Moby Dick CH 81-100
Ch 94 is an odd, subliminally homoerotic chapter: Ish and men are squeezing lumps out of the spermaceti
"connecting"spiritually to each other in some weird way
"This man's blood—bring the thermometer—it's at the boiling point!"
Boomer realizes Ahab is on the verge of insanity
"just let me prick him there once!"
Flask wants to hit the whale with the lance in a sore spot as the Pequod's boats approach
Pequod meets the Rosebud
Ironically harvesting 2 whales that dies of natural causes ("blasted" whales)
"there is a woe that is madness,"
Ishmael continues: i.e. one can't stay sorrowful for too long without damage
"He saw God's foot on the treadle of the loom, and spoke it, and therefore his shipmates call him mad. So man's insanity is heaven's sense."
Ishmael recalls the notion that the insane are close to god in some way, gifted with insight others don't have
Melville's point seems to be that we're each responsible for the world we live in
It's our perception of that world, rather than the world itself, that guides us
Stubb sees
more like he tries to figure out some symbolism but finally gives up and remembers to be jolly
Ish says he washes his hands of the oath made to Ahab
much like Plate "washed his hands" of christ's death - showing failure to take responsibility
Pwquod outrun the pirates get at whales
whales begin to panic and mill around rather than flee (ishmael says men always behave more stupidly than animals)
"what is best left alone, that accursed things is not always that which least allure. He's all a magnet!"
Ahab is obsessed, seeks only the whale, his fake leg must support him, and is shaped like a lance (a weapon)
Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby (ship)
Captined by Cpatian Boomer, a man who lost his arm to Moby Dick
myth 3: Jonah and the whale
God uses a whale to teach Jonah (camberg) a lesson
Virgin is an oil ship and seeks what from the Pequod
Seeks oil bc it ran out
Myth 2: whales and dragons are compared (story of St. George and dragon was really about a whale)
St. George kills a dragon who was eating young maidens
"It's against my religion to get mad; but I'd like to eat that villainous Yarman...are ye going to let that rascal beat thee? Do ye love brandy? A hogshead of brandy, then, to the best man"
Starbuck
"ye'll be picked up presently—I saw some sharks astern -St. Bernard's Dogs, ye know, relieve distressed travelers!"
Stub taunts the germans with a joke
Pip is taken on a lowering boat to fill in and jumps from the boat when afraid
gets caught in the line which requires the crew to cut the whale loose to save pip
Ishmael speaks of time when whales were not killed for oil
They were killed only to protect people from dangerous whales
Whale ends up sinking before Pequod can harvest any of it
Virgin goes off to chase another whale
Starbuck sees
a dark valley surrounded by mountains which represent the trinity, as if there's hope after darkness
whale turns out to have had
a harpoon all the way through him, and one lance with a stone point (i.e. prehistoric weapon) is found in the whale.
ahab and the crew go to the area Moby most often seen in to encounter
a large pod of whales
Flask sees
a piece of money only, no no extra significance
Melville shows his lack of understanding by contributing to the myth of the "happy" African american
as if they are more partying as a race
Myth 4: Vishnu, a hindu God
became incarnate as a whale ( the whale god)
Crew members examine the coin on the mast
each see something different there, reflecting their own character
Starbuck gets so mad that he
extra alcohol if they'll row hard enough to beat the Virgin
Ishmael reiterates a story about jonah and Whale
from Father mapple
Pequod is being chased by pirates
may have to give up pod of whales to stay safe
Boomer is not obsessed , won't go after the whale again
he says once is enough, and his fake arm is shaped like a hammer ( a tool of construction)
Pequod meets "the Virgin" which means
inexperienced (in addition to what the text says, which is that the Virgin is appropriately named because she is empty or "clean")
Stubb tries ot trick rose bud out of the find
is successful in the valuable haul
warns against looking at sorrow for too long: "there is a wisdom that is woe"
ishmael means sometimes sorrow is appropriate
queequeg harpoons a whale which thrashes around the others dangerously
kills other whale, FORSHADOWing injured Ahab's dangerous "thrashings" around crew
Beauty and decay exist side by side and sometimes fed from the other
like ambergris from a sick whale can be used in perfume
Blasted whales have
low quantity of oil and smell bad
the whale that the Virgin chases is the wrong type of whale to get oil from
once again shows her crew's inexperience
mitigated by the sensitivity he shows in describing
pip as an individual who is intelligent but over sensitive
Myth 1: Perseus as the first whale hunter
protected Andromeda from being carried away by a whale
Stubb is expert at "pitchpoling"
sending a lance into a whale at great distance
Crew goes to get injured whale- find themselves in a group of mother and baby whales. Starbuck and Queequeg pet them
shows a certain softness and sensitivity in their characters
crew later comes back to rescue pip
something has snapped inside of pip and he comes back crazy
Ahab sees
something proud, arrogant as the devil
"Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord I wont pick you up if you jump—we can't afford to lose whales to the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you would, Pip, in Alabama."
stub tells pip he won't cut him loose a second time. he will leave pip if he jumps in again
Pip does jump again
stubb leaves him in shark infested water alone to chase the next whale
Stubb is convinced one of the whales may have ambergris
substance extremely valuable, used in the perfume industry
"Try Works"
term used when the whale fat is being boiled down and rendered for use
Pequod and Virgin begin to chase the same sick whale. Starbuck gets irritated bc
the Virgin wouldn't have had enough light without the Pequod's oil to hunt the whale they now both vie for
ship is covered with dark oily smoke, the furnaces are fired from below
the image is that of hell and is then compared to Ahab's soul
Starbuck, out of humane concern for the whale, tells him not to, but too late
the whale reacts so violently Flasks' boat is crushed. The Pequod's crew are all fine.
Ahab pused Stubb to leave the Rosebud bc
they have no info about Moby
All 3 harpooners fire their harpoons over the heads of Virgin crew
to capture whale first. This makes the whale thrash and knock the German crew out of their boats