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