Interesting Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQonowKNo0s

Response Journal Week 6 - Gabriel

So far I have read up to page 286 in Moby Dick and I haven’t read any of the Mathiesen handout yet. I wanted to start out by writing about the encounter between Fleece and Stubb on page 237. It was almost painful to read because Stubb treated the old, tired cook so poorly. First Stubb gets mad at the cook for not cooking the whale steak right, and he therefore wakes him up and makes him preach to the sharks. This encounter stood out to me because it was really the first time in this novel where one character is being truly mean to the other character. Stubb doesn’t strike me as a mean person. In fact, he’s the jolly nihilist who thinks the world is one big joke. Therefore, I think that this is just Stubb’s way of amusing himself. At one point Fleece calls Stubb “Massa Stubb” on page 238. I’m not sure if it’s common for the mates to be referred to as Master, but to me it seemed liked the Fleece’s reference to Stubb as master was racially motivated. I say this because at one point earlier in the novel, Ishmael talks about how he wouldn’t want to hold a high office on a boat such as a mate or a cook because he doesn’t like the power. Ishmael makes it clear that cooks are officers on whaling ships, which is why it would make no sense for one officer to call another officer master. The fact that Fleece calls Stubb “Massa Stubb” is interesting because for the past 240 pages it seems as if port-towns, such as Nantucket, and whaling ships were much progressive in the way that foreigners, white Americans, and people of color interacted, however, in the encounter between Stubb and Fleece, the reader sees a hint of the racism, evident on the mainland. However, on page 252, the racial tolerance of whale ships is again evident. Ishmael talks about his brotherhood with Queequeg because a monkey rope attached him and Queequeg as Queequeg stood on top of the whale. On most ships the person on the whale isn’t attached by a rope to a person on the ship, however, on the Pequod, Stubb was the one who forced Ishmael to be attached to Queequeg so that Ishmael’s life depended on Queequeg. This shows how Stubb values the life of black crewmembers as much as those of white crewmembers. Also, on page 257, Stubb gets furious with the steward when he gives Queequeg ginger instead of an alcoholic beverage because he thinks Queequeg is deserving of a true reward. In performing these two acts Stubb shows that he is not racist, and that he cares for all of his crewmates, regardless of their race. This makes me think that the mean behavior he displayed towards Fleece wasn’t as racially motivated as I originally thought. This also makes me question whether Fleece was required to call Stubb “Massa Stubb” or whether he just does that because he’s used to referring to all white people in that manner.

There was an interesting passage on page 242, where Melville talks about cannibals and how it’s more tolerable for famished people from Fejee to eat missionaries than for westerners to eat Foie gras. Melville shows again how different he is from most people of his time period, in defending cannibalism to a certain degree. It’s also interesting that Melville is defending cannibalism after he was captured by a group of cannibals. It would be really interesting to learn what went on during Melville’s detainment because we could then see what shaped his views on cannibalism.

I also just wanted to point out a great line on page 282. Melville writes, “For all his [the whale] old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that preach unconditional inoffensiveness to all”. I loved this line because it sums up the bigger picture of whaling. It’s weird how Melville describes whaling in such a bad light because he is a staunch advocate of whaling, and he continually sticks up for it throughout the book. This line really contradicts much of what Melville has previously said about whaling.

Response Journal Week 5 - Mayumi

The main secondary source we read, “Loomings,” contained interesting and relevant arguments that served as a lens for my reading of the actual Moby Dick text for this week. Chapter 54 “The Town-Ho’s Story” was a prime example of Ishmael’s dislike of superiority and unresolved conflict. The story was about a mutiny – the inferior sailors posed a problem in which they made a statement about their mistreatment. The sailors are detained, and after a period of time, are about to be hanged when Steelkilt hisses some unknown threats to the captain and are released. Thus the conflict between the superior and inferior goes unresolved. Even after the whole ordeal, Ishmael states that any one of the men onboard would gladly sacrifice whatever they deemed necessary for the needs of the boat. The sailors, even after the mutiny, agree to submit themselves (as inferiors) to the needs of the boat. The rest of the story remains unresolved, ending with Radney’s death (a sailor on whom Steelkilt never got to exact his revenge) and the Steelkilt’s enlistment onboard a French boat.
On page 224 is another example of Ishmael’s appeal to inferiority where the sea is the omnipotent master. Melville writes:

Like a savage tigress that tossing in the jungle overlays her own cubs, so the sea dashes even the mightiest whales against the rocks, and leaves them there side by side with the split wrecks of ships. No mercy, no power but its own controls it. Panting and snorting like a mad battle steed that has lost its rider, the masterless ocean overruns the globe.

Even whales are subject to the sea, which in terms of power, remains second to none. Ishmael almost enjoys the leveling of creatures through the subordination of a master. Everyone suffers in some way or another under a master. Although Ishmael doesn’t respect whales to the degree that he does humans, he does show some amount of pity towards them in identifying their same predicament (subject to the whims of the ocean) in this quote.
On a different note, the mystery of the whale appears once again in Chapter 55. After describing the many failed attempts across the globe to draw whales, Ishmael concludes that a whale can never be properly drawn. Even with the guide of a whale skeleton, humans can never put on paper the true form of a whale. They can get close, but they will never succeed. This idea of an essence that can’t be recorded relates back to the Platonic ideas of forms and sense objects. Form is the eternal and unchanging blueprint for the universe. Because humans cannot come into contact with this eternal thus they experience the ideas of form through sense objects – a watered down version of form. If the whale is an eternal form, then his earthly manifestation cannot be mimicked or recorded in any fashion. And if the Moby Dick is the manifestation of eternal (either God or Satan’s will) then this chapter fits perfectly into this intricate puzzle of the book.

