Classics and the Western Canon discussion
Moby-Dick - Reread
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Chapter 11 through 21
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Jul 22, 2018 09:48AM
Bryan, et al, Oh, but I do encourage you to post. It's so jolly fun. It helps you wrestle with what the book means to you. And ... I'm just posting every time I have a thought... for Everyman. Something of a "Good-bye."
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At #5 Chapter 19. The Prophet
After learning about Ahab, the captain of the Pequod, we meet his biblical nemesis, Elijah. What is the meaning behind Elijah's statement about their souls:
"Oh, perhaps you hav'n't got any," he said quickly. "No matter though, I know many chaps that hav'n't got any,—good luck to 'em; and they are all the better off for it. A soul's a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon." .."
Maybe??? Ishmael and Qq have already lost their souls? Meaning?? They've lost their way? Ishmael hasn't followed the rules of his purported religion. Qq seems at this point to be rather a mishmash. And therefore they can't lose them further by signing on to the Pequod??? Maybe the FIND their souls on the trip???
After learning about Ahab, the captain of the Pequod, we meet his biblical nemesis, Elijah. What is the meaning behind Elijah's statement about their souls:
"Oh, perhaps you hav'n't got any," he said quickly. "No matter though, I know many chaps that hav'n't got any,—good luck to 'em; and they are all the better off for it. A soul's a sort of a fifth wheel to a wagon." .."
Maybe??? Ishmael and Qq have already lost their souls? Meaning?? They've lost their way? Ishmael hasn't followed the rules of his purported religion. Qq seems at this point to be rather a mishmash. And therefore they can't lose them further by signing on to the Pequod??? Maybe the FIND their souls on the trip???
At #5 or #6 Chapter 20. All Astir
Ishmael and Queequeg are told to stow their belongings on the ship as it would be sailing soon. We are then told of considerable time it took to load all of the items needed for a successful 3 year long whaling cruise.
I can't even imagine!!! I remember how much I had to pack for a week's car-trip vacation for just the family!
Captain Bildad's sister, the aptly named Charity - Aunt Charity, works hard to provide some of the smaller touches that promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation to all on board. .
Yes...but note, she was "a most determined and indefatigable spirit,but withal very kindhearted..." Withal: in addition; as a further factor or consideration. Therefore her kindness comes AFTER her determination... And what might be a motivating factor in her determination? Money. "she herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars" in the ship. We've seen Bildad's relationship with money. Might it be a family characteristic?
Ishmael gives us an ominous observation in hindsight:
If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing.
."
Nice point to highlight, David. He did the same at the close of "The Prophet," remember? "I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug." Maybe he was inclined to do this to absolve himself of a little self-guilt... He probably knew that he should have met the captain or crew, or asked around about them a little further, before he actually signed on.
Ishmael and Queequeg are told to stow their belongings on the ship as it would be sailing soon. We are then told of considerable time it took to load all of the items needed for a successful 3 year long whaling cruise.
I can't even imagine!!! I remember how much I had to pack for a week's car-trip vacation for just the family!
Captain Bildad's sister, the aptly named Charity - Aunt Charity, works hard to provide some of the smaller touches that promised to yield safety, comfort, and consolation to all on board. .
Yes...but note, she was "a most determined and indefatigable spirit,but withal very kindhearted..." Withal: in addition; as a further factor or consideration. Therefore her kindness comes AFTER her determination... And what might be a motivating factor in her determination? Money. "she herself owned a score or two of well-saved dollars" in the ship. We've seen Bildad's relationship with money. Might it be a family characteristic?
Ishmael gives us an ominous observation in hindsight:
If I had been downright honest with myself, I would have seen very plainly in my heart that I did but half fancy being committed this way to so long a voyage, without once laying my eyes on the man who was to be the absolute dictator of it, so soon as the ship sailed out upon the open sea. But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly strives to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me. I said nothing, and tried to think nothing.
."
Nice point to highlight, David. He did the same at the close of "The Prophet," remember? "I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug." Maybe he was inclined to do this to absolve himself of a little self-guilt... He probably knew that he should have met the captain or crew, or asked around about them a little further, before he actually signed on.
At #6 Chapter 21. Going Aboard Going to board the ship in the early morning Ishmael thinks he sees some sailors running to board the ship. Elijah finds them again and asks, "Did ye see anything looking like men going towards that ship a while ago?" "Like" men? What else could they be?.."
Oh, very cool! "like" men. I hadn't caught that.
Oh, very cool! "like" men. I hadn't caught that.

