Moby Dick Chapters

Chapter 21: Going Aboard

Approaching the Pequod at dawn, Ishmael thinks that he sees sailors boarding the ship and decides that the ship must be leaving at sunrise. Ishmael and Queequeg encounter Elijah again just before they board. Elijah asks Ishmael whether he saw "anything looking like men" boarding the ship; Ishmael replies that he did. The ship, however, is quiet save one old sailor, who informs them that the captain is already aboard. As the sun rises, the Pequod's crew arrives and the ship prepares to sail.

Chapter 9: The Sermon

Mapple takes his theme for this Sunday's sermon from the story of Jonah, the prophet swallowed by "a great fish"—in other words, a whale. Mapple, typically, uses Jonah's story to preach about man's sin and his willful disobeying of God's commandments. But, Mapple claims, the story also speaks to him personally, urging him to fulfill God's will by "preach[ing] the Truth in the face of Falsehood!" Drained by his emotional sermon, Mapple ends kneeling, his hands covering his face, as the crowd files out.

Chapter 17: The Ramadan

Returning to the inn, Ishmael allows Queequeg a day for his "Ramadan" ceremonies and then worries when his friend doesn't answer the door in the evening. When the panicky Ishmael finally gets the door open, he finds Queequeg deep in meditation. Queequeg is unresponsive and continues to meditate until the next morning. Ishmael talks to Queequeg about the discomforts of Queequeg's religion. The next day, after a large breakfast, they return to the Pequod.

Chapter 18: His Mark

Though the owners object at first to his paganism, Queequeg impresses them with his skill by hitting a tiny spot of tar on the water with a harpoon. They give him the ninetieth lay, "more than ever was given a harpooneer yet out of Nantucket." Bildad tries to convert Queequeg to Christianity, but Peleg tells him to give up: "Pious harpooneers never make good voyagers—it takes the shark out of 'em; no harpooneer is worth a straw who ain't pretty sharkish." Peleg reminds Bildad that, at sea, practical concerns shove religious matters aside.

Chapter 15: Chowder

Ishmael and Queequeg settle at the Try-Pots for the night, an inn owned by the cousin of the Spouter-Inn's owner. Ishmael is disturbed by an old topmast above the inn that looks ominously like a gallows. Everything on Nantucket is touched by the sea: the milk tastes of fish, and the innkeeper's wife wears a necklace of fish vertebrae. The two friends have a supper of hearty clam and cod chowder. Mrs. Hussey takes Queequeg's harpoon from him before they go to their room for the night.

Chapter 31: Queen Mab

The next morning, Stubb tells Flask that he dreamed that Ahab kicked him with his ivory leg. An old merman in the dream points out the futility of struggling against Ahab and suggests that it may even be an honor to be kicked by such a man. (The title of this chapter, "Queen Mab," refers to Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, in which Mercutio explains how Queen Mab, a fairy, brings dreams to sleepers.) As Stubb finishes telling of his dream, Ahab shouts at the crew to be on the lookout for whales (especially a white one). The Pequod's work has begun.

Chapter 95: The Cassock

Ishmael describes the other parts of the whale, including the penis, euphemistically named the "cassock." He blasphemously likens the whale's organ to the dress of clergymen because it has some pagan mysticism attached to it. It also serves a practical purpose on the ship: the mincer wears the black "pelt" of skin from the penis to protect himself while he slices the pieces of blubber for the pots.

Chapter 84: Pitchpoling

Ishmael describes the process of oiling a harpoon boat's underside to increase speed. He reports that Queequeg performs this task carefully, seemingly with an awareness that the Pequod will encounter whales later that day. Stubb harpoons a fast and tireless whale. In order to capture it, he must "pitchpole" it by throwing a long lance from the jerking boat to secure the running whale. Stubb's lance strikes home, and the whale spouts blood.

Chapter 34: The Cabin-Table

This chapter shows the ship's officers at dinner. Meals are a rigid affair over which Ahab presides: no one talks, and a strict order of service is followed. After the officers finish eating, the table is relaid for the harpooners, who eat heartily, intimidating the cook with their voraciousness. The cabin is not a comfortable place for anyone, as it is Ahab's territory and Ahab is "inaccessible," "an alien."