Response Journal 5-Amani

One thread I noticed in the reading for this week was Ishmael’s depiction of the inaccessibility of the White Whale. In Chapter 55, Ishmael claims that in order actually know what a creature looks like, you must encounter it. However, he points out that most of whale’s body is under water, and if someone were to go under water to where the whale is, they would probably die. In Chapters 56 and 57, Ishmael attempts to find acceptable depictions of whales. He thinks of two found in France. He contemplates why France has the best depictions of whales, though they aren’t a whaling nation. So is there depiction really accurate? It seems difficult to understand the White Whale, or more specifically Moby-Dick. This adds to the theme of seeking the unknown.
In Harrison Hayford’s “ ‘Loomings’: Yarns and Figures in the Fabric,” he discusses this theme. He analyzes Moby-Dick with a focus on the first chapter “Loomings” which he says, “carry a few strands of thought (themes)” that reoccur throughout the book. Hayford discusses the confusion the reader faces in distinguishing the narrator: Ishmael or Melville himself. He says that it's important to look at the book as though Ishmael is narrating all throughout. “In this perspective, the action of the work takes place in the observing and participating mind of Ishmael” (657). He points out that the book begins with the statement, “Call me Ishmael,” so we should. It was interesting to look at Loomings after reading more the of the book. It seemed like a much more significant chapter. This chapter definitely contains significant themes that help us to understand Ishmael, as a character. Ishmael is an observer that allows us to see whats going on. He allows us to see Ahab; Melville is unable to do so. Hayford draws upon the similarties and differences between Ishmael and Ahab. He explains that “both of them turn every object, situation, and person they confront into a problem, one which cannot be solved, a mystery whose lurking meaning cannot be followed to its ultimated elucidation.” (659) The distinction between the two men is what they do with the problem they created. Ishmael goes on this trip, seeking the unknown, to get away from violence and destruction. Ahab's reason for going on this voyage is to destroy; to kill both Moby-Dick. Hayford also discusses fate and Ahab's predestined self-destruction.
Two other criticisms I read were “The Strangest, Wildest, and Saddest Story” by Louis Beck and “I Wish I Had Written That” by William Faukner. Both admired Melville's work. Beck said that Moby-Dick served as a way for him and his crew to bond. If real seaman praise Melville for his work, then maybe Melville's voyaging descriptions aren't as inaccurate as we may think. Faulkner described the book as “Greek-like,” depicting Ahab as a tragic hero. Faulkner says that the White Whale is a “symbol of their doom.” (640) The point of his text is exactly the title: he wish he could have written Moby-Dick.

Response Journal Week 5 - Kalil

The Town-Ho’s Story introduces an interesting narrative strategy in Moby Dick. Rather than events unfolding in chronological order, Ishmael jumps ahead, to his later telling of this story on shore. This reintroduces the question of Ishmael as a character, which we have begun to largely ignore, in favor of analyzing Ahab, about whom we are given far more information. Harrison Hayford examines this to some extent in his essay “Loomings”. Though I found the vast majority of his ideas fairly problematic, he did give a very interesting account of Ishmael’s importance. His characterization of Ishmael as a “symphetic but perplexed observer”, fits in very nicely with my view of him as not quite corporeal in the way that Melville’s other characters are (658).
However, Hayford’s far reaching assertions about the novel are far more questionable. He suggests that Ishmael’s stated dislike of being a cook can be extrapolated to mean that Ishmael has a fundamental problem with subjecting others to his power. The continuation that this is also related to bodily injuries is simply implausible to me. Perhaps I’m not a good judge, not having finished the book, but this, as well as his analysis of the diction that Melville uses, do not appear to be well supported ideas (662-663). This is not always true, though. Hayford proposes the idea that Ishmael and Ahab treat every person as an unsolvable problem. When combined with his suggestion that the ocean is similarly an insoluble problem, this leads us back to our examination of the ocean as representing the infinite, and then to the concept of microcosms; each person has some part of the universe (or the ocean) within them. All of this is extremely Platonic, which has proven to be a major theme throughout our reading.
I also read several reviews of Moby Dick, including “A Primitive Formation of Profanity and Indecency”, and “Not Worth the Money Asked for It”. The former makes a point of praising what they refer to as “Moly-Dick” for its gripping narrative, claiming that “…the writer is half the time on his head, and the other half dancing a pirouette on one toe.” Of course, after Moly-Dick is introduced, the book becomes inane, vulgar and poorly written. Their primary point is that Melville’s writing is offensive, and thus he will go to hell, both for wasting his life, and for blasphemy (as will his publishers). The second review claims that Melville writes as though he is insane, and thus the novel is over priced. How did something so clearly hated become the Great American Novel?
Finally, I also read the review Gabriel read. I was somewhat concerned that someone who wrote, “The strongest point of the book is its ‘characters’”, is in any way qualified to criticize literature.