I take this as contrasts provide greater appreciation...from being cold to being warm, from being hungry to being fed....such as how hunger is the best spice for a meal. How even perfect weather can seem dull after awhile , but in contrast to a spell of unpleasant weather such as a wicked storm ruining plans, or bitter cold...one appreciates it quite a bit more..once again.

Ishmael states the principle this way:
for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.This is an odd concept and I certainly don't think it is universal. I did not enjoy the summer heat wave more because the winter was so cold.
Growing up it was often explained to me that God allows bad things to happen so we can better enjoy the good things. I find that iteration of the concept even more flawed.

Did you come awa..."
As you said, they assume (based on their previous knowledge) that what they should do was what they did so, for them, they were right.
I did not know this saying, I have not an english language background. I am from Brazil, but it is a good saying. I will keep it. I usually ask. I do not assume nothing, but people take it as offense, sometimes. They expect that you should know what they already know.

'for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.' This is an odd concept and I certainly don't think it is universal. I did not enjoy the summer heat wave more because the winter was so cold."<<<
>> I tend to think it is more or less, perhaps,"contrasts" help remind us to not take (good) things for granted especially as time passes.. I have thought this myself.
Q retelling of the ceremonial blessing of the beverage bowl, to be deemed by the Captain as only a finger bowl/glass....reminded me of my first encounter with a finger bowl at some fine restaurant and wondering , if indeed, it was some clear soup or beverage! ha! Queegueg said "What you think? - Didn't our people laugh?" That is unanswered but I inferred the answer to be yes..but was it? As I wrote the above, I note that I first just used a "Q' for Queequeq as his name is long (relative term) and unusual....and does that make me no better than Bildad not getting Queequeg's name correct (or even trying to do so) : e.g. "hedgehog, Quohog..". But my, how a well thrown harpoon dispels all notions of concerns as to papers and other qualifications so to sign Queegueg up and with a good "lay" as well!

I gave some thought to this and can see a reason to laugh and to not laugh. Reasons for laughing came easiest to me; If we saw it on an episode of Seinfeld it would be funny. But events that accompany the laugh track on a sit-com are often very unfunny in real life. How many brides, in real life, would find comedic genius in a strange man washing his hands in her wedding punch?
I often here that comedy is supposed to make us think as well as laugh. I think Melville pulls off both here.

What's she resigned to indeed?
There is the possibility that Ahab's ability to perform doesn't make that much difference to her because as a whaler he's gone so much. There is something much worse to resign yourself to, and that's loneliness.
It's a strange life, away from one another far more than together, often years at a time, and it's not like you can communicate with one another while apart. You are single except you aren't, both husband and wife, a difficult situation for anyone but particularly the young married. I guess you have to find other ways to occupy yourself.
I mean if I were interested in researching whaling mid-19th century I would research how wives handled loneliness. Maybe having children was one way to deal with it. Finding comfort elsewhere is another.
On an aside, if these whalers were gone 1, 2, or 3 years at a time, just imagine what the bars and inns must have been like when one of these ships pulled into shore. No, I can't imagine. Much worse than a cattle drive coming to town. The doctors probably worked overtime whenever a ship returned.

Another variant on that attitude can be (from my family?): things are going so well, something bad has to be about to happen.
Hume keeps reminding us, got to be careful about those cause and effect relationships.
Prather, in his Notes on How to Live in the World and Still be Happy opines that we as humans can have considerable control and responsibility about such matters.