Chapter 1: Loomings

"Call me Ishmael." Ismael describes typical NYC scene: men want to go off to sea. Ishmael craves adventure, but only sails as a common sailor, not as a passenger. Ishmael introduces his belief in the universality/commonality of human suffering.

Chapter 32: Cetology

"Cetology," as Ishmael explains, is "the science of whales." In this and subsequent science-centered chapters in the book, Ishmael attempts to classify whales scientifically. He includes quotations from various writings on the whale, adding that others might be able to revise this draft of a classification system. Rather than using the Linnaean classifications of family, genus, and species—which were already the standard in Melville's time—Ishmael divides whales into different "chapters" of three distinct "books": the Folio, Octavo, and Duodecimo. Ishmael makes sure to talk of the imperfection of his whale knowledge.

Chapter 37: Sunset

"Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush!" This chapter begins with a stage direction that sets Ahab alone near a window and consists of a melancholy soliloquy by Ahab. He notes that everyone thinks that he is mad and that he agrees with them to a certain extent. He self-consciously calls himself "demoniac" and "madness maddened." He reveals that it was foretold that he would be dismembered by a whale. He proclaims, however, that he will be both "prophet" and "fulfiller" of Moby Dick's destiny. He accepts the inequality of the battle and challenges Moby Dick, claiming that the whale cannot avoid his fate: "The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run." Mechanical-ness of Ahab. Shakespearean soliloquy.

Chapter 8: The Pulpit

A man arrives at the chapel and climbs up a rope ladder into the pulpit, which is shaped like a ship's bow. He is Father Mapple, the preacher in this chapel, a favorite among whalemen for his sincerity and ability to make his sermons relevant to their lives. Ishmael wonders about the symbolic significance of Mapple's dramatic climb into the pulpit.

Chapter 69: The Funeral

After the cutting-in, the whale is released for its "funeral," in which the "mourners" are vultures and sharks. The frightful white carcass floats away, and a "vengeful ghost" hovers over it, deterring other ships from going near it. Frequently, floating whale corpses are mistaken for rocks and shoals and thus entered on mariners' charts, causing future whalers to avoid the area. The whale thus continues to inspire terror even in death.

Chapter 29: Enter Ahab; To Him, Stubb

Ahab does indeed seem psychologically troubled. He maintains a total dictatorship on board. He is restless and paces the deck, and the striking of his peg leg on the wood echoes throughout the ship. When Stubb complains about Ahab's pacing, Ahab calls him a dog and advances on him. Stubb retreats. This chapter is short and dramatic, as the stage-direction title implies.

Chapter 36: The Quarter-Deck

Ahab finally makes an official appearance before the men. First, he stirs the crew by calling out simple questions about their mission, to which they respond in unison. He then presents a Spanish gold doubloon, proclaiming, "Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw . . . he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!" The men cheer, and the harpooners ask if it is Moby Dick that Ahab seeks. Ahab then confesses, in response to Starbuck's query, that it was indeed Moby Dick who stripped him of his leg, and he announces his quest to hunt the whale down. The men shout together that they will hunt with Ahab, though Starbuck protests that he "came here to hunt whales, not [his] commander's vengeance." Ahab commences a ritual that binds the crew together: he orders all of his men to drink from one flagon that gets passed around. Telling the harpooners to cross their lances before him, Ahab grasps the weapons and anoints Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo "my three pagan kinsmen there—yon three most honorable gentlemen and noble men." He then makes them take the iron off of the harpoons to use as drinking goblets. They all drink together as Ahab proclaims, "God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!"

Chapter 30: The Pipe

Ahab realizes that smoking no longer soothes him and that the sereneness of the activity doesn't suit his agitated, willful state of mind. He hurls his pipe overboard and resumes pacing the ship deck.