Response Journal Week 5 - Caleb

Harrison Hayford’s “Loomings,” I thought, had some fascinating ideas. Although the whole essay at times seemed a bit strained or tenuous, Hayford’s highlighting of each chapter as “frequently constructed on a pattern of confrontation-exploration-nonsolution of a problem” (659) I though shed light on the problem we’ve been discussing for much of the semester: Melville’s cohesiveness. We’ve discussed how, as readers, we are supposed to reconcile the fact that Ishmael/Melville jumps around a lot, between what would seem like random subjects. However, this form of confrontation-explanation-frustration, a pattern that I now notice in even the most trivial chapters (“The Line”, for example), helps me to make sense of the book as a whole. As Hayford asserts, one extremely important theme in the novel is “that of confronting an insoluble problem.” (659) This brings to mind the quote from “Cetology,” where, after spending several pages trying to explain and classify types of whales for the reader, Melville/Ishmael gets fed up and exclaims, “God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught--- nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!” (125) This, to me, gives Hayford’s chapter formula a more large-scale application. The whole book, as the sum of its chapters, could be seen as following the “confrontation-exploration-nonsolution” format. Though it is a confrontation with a larger theme (the contents could be debated), it is Ahab’s confrontation with Moby-Dick, which, I predict, will end up in a nonsolution.
The second critical work I read was Camille Paglia’s “Moby-Dick¬ as Sexual Protest,” in which Paglia argues that Melville struggles to make Moby-Dick a primarily masculine book, contrasting the masculine titular whale with the fleeting feminine squid. Though I didn’t quite agree with (or perhaps totally grasp) Paglia’s assertion, one of her ideas caught my interest. Paglia claims that Melville, in his “nonfiction sections… aspires to epistemology, organizing the known, if only to dramatize that which is unknown. “ (697) This provides an interesting and plausible explanation for Melville’s constant catalogues. Perhaps all of this listing and stress on the known (things like cetology, currents, the artistic history of the whale) serve only to highlight the real focus of the book: that which is unknown. This fits back in with Hayford’s idea that the whole book is about the impossibility of confronting the unknown.
Hayford’s other assertion, that of Ishmael’s attitude toward dominance, I didn’t understand as fully, though I was reminded of it in “Brit”, Ishmael asserts that “the masterless ocean overruns the globe” (224). The Town-Ho’s Story seemed to me an early incarnation of “Billy Budd”, and I saw the same themes of fatalism we’ve been discussing woven throughout the story, with sentences like,“… a strange fatality pervades the whole career of these events, as if verily mapped out before the world itself was charted.” (212) or “but, gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter by the Gods” (204).

Response Journal Week 4 - Gabriel

I found the Town-Ho Story chapter to be quite different from all the other chapters we’ve read so far because we see Ishmael telling a story after his voyage on the Pequod. It is the first instance in this book where Ishmael has jumped around in time. I found the Town-Ho story to be quite amusing, and it was almost a relief to take a break from the Pequod and focus on another whaling ship. I found the note on page 200 to be particularly interesting because it talks about the methodology behind Ishmael’s telling of the story. In the note it says that Ishmael tries to induce disbelief in the unlikely but true so as to later induce belief in another extravagance. Ishmael also uses the word “gentleman” a lot to distance his audience from the events he is describing to them. Through Ishmael’s story telling techniques we see, again, that he is an intellectual.
In loomings Melville writes about the danger of the sea and in this week’s reading, he adds to what he wrote in loomings. He writes, “But not only is the sea such a foe to man who is an alien to it, but it is also a fiend to its own offspring” (Melville 224). At first he talked about how the ocean was captivating and dangerous for land dwellers, however, in Brit he talks about how the sea is uncontrollable, and often kills whales and other sea inhabitants because it is so powerful. After talking about the savageness of the sea, he then goes on to talk about how subtle the sea is and how the sea is made up of the loveliest tints of azure. This reminded me of The Whiteness of The Whale where he talks about how many white objects are so beautiful yet so dangerous. However, what surprised me about Melville’s rant on the sea was the last thing he writes, which is, “Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return” (Melville 225). I interpreted this, as Melville saying that the sea is too dangerous, and that people should stay on land. I found this to be contradictory because throughout the novel, he has been praising the sea and talking about how captivating and mysterious it is.
I didn’t really like Harrison Hayford’s criticism of Moby Dick because I found a lot of his inferences to be either very obvious, or too much of a stretch. For instance on page 662 he looks at how Ishmael talks about how he doesn’t like cooking fowl, but he likes eating fowl, and compares it to the horrific injuries of many harpooners and whalers. He attempts to dissect the language with which Ishmael talks about the killing of fowl and he tries to compare it to the language used when speaking about the killing of whales, however, I just didn’t think Hayford had enough evidence to make the claim, that Melville attempted to make a connection between the broiling of fowl and the killing of whales and harpooners. However, I liked Hayford’s comparison of Ahab, and Ishmael, who are more similar than I originally thought. Hayford writes that they both turn every confrontation into a unsolvable problem, which is sort of true. He also talks about how both of them are very similar, however, Ahab knows how to take out his frustration nonagressively, while Ahab can’t. I found this to be an interesting idea, and I wonder what other members of the Independent study think.
I read A Singular Medley, which is a review of Moby Dick on page 599, and the author didn’t seem to like Moby Dick. He thought that Melville took too much liberty in his writing, because Ishmael describes conversations, for which he wasn’t present and the story switches from an autobiography to a narrative. I understood what the reviewer was saying, and it made sense that someone from the 1950’s would be a bit taken aback by Melville’s peculiar writing style. The reviewer also said that the characters are the strongest part of the novel, and I must say that I agree with this. The interactions between the characters are what make Moby Dick interesting and humorous, and I find that although many parts of the book are very informative in talking about information having to do with whaling, the characters are the best part.