It could be worse. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AFf0...
At #62 Sue wrote: "As I wrote the above, I note that I first just used a "Q' for Queequeq as his name is long (relative term) and unusual....and does that make me no better than Bildad not getting Queequeg's name correct (or even trying to do so) ."
:-) Me, too. It's an effort to keep reminding myself how to spell it. You make me think I SHOULD make the effort. I do it for Ishmael. For everybody else.
:-) Me, too. It's an effort to keep reminding myself how to spell it. You make me think I SHOULD make the effort. I do it for Ishmael. For everybody else.
Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "d...."
What's she resigned to indeed? ... There is something much worse to resign yourself to, and that's loneliness. "
You make an excellent point.
What's she resigned to indeed? ... There is something much worse to resign yourself to, and that's loneliness. "
You make an excellent point.

Why don't we just abbreviate Queequeg bythe letter X? After all, it is his mark.

Mrs. Hosea Hussey?
A Clam? One clam for dinner?
Hey QQ, what do you think of one clam for dinner.
Abbot and Costello or Lewis and Martin?
And then the cow, walking along wearing fish heads for shoes and looking very slipshod. (That was great. What an image. Slipshod indeed!).
I'm also paying attention to color. I mean a white whale? The black maelstrom in the middle of the picture hanging on the wall in Peter Coffin's Inn (Will I ever tire of the name Peter Coffin?) And in the Chowder chapter we come across a yellow warehouse and Mrs. Hussey's yellow hair (?). But I can't find any hidden symbol, allegory, or meaning. Yet Melville seems to pointing out the yellow.

Ishmael's reaction to the wheelbarrow story ("you might have known better than that, one would think") smacks of cultural smugness--his assumption that everyone should be familiar with the paraphernalia of his culture.
Queequeg's response illustrates that ignorance of a culture's paraphernalia cuts both ways--the captain of a ship mistaking a wedding punch bowl for a hand-washing bowl.
I think this shows a level of sophistication in Queequeg. He is aware that cultural expectations and behaviors will vary from one culture to the next and that what is laughable in one culture may be perfectly permissible in another.

A yellow warehouse, yellow hair, and a yellow gown. Isn't the color yellow usually associated with sickness/disease?

I was struck by this statement in reference to Bildad's inconsistent application of his quakerism with his life choices:
How now in the contemplative evening of his days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the reminiscence, I do not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man's religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another.
Bildad compartmentalizes his faith. This is the opposite of what we've seen so far of Queequeg. He insists Ishmael select the whaling vessel because Yojo told him so. Queequeg's faith has practical application. He doesn't compartmentalize.
Thinking today of how all the characters --- how people in general, then and now --- are so very certain that their beliefs, perspectives, are the right ones. It would almost seem as difficult to get them to change their beliefs and opinions as it would be to change Queequeg's tattoos---possibly the tattoos are actually symbols of his religion---which might show symbolically how a religion really IS an integral part of one.
Both Ishmael and Bildad make some move towards changing Queequeg to their own preferred positions.
Ishmael tries to undermine Queequeg's religion---In The Ramadan, Queequeg hadn't been made uncomfortable by his religion...indeed, he had gotten up "with a cheerful look." Ishmael had slept poorly that night, feeling wretched, thinking about Queequeg wide awake. And because ISHMAEL was uncomfortable he tried to convince Queequeg that there was no value in any religion... that they are all "stark nonsense; bad for the health; useless for the soul...." Bildad hands Queequeg a religious tract and begs him to spurn his idol.
Neither of them moves Queequeg from his own religion. His English isn't good and his reading skills are obviously non-existent.
More importantly, he wasn't interested in hearing "unless considered from his own point of view, {LOL}...and, [....] he no doubt thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did."
Was either Ishmael or Bildad trying to do good by Queequeg?
Both Ishmael and Bildad make some move towards changing Queequeg to their own preferred positions.
Ishmael tries to undermine Queequeg's religion---In The Ramadan, Queequeg hadn't been made uncomfortable by his religion...indeed, he had gotten up "with a cheerful look." Ishmael had slept poorly that night, feeling wretched, thinking about Queequeg wide awake. And because ISHMAEL was uncomfortable he tried to convince Queequeg that there was no value in any religion... that they are all "stark nonsense; bad for the health; useless for the soul...." Bildad hands Queequeg a religious tract and begs him to spurn his idol.
Neither of them moves Queequeg from his own religion. His English isn't good and his reading skills are obviously non-existent.
More importantly, he wasn't interested in hearing "unless considered from his own point of view, {LOL}...and, [....] he no doubt thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion than I did."
Was either Ishmael or Bildad trying to do good by Queequeg?