Ahab's Boat and Crew · Fedallah

Ahab's decision to have his own harpoon boat and crew, says Ishmael, is not a typical practice in the whaling industry. Captains do not frequently risk themselves in pursuit of whales, and Ahab's injury makes it even more surprising that he would personally command a harpoon boat. Clearly the Pequod's owners would not approve, which accounts for Ahab's secrecy about Fedallah and his plans. However strange, "in a whaler, wonders soon wane" because there are so many unconventional sights on such a voyage. Even though whalemen are not easily awestruck, they find Ahab's crew bizarre, and "[t]hat hair-turbaned Fedallah remained a muffled mystery to the last." Ishmael hints that there is something demoniacal about the man.

Chapter 68: The Blanket

As he describes the whale's blubber, Ishmael argues that this strip of flesh is actually the whale's skin. A thin and cellophane-like layer may be observed outside of the blubber, but this layer is only the skin of the skin. Ishmael admires the whale for its "thick walls," which allow it to live without being affected by its environment.

Chapter 28: Ahab

As the Pequod ranges further south and the weather improves, Ahab finally appears on deck. Ishmael observes him closely. Ahab appears a strong, willful figure, though his encounter with Moby Dick has scarred him both physically and mentally. In addition to missing a leg, Ahab is marked with a white scar down one side of his face that looks like a lightning strike. Rumor has it that the scar suddenly appeared during some "elemental strife at sea." Ahab stands watch with his false leg, carved from a whale's jaw, set into a hole bored into the deck.

Chapter 59: Squid

As the Pequod sails toward Java, Daggoo thinks that he sights Moby Dick. The boats are lowered and the animal pursued. It is a false alarm, however, as it is only a giant squid, which is taken as a bad omen. Ishmael notes that the squid is conjectured to be the sperm whale's food, but that the sperm whale feeds and lives largely out of sight beneath the sea's surface.

Chapter 48: The First Lowering

As the crew launches the harpoon boats for the first time this voyage, Ahab's secret crew emerges from the hold and boards the captain's harpoon boat. Fedallah, their leader, is a dark, sinister figure with a Chinese jacket and a turban made from coiling his own hair around his head. With him are several more "tiger-yellow . . . natives of the Manillas" (the Philippines) who have been hiding in the hold of the Pequod. Ishmael recalls the shadowy figures that he saw boarding the ship in Nantucket, the strange noises that have been heard coming from the hold, and Ahab's frequent visits down there: all these phenomena are explained by the presence of Fedallah and his men. The harpoon boat crews stare at their newly discovered shipmates, but Flask tells them to continue doing their jobs—to concentrate on hunting the whale. The Pequod's first lowering after a pod of whales is unsuccessful. Flask must stand on his harpooner Daggoo's shoulders because he is too short to see otherwise. Queequeg manages to land a harpoon in a whale, but the animal overturns the boat. The men in Queequeg's boat are nearly crushed by the ship as it passes looking for them, since a squall has cast mist over everything. Finally, however, they are pulled aboard.

Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand

Because the spermaceti taken from a whale's head quickly cools into lumps, the sailors have to squeeze it back into liquid. Ishmael is carried away with enthusiasm for the "sweet and unctuous" sperm. He squeezes all morning long, sentimentally describing his physical contact with the other sailors, whose hands he unintentionally gropes in the vat of sperm. He also describes some of the other tissues of the whale from which oil is derived. He gives a brief glimpse into the ship's "blubber-room," where the blubber is cut into sections and prepared for rendering. The blubber-room is a dark and dangerous place: the blubber-men frequently lose toes to the sharp spades used to cut the blubber.

Chapter 67: Cutting In

The gory business of "cutting-in," or processing the whale, commences. The cutting-in involves inserting a hook in the whale's blubber and peeling the blubber off as one might peel off an orange rind in one strip.

Chapter 58: Brit

Brit is a minute yellow substance upon which the right whale feeds. Ishmael moves from a discussion of feeding whales to a generalized comparison between the land and the sea. In the sea, there are hidden horrors and continuous danger, while on land, all is visible and therefore manageable. He applies this assessment to the human soul, which he believes contains a small island of "peace and joy" surrounded by an ocean of horrors.