Response Journal Week 4 - Kalil

These chapters serve to reinforce the conflict between the concrete and the abstract. In The Affidavit, Ishmael (presumably) ironically states, “So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world... they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous an intolerable allegory” (172). Because the book has thus far had an abundance of philosophizing and allegorical symbolism, it is hard to take this at face value. Therefore it seems more likely that this reinforces the idea that Moby Dick is representative of either a god or demon figure, or even simply evil itself. This conflict is affirmed in the narrative structure too, which flits between deeply philosophical, plot advancing, and simply a list of facts about whales.

This conflict is also important in Captain Ahab's attempts to find the whale. Because he personified the whale as intelligent, and because of the crew's belief in the whale's mystical powers of ubiquity and invincibility, it is hard to treat it as merely an animal. Instead, it is elevated to godhood, which makes the idea of predicting its location almost absurd. Ahab is applying a science to a god, which is blasphemous (chapter 44).

Initially, Ishmael was more than simply a narrator, he was an actively involved character, yet as the book goes on, he has become less and less directly involved in the plot. While this is partly a result of him being a loner, it is odd that the character who seemed to be the most important during the first few chapters, has all but faded out of view. However, in chapter 49, the Hyena, we once again get an injection of Ishmael's worldview. He still appears oddly detached (he laughs at their situation though they all nearly died), but suddenly he does something. He brings his own morbid feelings back into the novel by rewriting his will, and suggests that he has already died, and has now risen. Thus, he has no fear of death, and continues his stoic acceptance (189).

Response Journal Week Four - Mayumi

I can’t help but discuss the magnificent chapter, “The Whiteness of the Whale.” Ishmael builds example upon example of the grand and terrifying or beautiful nature of things that are white: pearls, wampum, imperial colors (intercontinentally), horses, flames, an albatross, the hue of death, a mysterious fog, a White Friar/White Nun, and even people (to Melville), to name a few. The profound effect white has upon humans is its enhancing effect – it almost alters one’s senses to enhance the terrifying or beautiful nature of the white object. It has the power to invoke the sublime and speak directly to the soul. Humans are so intimidated by this color because it isn’t a color; it is the absence of color, or even to some the absence of life. Melville mentions enormous white expanses, such as thick fog and snow, and their effect on people to exemplify this point. The terrifying part of these expanses is its lack of color; color marks familiar landmarks in life, we feel out of place and uncomfortable.
These white symbols kept appearing after Chapter 42, mainly in “The First Lowering” and “The Albatross.” In “The First Lowering,” the white imagery appears towards the end, when after hunting in white waters for the whales, the small boats are engulfed in mist and return without a whale. In the “Albatross,” the Pequod encounters a ship of the same name, which Melville describes as “bleached like the skeleton of a stranded” and having a “spectral appearance” (195). The captain loses his trumpet and the shoal that were following the Pequod begin to follow the Albatross. From these events, it seems as though almost everything associated with the color white is followed by bad luck (the mist and no whale, the Albatross and the loss of a trumpet and fish, and the Moby-Dick and Ahab’s leg). If Moby-Dick is the embodiment of the challenges Ahab faces, it would make sense that other things associated with the color white are also followed with challenges or misfortune.
The elevation of Ahab’s madness in contrast to his awareness of his need to keep control builds off of the last week’s reading. These two aspects of Ahab’s being are in such contention that he can viscerally feel the conflict; the pain is both emotional and physical. The pain is so unbearable that he crucifies himself (the text is unclear as to whether he does so symbolically or literally with his fingernails). Ahab’s monomania in conflict with his awareness that he must not let the skeptical (Starbuck) rebel also causes a split between his mind and his soul. Melville writes: “The latter was the eternal, living principle or soul in him; and in sleep, being for the time dissociated from the characterizing mind, which at other times employed it for its outer vehicle or agent, it spontaneously sought escape from the scorching contiguity of the frantic thing, of which for the time, it was no longer an integral” (169-170). True separation between mind and soul does not exist while Ahab is conscious, however in his sleep, his soul tries to escape, as it perceives that it is not integrated into the rest of his being.

Response Journal Week 4-Amani

Our reading for this week starts off with Chapter 42, narrated by, as Gabi pointed out, an unknown narrator. The narrator, most likely Melville, seems to know much more than about whaling than Ishmael. He talks about experiences that neither Ishmael nor Melville ever experienced. It may be Ishmael recounting his experience to the reader, however, that is not consistent with the previous passages that have been told in present tense. Ishmael’s (as the narrator) knowledge throughout the book has varied with Melville’s assistance at certain points. On page 178, in “Surmises” Ishmael is able to explain what’s going on in Ahab’s mind. Melville is clearly playing a role here. 

In “The Whiteness of the Whale,” Melville describes the significance of the symbolism that is represented by the color white. He explains that although white can be associated with purity and good things, it possesses a mystical terror. Melville describes white “as not so much a color as the visible absence of color...it is the “all-color atheism” (165). This symbol of whiteness is seen in the following chapters and seems to represent the divinity of God that is not just good but also terrifying. The whiteness of the whale or divinity of the whale represents some deity that frightens Ishmael. “Besides, when making a passage from one feeding-ground to another, the sperm whales, guided by some infallible instinct--say, rather, secret intelligence from the Deity...with one tithe of such marvelous precision” (167).  