I'm not so sure they were trying to do good by Queequeg because as you said, Queequeg seems perfectly comfortable with his faith.
I think sometimes people try to convince others that their way, their decision, their faith, etc. is the right one because they want to reassure themselves that they are in the right. So it may not be about trying to do good by Queequeg. It may be more about if I can convince Queequeg to follow my path, then I feel better about the choices i've made.

We discussed the color yellow in The Yellow Wallpaper and Crime and Punishment.
I think the color we have to pay most attention to here in Moby-Dick will be the color white.

I'm not so sure they were trying to do good by Queequeg because as you said, Queequeg seems perfectly comfortable with..."
I have reached this way of thinking (like closet homossexuals being homophobic) but I never thought in applying it to religious people.

Put it on my TBR.
At 76Tamara wrote: "Adelle wrote: "Was either Ishmael or Bildad trying to do good by Queequeg?.."
I'm not so sure they were trying to do good by Queequeg because as you said, Queequeg seems perfectly comfortable with..."
I didn't get the sense they were doing for Queequeg's "benefit" either. So WHY did they do it, I wondered.
Ishmael had said he had no objection to others' religion if they didn't kill or insult anyone [who objected to their religion]. Queequeg had done neither. Ishmael doesn't seem to need others to share his views in order for Ishmael to feel better about his own views--- (although maybe that is a motivation for some people. I don't know.) --- Was he just tired and cranky? Did he think, "Now we're friends, we should both be atheists?" I lean toward tired and cranky.
Bildad certainly doesn't seem like a character who would need any validation from a pagan Islander like Queequeg. (That's how I think Bildad would view Queequeg.) I didn't see him as trying to actually help Queequeg though. I thought Bildad acted through a sense of duty as a Quaker. "Here's a pagan... it's my duty to try to help him." But.... it's only* form.... Bildad KNOWS Queequeg can't read... handing him the brochure ... as I see it... only allows Bildad to say to himself, "There, I've done my duty."
*Form... like Ishmael "worshiping" with Queequeg. Just form. Just going through the motions.
At this point, Queequeg seems to have the most real attachment to his religion.
I'm not so sure they were trying to do good by Queequeg because as you said, Queequeg seems perfectly comfortable with..."
I didn't get the sense they were doing for Queequeg's "benefit" either. So WHY did they do it, I wondered.
Ishmael had said he had no objection to others' religion if they didn't kill or insult anyone [who objected to their religion]. Queequeg had done neither. Ishmael doesn't seem to need others to share his views in order for Ishmael to feel better about his own views--- (although maybe that is a motivation for some people. I don't know.) --- Was he just tired and cranky? Did he think, "Now we're friends, we should both be atheists?" I lean toward tired and cranky.
Bildad certainly doesn't seem like a character who would need any validation from a pagan Islander like Queequeg. (That's how I think Bildad would view Queequeg.) I didn't see him as trying to actually help Queequeg though. I thought Bildad acted through a sense of duty as a Quaker. "Here's a pagan... it's my duty to try to help him." But.... it's only* form.... Bildad KNOWS Queequeg can't read... handing him the brochure ... as I see it... only allows Bildad to say to himself, "There, I've done my duty."
*Form... like Ishmael "worshiping" with Queequeg. Just form. Just going through the motions.
At this point, Queequeg seems to have the most real attachment to his religion.

Ishmael does go to bat for Queegueg, creatively embellishing* to Peleg and Bildad about the church Queegueg is a "deacon" in:
"I mean, sir, the same ancient Catholic Church to which you and I, and Captain Peleg there, and Queequeg here, and all of us, and every mother's son and soul of us belong; the great and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping world; we all belong to that; only some of us cherish some queer crotchets no ways touching the grand belief; in THAT we all join hands."*Edit to Add: Embellishment to some, Transcendentalism to others.

