ishmael sees Queequeg trying to count, he sees this vulnerable side of him, so Ishmael helps him. And by the time you know it, they are snuggled in bed together at twelve midnight, sharing a pipe. When Ishmael says “…there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends.” it reminded me of slumber parties with my best friends and staying up into the wee hours of the night, pouring our souls out to one another. This touched me as sweet, to hear this coming from two men, who are usually supposed to be too “tough” for something like that. Ishmael and Queequeg are a funny pair, and it also puzzles me at their closeness (because after all, it is not very manly) but I think they are charming and balance each other out very well.

Chapter twelve made me laugh out loud they way Ishmael (or Melville) ended chapter elven and started chapter twelve out like this: “I begged him to go on and tell it. He gladly complied. Though at the time I but ill comprehended not a few of his words…” and goes on to say something like, but I managed to pull out a “skeleton” of the story of where Queequeg comes from, and it goes straight into the chapter titled “Biographical”. I think this was very clever and funny of Melville to make a whole chapter or “story” out of what Queequeg was telling him that night, right after he says they were talking. It shows how Melville kind of just goes with the flow of what he’s writing and how much he just makes things up, like the island, “Kokovoko”, that Queequeg comes from. Melville’s explanation for this “island” is “It is not down in any map; true places never are.”

Chapters thirteen and fourteen are about Ishmael and Queequeg deciding to go on a boat to Nantucket together. The way Melville describes Nantucket, kind of as the center of the world, was interesting for me to read compared to my personal image of Nantucket, going there as a little girl, a quaint, picture-perfect island with cobble stone streets and rose covered cottages, for “the vacationers”. The “Black Dog” Nantucket today has been sanitized of it’s “piratey” past, because reading all of this was quite a surprise to me.

I loved chapter fifteen. I am in love with Nantucket clam chowder. And apparently everyone back then was too.