The deity guiding this whale may be fate. In “The Affidavit,” Melville seems to be convincing or warning the reader of how dangerous whales, mainly sperm whales, are. From the stories he tells us, it seems like those who interrogate or purposely attempt at attacking the whale will not only fail but will be pursued and destroyed by the whale; those who accidentally hurt the whale are unharmed. The whale, depicted by Melville, is not just an animal; it is directed by some form of supreme being. 

I thought Chapter 44, “The Chart” was interesting because Melville allowed the reader to learn more about Ahab, one of the most fascinating characters of the book. Ahab has a split mind; which can be categorized as his conscious and subconscious. His subconscious, free from his “mind,” reveals itself when Ahab attempts to sleep, it is tormented with “insufferable anguish” (169). His conscious is “a kind of self-assured, independent being of its own.” Melville hints at Ahab’s blankness or whiteness in both this chapter and other chapters to come. When Ahab’s mysterious crew appear, they are characterized with ghostly qualities. Melville connects Ahab to Prometheus, a tragic hero: “he [Ahab] whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart forever, that vulture the very creature he creates” (170). Ahab’s conscious mind creates his subconscious mind. His own thoughts create his torment. Ahab, like the heroes of Greek tragedies, will be the cause of his own destruction. 

Response Journal Week 4 - Caleb

These recent chapters, in the vein of Melville’s themes of duality, provided some of both the most unexciting and exciting chapters yet. While (finally) we get to see an actually whale-hunt, which culminates in a capsizing of Ishmael’s boat because of a storm, we also had to brave the painstaking description of the currents which Ahab mapped to find his Great White Whale. Many of the themes touched upon in these chapters recall the opening chapters. Fatalism plays a huge part in both Ishmael onset narration, and now that he’s settled on the Pequod. “Then Captain and crew become practical fatalists.” (194) says Ishmael, when a period of clear weather sets in. Before that, in the storm during the whale hunt, Melville gives us another fatalist image of solitude and desperation: Queequeg holding up the lantern to signal the Pequod. Melville writes, “There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair.” (187) And, of course, my favorite cynical fatalist quip comes in ‘the Hyena’, when Ishmael claims that “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own.” (188)

Another recurring theme that Melville/Ishmael brings up in “Loomings” and furthers in these chapters is that aspect of the sea that is both attractive and destructive. “…in pursuit of those far mysteries we dream of…” says Ishmael, “they either lead us on in barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed.” (196) Ishmael sees this duality in everything (“Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love the invisible spheres were formed in fright.” (164)). He sees it in people (“…strangely compounded of fun and fury…” (182) and “…in him also two different things were warring.” (192)). He even sees it in the concept of the color white, of which he asks “Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation…” (165).

It’s interesting reading about Ahab after reading Machiavelli’s “The Prince”. I can’t help but notice the similarities. Both men are guided monomaniacally by a single principle (for Ahab, it’s Moby-Dick; for Machiavelli, it’s efficiency). Both men prescribe to others merely an instrumental value. Melville writes that, “To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools used in the shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order.” (177) Ahab sees his crew as “tools”—a means of achieving the ends of Moby-Dick, just as Machiavelli sees people as a means to the end of the survival of the state. It is questionable, however, because Ahab is doing just as much harm to himself as he is to his crew. He is undergoing, basically, a long, drawn-out suicide (or self-crucifixion), as he “…wakes with bloody nails in his palms.” (169)

Response Journal Week 4 - Gabriel

I thought the whiteness of the whale was a very interesting chapter because of the paradox that Ishmael presents. Ishamel writes, “It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me” (page 159). He later goes on to explain that the whiteness appalled him because white is such a smooth, powerful, awe-inspiring color, and when white is coupled with something terrible that thing becomes all the more terrible. Although Melville is a bit racist in this chapter, I find what he says about the color white to be very accurate, and it makes me wonder how something as simple as a color can become so complicated, and so deeply-associated with feelings, and ideas.

On page 169 Melville writes, “[Ahab’s soul] being for the time dissociated from the characterizing mind, which at other times employed it for its outer vehicle or agent, it spontaneously sought escape from the scorching contiguity of the franctic thing, of which, for the time, it was no longer an integral.” I thought that this passage was very interesting for a few reasons. For one thing, I really liked the imagery of Ahab’s soul desperately trying to escape from his mind when he was sleeping. I also thought it was interesting that Ahab’s soul seemed to be more normal than his mind, and I wonder if Melville, in writing this passage, is trying to show that Ahab still has a regular soul, and that he is therefore not fully a madman. I also found it interesting how on page 177 Ahab realized that he needed to chase after all whales in order to make a profit, and therefore keep his crew happy. He knew that he needed to keep his crew happy because they were the tools he would use to kill Moby Dick. What was interesting about this is that Ahab is portrayed as being insane, yet he is still very smart, and tactical in the way he approaches capturing Moby Dick. He still knows how to conduct day-to-day business and how to track whales, so it seems as if his insane when it comes to the big picture, but actually quite sane when it comes to little, day-to-day things.

