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.