I think people find the book difficult because they are expecting an action or plot-driven novel, but instead it is a philosophical novel with lots of insight, introspection, and a narrator who is present all the time (but this is normal for other novels of the time, like Jane Austen or George Eliot). One has to relish the insights, the allusions, the sly humor, and the encyclopedic knowledge about the world of whaling (which would have been exotic and fascinating for many readers at the time, I have to imagine).
I don't know why someone would say it's a "post-modern" novel, but it does seem pretty clear that it foreshadows MODERNIST fiction (Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner) in its use of a semi-reliable narrator and other elements that might be seen as experimental (philosophical and encyclopedic digressions, the use of dramatic dialogues that will appear later, etc.).


I love the way you describe Melville's style. You've done a wonderful job of describing it.

'for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.' "
I note that I first just used a "Q' for Queequeq as his name is long (relative term) and unusual....and does that make me no better than Bildad not getting Queequeg's name correct (or even trying to do so) : e.g. "hedgehog, Quohog..".
Quohog was on Bildad's mind; he had probably just eaten some - they're mentioned in chapter 14 as being part of the typical Nantucket catch.
His being careless about queequeg's name is typical. When slaves were brought to the west they lost their names and were given new ones which were easier for their master to pronounce, with not a thought to whether this would be pouring unneeded salt on the wound of their slavery. In Zora Neale Hurston's recently published Barracoon, Cudjoe Lewis is deeply touched by the fact that she calls him by his real name, Kossola.

What's she resigned to indeed?
T..."
The point everyone has been making about loneliness is dealt with very powerfully in Eugen O'Neill's play "Ile", where a whaling captain's wife is so lonely due to his long absences that she begs to join him on his next voyage. (Ezra Donner wrote an opera based on the play as well.)

David pointed us to evidence (at the whaling museum?) that a number did --i.e., wives and families did sometimes journey together.




Thank you! I felt inspired to write that as I reacted to those early chapters. I reread Benito Cereno not too long ago and was impressed with Melville's ability to sustain ambiguity and innuendo for so long.
I think there are parts in Moby Dick where there is also a lot of understated suggestion, irony, etc., especially when talking about Qq. as a "savage" vis-a-vis the Nantucketers. Many of his remarks about Qq.'s culture and religion as barbaric are, I think, meant to play on Western culture's preconceptions while subtly deconstructing them. He does emphasize the cultural and ethnic diversity among the sailors and appears to embrace this diversity, even as he uses 19th century stereotypes to "hook" his readers.

I tend to be more cautious here. Words like "diversity" are such buzzwords. Is this truly how Melville intended it or is it projecting? Couldn't it be that Ishmael is simply an easy-going chap, and once he realizes that his initial fear regarding Queequeg - he is a fearsome sight, after all - is unfounded, he sees him for the human he is.

That is a good point, Kerstin. We don't see Melville extolling the virtues and benefits of cultural differences which is the theme behind the modern concepts of diversity. Though, Melville does seem to be taking that first step in acknowledging our common humanity and to a degree, our common and reasonable equality and turning even that upside down at times, i.e, Queegueg getting a higher pay than Ishmael.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to characterize Ishmael as an easy-going chap. I do quite agree that today we apply different terms to conditions that Ishmael describes -- perhaps too readily. But I am struck by how they seem to have been present and were dealt with among those directly involved with whaling, whether (not) understanding Ramadan or making assumptions about divine roots of democratic values. E.g.,
"...Thou shalt see it shining in the arm that wields a pick or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!" Chap. 26 (p. 76, Kindle edition)

Isn't this what being a true Christian is all about? I am thinking in particular of the philosophical concepts of 'love thy neighbor as thyself' and 'man is made in the image of God'. I see nothing new here. The fault line is that men haven't consistently practiced these.
What I haven't quite sorted out in this context is Melville's earlier boasting of Presbyterianism. As Calvinists they have the concept of predestination, which to my understanding would be a stumbling block when looking at a truly common humanity. At this stage in the narrative this tension isn't resolved.
Queequeg is being paid on merit, and I don't think he would have scored such a high pay without his demonstration. He is no dummy!