On page 196 Ishmael writes, “Whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only through numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we left behind secure, were all the time before us”(196). I found this so interesting because Ishmael has been a starch advocate for whaling for the whole first part of the book but now he really starts to question why men whale. It is very dangerous, and he writes that one must be a practical fatalist to go on a whale ship because there is always a good chance that one will die. He seems to think that one should only go whaling if one doesn’t have anything to lose, and from what Ishmael has said about himself, it seems that Ishmael has nothing to lose. The fact that Ishmael questions whaling shows how he has finally had a reality check and realizes how what whaling actually entails.

Response Journal Week 4-Gabi

For the first time, Ishmael took us out to hunt some whales! We also learned of Ahab’s secret crew-members (180). Ishmael refers to them as “dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of the air.” These men are “outlaws” or castaways who are much like trash or bits of wreckage floating in the sea (191). One of these men, Fedallah, is described as either Asian or Arabic, or a mix of the two. He “hisses” and is a thoroughly scary man. While his story is not told explicitly, one is able to infer that he is not the most upright of citizens. These phantom men are just one more indication of Ahab’s dark side. In the beginning of “The Spirit-Spout” (Chapter 51), Melville writes, “While [Ahab’s] one live leg made lively echos along the deck, every stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin tap.” (192) Ahab is half dead, and whatever life is left in him is powered by his “monomania.”
One of the most exciting parts of this initial whale hunt was Stubb’s “exordium.” His unconventional ranting has the effect of propelling the small boat forward,

“He would say the most terrific things to his crew, in a tone so strangely compounded of fun and fury, and the fury seemed so calculated merely as a spice to the fun, that no oarsmen could hear such queer invocations without pulling for dear life, and yet pulling for the mere joke of the thing.” (182)

When I read this passage, I recalled Ahab’s “pep-talk” to his men, to get them riled up to hunt the great white whale. These were two very different approaches (and obviously in very different situations) to unify the men into what could almost be compared to a single organism or some other singular entity.
On another note, “The Whiteness of the Whale” (Chapter 42) was one of the more poetic or philosophical chapters we have read so far. In it, Ishmael or Melville (I don’t know which one to refer to anymore) addresses the whale’s color. Moby Dick is a white whale, a characteristic that makes him all the more note-worthy. Ishmael credits this whiteness (that of polar bears, of snowcapped mountains, and of death) with reminding us of the infinity of the universe, which in turn brings to mind the impermanence of our own fleeting existence. He writes that whiteness is unique in that it is simultaneously the absence of color and a manifestation of all colors. It is used to symbolize innocence or purity (a bridal gown) but the whale’s whiteness, specifically, is extremely terrifying. It shrouds something frightening and horrible in a fleece of whiteness. Melville’s whiteness is symbolic of the unknown, or the inhuman (the divine and the frightful). “Sublime” is the perfect word to describe it.
Moby Dick is so surreal, so complex and buried under so many layers that it is easy to get swamped by the gravity of it all. For the first time, I read this week’s portion in one sitting. I was struck by how differently I reacted to the text. Not only was my focus much more intense but I felt like I was in the story. However, the same way that Melville (or Ishmael) was able to draw me into the labyrinth of his narrative, he was able to pull me right back out with a bit of perspective, “There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange and mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more suspects that the joke is at nobody’s expense but his own.” (188)

Response Journal Week 3-Gabi

This section we read for today was particularly significant for many reasons. Mayumi, Caleb, and Gabriel all touched on the way Melville uses perspective, shifting from an authority on whales to Captain Ahab, to Starbuck. We get see how the different characters feel about Captain Ahab’s mission to find and kill Moby Dick. The way these character’s respond shape our own feelings about this turn of events. If we combine this with the way that Ahab is portrayed in chapter 36, “The Quarter Deck,” we get a very complex set of perspectives.
The first thing that came to mind when I was reading “The Quarter-Deck”, was The Bacchae. Captain Ahab is driven by an almost Dionysian force. Just like Dionysus has his converted followers, Ahab, almost magically (through a combination of bribery with gold, and a lot of enthusiasm) gets most of the other men in his boat behind his cause. Ishmael almost seems to feel like he is possessed, “...stronger I shouted, and more did I hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab's quenchless feud seemed mine.” (152) Caleb mentioned the musical-like feel of chapter 40, and bringing to mind the dances and revels of The Bacchae. This mission makes no logical sense (except for maybe to Ahab). One would assume that the other men on the ship would object very strongly to risking their lives for a pursuit that would even bring about any financial compensation. Early in the reading (126), Melville wrote about the “community” of the ship. The men, since they are payed according to their “common luck” in whaling, must all work together. They are brought together by this common goal to hunt whales so they can all make a profit. Ahab has changed the nature of this community by changing their common purpose (if one can even call it common).
Caleb also mentioned the passage in “The Mast-Head” in which Ishmael (or Melville) compares the ocean and the cadence of the waves to the soul, “... [the sailor] loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible image of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and natur.” (136) While this might seem irrelevant and even campy, if the ocean is like a soul, then what is the whale? Moby-Dick can represent a part of Ahab's soul that he is obsessed with vanquishing.