Chapter 16: The Ship

Charged by Yojo, Queequeg's wooden idol, to seek a ship for the two men, Ishmael lights upon the Pequod, a ship "with an old fashioned claw-footed look about her" and "apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory." Ishmael also calls the Pequod a "cannibal of a craft" because it is bejeweled with whale parts. On board, he makes a deal with Peleg and Bildad, the ship's Quaker owners, who are characterized as conniving cheapskates and bitter taskmasters. Although Quakers are generally pacifists, these two have dedicated their life to the bloody slaughter of whales. Evaluating what lay Ishmael should receive (his portion of the ship's profits and his only wages), Peleg finally gives him the 300th lay. At this time, Ishmael also learns that the ship's captain is the mysterious Ahab, named after a wicked biblical king. Although Ahab has been moody and secretive since losing his leg in an encounter with the great white whale Moby Dick, Bildad and Peleg believe in his competence and they believe him harmless, since he has a young wife and an infant child waiting for him at home.

Etymology

Etymological derivation of the word "whale". Explains importance of unannounced 'h' in the word.

Chapter 70: The Sphynx

Ishmael describes the "scientific anatomical feat" of the whale's beheading, which occurs before the carcass is released; the head holds the valuable spermaceti, from which the finest oil comes. While the crew takes a break for a meal, Ahab talks to the whale's head hanging at the ship's side, asking it to tell him of the horrors that it has seen.

Chapter 45: The Affidavit

Ishmael acknowledges that the reader may find the story thus far presented to be incredible and cites several items from his own experience and from written authorities to bolster the probability of his narrative. First, he demonstrates the uniqueness of individual whales and the frequency with which whales survive attack by humans. He then considers why people may not believe such stories: perhaps readers haven't heard about the perils or vivid adventures common to the whaling industry. He asks that the audience use "human reasoning" when judging his story and not read it as a "hideous and intolerable allegory."

Chapter 60: The Line

In preparation for a later scene, says Ishmael, he will describe the whale-line. Made of hemp, this rope is connected to the harpoon at one end and dangles free at the other so that it can be tied to other boats' lines. Because it is laid out throughout the boat and whizzes out when a whale is darted, it is dangerous for the men of the harpoon crews. All men, according to Ishmael, live with metaphorical whale-lines around their necks, and it is only when a catastrophe occurs that they realize the constant perils of life. INTERDEPENDENCE.

Chapter 3: The Spouter-Inn

Inside the Spouter-Inn, Ishmael finds a large, somewhat inscrutable oil painting, which he finally determines to be a depiction of a whale attacking a ship. On the other wall is a collection of "monstrous clubs and spears." Because the inn is nearly full, Ishmael learns that he will have to share a room with "a dark complexioned" harpooner named Queequeg. He passes the evening in the bar with "a wild set of mariners," waiting for Queequeg to arrive. Out of apprehension, Ishmael decides that he would rather sleep on a bench than share a bed with some strange, possibly dangerous man. The bench is too uncomfortable, though, and Ishmael decides to put up with the unknown harpooner. Still, Ishmael is worried, since Coffin adds that the harpooner has recently arrived from the South Seas and is currently out peddling shrunken heads. When Queequeg finally returns, the frightened Ishmael watches him from the bed, noting with horror the harpooner's tattoos and tomahawk pipe. Queequeg sets up and worships a small, dark-colored idol. His prayers over, he discovers Ishmael in his bed. He flourishes the tomahawk pipe as Ishmael shouts for the inn's owner. After Coffin explains the situation, Ishmael and Queequeg settle in for the night, Ishmael having decided that it is better to share a bed with a "sober cannibal" than a "drunken Christian."

Chapter 25: Postscript

Ishmael adds some speculation to the previous chapter's "facts." He reminds the reader that sperm whale oil is used in the coronation of royalty, and suggests that sperm oil has been used to anoint kings because it is the best, purest, and sweetest of oils.