As worthy as these concepts are for all to embrace, I would be careful with the "true" Christian assertion as the definition seems to be historically vague and contradictory up to and including today. It is also like saying a true American embraces equal opportunity for all in the face of slavery at the time. In fact think Melville is challenging the hypocrisy in the failed Christian and American practices of those notions by juxtaposing them with more practical and progressive/secular practices of the American ideal, which was one reason why parts of this book were so shocking to so many.

I see what you're saying. It really depends how knowledgeable a person is on the subject of Christianity, Christian thought, and its 2,000 year history plus the various permutations. The more a person knows, the less it is vague or contradictory, or better yet, the apparent contradictions are explained - but I'm drifting into apologetics. ...back to Melville :)

I love your thoughts on Melville's writing, Ignacio. You and Tamara and whoever raised the postmodern possibility have peaked my interest. I find it hard to identify, let alone classify, writing styles, but what I have been noticing in the chapters I have been through so far (to Chapter 35) is how the narration seems to slip and slide in terms of time and omniscience. One minute I feel alongside Dough-Boy as he serves dinner or inside the head and body of Flask as he joins Stubb, Starbuck, and Ahab at table. A little earlier, I felt as if Ishmael is narrating, having already completed the voyage, but carefully concealing facts for the sake of his story-telling. While I may participate in Ishmael learning about his surroundings and the people he is meeting, I feel less like I am learning about whaling alongside him. For whaling, it seems as if some educator steps in to tell facts that will be worthwhile to know -- Ishmael may be doing the narrating (?) but did he do that work in preparation for the journey -- the story line seems otherwise. Sometimes I feel very much in the present, other times I feel as if I am listening to a recollection and just want the narrator to get to the crux of the story rather than to keep hinting! Fascinating! Wonder what an MFA instructor might say....

I love your thoughts on Melville's writing, Ignacio. You and Tamara and whoever raised the postmodern possibility have peaked my ..."
Melville seems to let the narrator role "slip" during the novel. Much of the time we have Ishmael as the narrator, but there are other times when it seems as though someone else is narrating or no one is narrating.

I tend to think Ishmael is writing all of this as a memoir, years later, and has acquired all of his knowledge as a way to come to terms with what he lived through.
I think you're right though, he narrates as if things were unfolding in the moment, often withholds information from the reader, and dispenses it only gradually (he introduces Ahab VERY gradually).
He also switches from first-person to (apparently) omniscient narration and sometimes to other forms (dialogues among characters). There are private conversations between the mates that left me scratching my head: how did Ishmael know these details? You can rationalize that he heard them from the people involved later, but the experience for the reader is as if we are seeing them unfold through an all-knowing narrator.

Your comment, Lily, prompted me to thinking in this direction: Shipping and port cities have always had a more cosmopolitan aspect. They connect the distant parts of the world. Add to it the slower modes of transportation before motorization, they were small enclaves where the cultures of the world met and still meet. The folks in the provinces had little contact with them.
Another aspect of the shipping business is that it is dangerous. Who applies to be on board of a miserable ship? The owners stay in their posh estates, and safe for a few officers, it is the lower classes and adventurers who are the sailors - no matter where they are from. This equalizes the population.

I was waiting for feelings like these to be expressed, and I am happy that you find it fascinating. I offer Nathaniel Philbrick's worthwhile response to all of the story's "wandering around"
For me, Moby-Dick is like the Oldsmobile my grandparents owned in the 1970s, a big boat of a sedan with loosey-goosey power steering that required constant back-and-forth with the wheel to keep the car pointed down the highway. Melville’s novel is that wandering, oversized automobile, each non sequitur of a chapter requiring its own course correction as the narrative follows the erratic whims of Melville’s imagination toward the Pacific. The sheer momentum of the novel is a wonder to behold, barreling us along, in spite of all the divergences, toward the White Whale.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Why Read Moby-Dick? (loc. 656). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Books mentioned in this topic
Why Read Moby-Dick? (other topics)Notes on How to Live in the World and Still be Happy (other topics)