Interesting Site

http://everypageofmobydick.blogspot.com/

Response Journal Week 3-Amani

Our reading for this week exposed what seems like the purpose of Melville's story. Ishmael and Queequeg have finally begun their voyage and now the reader knows where they're going. The story is no longer solely about Ishmael and Queequeg; lots of new characters have been introduced and are now part of the story. Ahab is the most interesting character and the driving force behind the plot. His desire to seek vengeance on Moby-Dick (The Great White Whale) has given a purpose to the crew's voyage. Although most of the crew has nothing to gain from finding Moby-Dick, their Captain Ahab is able to persuade them. I agree with Kalil in his point about the contrast the reader sees in Ahab's personality. Ahab is inaccessible to the crew despite his ability to make them all excited about pursuing an adventure only significant to Ahab. Starbuck seems to be the only voice of reason. He says: “How many barrels will thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab?” (139). He makes a valid point. There is nothing to gain from vengeance.
I think an important theme to understand in this book is one about fate. All of the individuals Ishmael encounters seem to have the same understanding of fate. They believe it exists and that they can’t change it. Ishmael especially allows fate to take its course. One of the reasons he goes to the sea is because the mysteriousness of it attracts him. Ishmael doesn’t have a plan. He follows his “instinct” he says in the first few chapters. Ahab is the only one who doesn't obey the laws of fate. Despite Starbuck’s foresight of the expedition’s failure, Ahab believes he can control his destiny. Ahab is unwilling to admit that there are forces stronger than him. His own ignorance will be his destruction. This is incredibly similar to the Greek tragedies we read in seminar. Ahab acts in the same way as the tragic heroes who try to defy their fate. These heroes fail, are punished, and ultimately come to respect the gods. Moby-Dick is the embodiment of everything evil and all the misfortunes in Ahab’s life (156). He seeks to destroy the whale because it is a way for him to have control; something I don’t think he’s had in a while.

Response Journal Week 3 - Kalil

In these chapters, a strange duality about Captain Ahab emerges. He is extremely charismatic, as is seen in the way that he manages to entangle the crew in his own quest. Even Starbuck, skeptical of their crusade for vengeance, is unable to resist Ahab’s je ne sais quoi. However, Ahab is also incredibly mysterious to the crew. He is self-centered, and alien, as though he exists in a parallel universe. This primarily occurs when they are eating in the cabin, for, “…in the cabin was no companionship; socially, Ahab was inaccessible” (131). Somehow, the same Captain who manages to get the support of the entire crew for his insane desire to hunt the mythical whale, Moby Dick, is utterly unapproachable.
Before this section, we were only privy to Ishmael’s beliefs, specifically his fatalism. Now, due to the shifting narrators that Caleb mentioned, it becomes clear that he is in no way alone in his outlook on the world. Ahab, in his chapter, informs us that it was prophesied by Elijah (who we dismissed as crazy, though certainly one with a purpose) that he would be dismembered by Moby Dick, but now swears to “dismember my dismemberer” (143). Ahab in this same monologue, claims, “The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run…” (143). In chapter 38, Starbuck, foresees that their expedition is doomed, yet is incapable of changing his path. All of them, like Ishmael, seem resigned to their fate, though Ahab seems to be the only character willing to take charge of his.
This again draws on the idea of the tragic hero, whom Ishmael asserts will be deeply morbid. Secondly, the tragic hero has to suffer because of their hamartia, or their fatal flaw. For Ahab, this could be simply his single mindedness in seeking out the destruction of the whale, or the blasphemy behind it. First, he elevates himself above the gods, saying, “Now, then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That’s more than ye, ye great gods, ever were” (143). Then he, as Gabriel suggested, paints Moby Dick to be the source of all misfortune in the world. While he acknowledges that the idea of actually striking God is impossible, he wants to kill Moby Dick as an extension of God, and the source of his woes. “...all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick” (156).

Response Journal Week 3- Caleb

Something that people (Gabriel and Mayumi) seem to be touching on, which I also found to be interesting is Melville’s use of perspective and voice in these chapters. In “Cetology”, the narrator seems to shift from Ishmael to Melville himself, since there’s no way Ishmael could even pretend to be such an authority on whales—this is his first whaling voyage. He then transitions to a sort of omniscient narrator (perhaps still Melville) who is able to observe the inner-workings of the crew’s eating habits, including the cabin-room where Ahab and his three “emirs” eat (a comic affair, with Ahab forbidding any talk, and Flask is not only not allowed to have butter, but only has a few moments to eat before he has to return to the job). Then, in “The Mast-Head”, we transition back to Ishmael who, as Mayumi points out, waxes beautifully about the “infinite series of the sea, with nothing ruffled but the waves” (133). The end of that chapter, however, turns into a more dryly sardonic Ishmael, who warns ship owners against hiring “a sunken-eyed Platonists” who “offers to ship with the Phaedon instead of Bowditch” (135). Ishmael himself is quite the philosopher, a perfect example of such a thinker-sailor, so one cannot help but take his warning ironically. We then switch to Ahab’s point of view, then Starbuck’s, then Stubb’s, and then to an odd little musical of sorts, and then back to Ishmael, who reassures the reader by starting chapter 41 (p. 152) “I, Ishmael…”

In the “Mast-Head” section, Ishmael says something interesting that could, perhaps, shed light on these drastic perspective changes. “…lulled into such an opium-like listlessness of vacant, unconscious reverie is this absent-minded youth by the blending cadence of waves with thoughts, that at last he loses his identity; takes the mystic ocean at his feet for the visible imagine of that deep, blue, bottomless soul, pervading mankind and nature; and every… dimly-discovered, uprising fin of some indiscernible form, seems to him the embodiment of those elusive thoughts…” (136). This “identity crisis” could represent a sort of transcendental omniscience or omnipresence that Ishmael is transitioning to. We talked about the Ishmael’s transcendentalist “my body is but the lees of my soul” speech, and this seems to further that, in addition to once again stressing the metaphor of the sea as knowledge (with the fishes being ‘elusive thoughts’). I found this whole passage fascinating, and I’m interested to hear what everyone thinks.

After Captain Ahab reveals to the crew his true purpose in the voyage (the smiting of the Great White Whale), I liked Starbuck’s reaction: “How many barrels will thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab?” (139). Vengeance isn’t profitable and, since the Pequod’s goal is profit, Ahab seems to be almost hijacking the ship, controlling it for his own purpose. While everyone else is gung-ho about it (Ahab basically bribes the crew with booze), Starbuck recognizes the futility and impracticality of going after Moby Dick. Like Gabriel send, Moby Dick can represent a sort of God, “not only ubiquitous, but immortal” (155), and the development of the whale almost parallels man’s quest for a higher power. Ahab even recognizes it as “not only all of his bodily woes, but his spiritual exasperations” (156). Ahab’s search for Moby Dick, is a search for meaning and purpose in a random and unjust world. He repeatedly tries to find some sort of reason for his misfortune, when really it was “inflicted by an unintelligent agent” (156).

Blue (Moby Dick) by Jackson Pollock

White Whale

Response Journal Week 3 - Mayumi

The change in format and tone from Ishmael’s narrative to the many perspectives of his shipmates marks the change in mood of the sailors. Suddenly they have a goal, a paramount prize to focus their voyage on. The whalers are no longer sailing out at sea waiting for a whale to find them; they are now in control. They are no longer waiting for fate to happen to them. Instead, they are creating their own fate.
The white whale they are seeking is not simply an ocean dwelling creature; it is the embodiment of Ahab’s demons, the challenge sent by divine forces (good and/or evil) for him to overcome. The whale’s rare color and behavior are legendary; this is the challenge the tragic hero Ahab must conquer in order to prove himself and have his revenge.
Ishmael’s description of mastheads explains his love of ships and being out at sea very well. Melville writes: “For the most part, in this tropic whaling life, a sublime uneventfulness invests you; you hear no news; read no gazettes…are never troubled with the thought of what you shall have for dinner – for all your meals for three years and more are snugly stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable” (133). Onboard the Pequod, life is boiled down into its simplest forms. The complications of life on land such as worrying about income, sustenance, and anxiety causing news, cloud the emotional and the cerebral joys of living life on a ship. The concentrated experience of an isolated life allows for more self reflection and discovery, which Ishmael is very fond of. Onboard, Ishmael can be the sole authority on the classification of whales and history, as there are no other authorities to refute his knowledge. It is much easier to believe Ishmael’s rewritten history when he is the most qualified academic on the Pequod. Returning to the masthead, Ishmael loves it so much because it is removed even further from civilization than the boat. On the masthead there are even fewer responsibilities than on the boat. One can just lie back and watch the scenery.

Response Journal Week 3 - Gabriel

I want to start out by saying that I found the Cetology chapter (115) hilarious merely because Melville has no credibility to talk about the classification of whales as if he were an authority. He basically plagiarizes a bunch of books, and texts written by whaling authorities in order to classify a bunch of whales he has probably only heard of through books. At one point he even disagrees with certain whaling authorities at points in this chapter, which I found to be absurd. I did, however, find one of the assertions Linnaeus made to be remarkable because of its precociousness. He claims that whales are mammals, that once lived on land, which is what biologists widely believe today. I also want to acknowledge the hilarity of the chapter in which Melville describes the eating customs of the harpooners: Tashtego, Daggoo, and Queequeg. I found it so funny how they bully the little steward by stabbing him, and trying to skin him, but I did feel a bit bad for him because he’s going to have to deal with this bullying for three years, that are going to pass really slowly for him.
In the section we had to read, Ahab’s encounter with Moby Dick is described in full detail for the first time in the novel. The reader really gets to see the full extent of Ahab’s craziness. On page 140 Ahab says, “That inscrutable thing (Moby Dick) is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him”. Ahab seems to think that Moby Dick is the personification of some sorter of greater power that’s out to get him, and the only way Ahab can get back at all the evil in his level is to get revenge on Moby Dick. It seems as if Ahab wants to strike out against God. Ahab has directed all of the anger he’s ever had inside of him towards Moby Dick, so it seems as if there may be something in his past before his encounter with Moby Dick that fuels his monomania for Moby Dick. (156)
Another thing I found interesting was the effect that Ahab’s monomania has on the crew. Although the members of the crew know that Ahab’s crazy they were still riled up about chasing after Moby Dick. At one point Ishmael says that that the crew adopted Ahab’s monomania and made it their own. He even manages to convince Starbuck, who is very skeptical of chasing Moby Dick at first. Starbuck says, “The ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife to cut” (144). He is basically saying that he feels bound to Ahab and can’t unbind himself. I think that Ahab is able to gain support from his crew members so easily because he himself is so obsessed with Moby Dick. He is so passionate about getting revenge on Moby Dick that it seems like it would be nearly impossible to go against him as a crew mate.