Chapter 79: The Prairie

Ishmael applies the nineteenth-century arts of physiognomy (the art of judging human character from facial features) and phrenology (the study of the shape of the skull, based on the belief that it reveals character and mental capacity) to the whale. He considers the whale's features and, by means of physiognomic and phrenological analysis, concludes that the sperm whale's large, clear brow gives it the dignity of a god and that its "pyramidical silence" demonstrates its genius. But Ishmael then abandons this line of analysis, saying that he isn't a professional, and dares the reader to decipher the "hieroglyphics" of the sperm whale's brow.

Chapter 72: The Monkey-Rope

Ishmael backtracks to explain how Queequeg initially inserts the blubber hook into the whale for the cutting-in. Ishmael, as Queequeg's bowsman, ties the monkey-rope around his own waist, "wedding" himself to Queequeg, who is on the whale's floating body trying to attach the hook. (In a footnote, we learn that only on the Pequod were the monkey and this holder actually tied together, an improvement introduced by Stubb, who found that it increases the reliability of the holder.) While Ishmael holds Queequeg, Tashtego and Daggoo brandish their whale-spades to keep the sharks away[MH1] . When Dough-Boy, the steward, offers Queequeg some tepid ginger and water, the mates frown at the influence of pesky Temperance activists and make the steward bring him alcohol. The remainder of the ginger, a gift from "Aunt Charity," a Nantucket matron, is thrown overboard.

Chapter 98: Stowing Down and Clearing Up

Ishmael completes his description of how whale oil is processed. The oil is put in casks and the ship is cleaned. Here he dismisses another myth about whaling, asserting that whalers are not inherently dirty. Sperm whale oil, in fact, is a fine cleaning agent. Ishmael must admit, however, that whalers are clean for barely a day when the next whale is sighted and the cycle begins again.

Chapter 82: The Honor and Glory of Whaling

Ishmael considers the heroic history of whaling. He draws from Greek mythology, popular British legend, the Judeo-Christian Bible, and Hindu mythology: Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnu (whose name Melville spells "Vishnoo") can all be considered whalemen based on the stories told about their exploits. Shift from physical to theoretical.

Chapter 46: Surmises

Ishmael considers the means by which Ahab will exact his revenge. Because Ahab must use men as his tools, he has to be careful to maintain their loyalty throughout the long sea voyage. Ahab knows that he can appeal to their emotions for a limited time but that cash is a more reliable motivator. He is acutely aware that his behavior leaves him open to the charge of "usurpation," since he has changed the purpose of the voyage from that which the ships' owners intended. He knows that he must aggressively pursue all sperm whales in his path or his officers will have grounds to relieve him of his command.

Chapter 57: Of Whales in Paint; In Teeth; In Wood; In Sheet-Iron; In Stone; In Mountains; In Stars

Ishmael considers versions of whales crafted by whalers, including specimens carved in ivory, wood, and metal. Those with an interest in the creature can see whales everywhere, including in geological forms and in the starry sky.

Chapter 55: Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales

Ishmael considers well-known graphic depictions of whales. To a whaleman who has actually seen whales, most historical, mythological, and scientific sources are blatantly inaccurate. As a result, says Ishmael, "you must needs conclude that the great Leviathan is that one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last." The only solution that Ishmael sees for one who seeks to know what a whale looks like is an actual encounter with the creature. In the ocean, only portions of a whale are visible at any one time, the majority of the animal being underwater. Only dead whales are visible in their near-entirety, and those are to the living animal what a wrecked ship is to one afloat. He warns the reader not to "be too fastidious in your curiosity" about the whale, since such curiosity is unlikely to be satisfied.

Chapter 77: The Great Heidelburgh Tun

Ishmael continues his survey by noting that the upper part of a whale's head has two subdivisions: the case and the junk. He compares the case to the "Great Heidelburgh Tun," a famous German wine vessel of enormous capacity. The case—which contains a reservoir of highly prized spermaceti, a valuable waxlike substance found in the oil—is carefully tapped once the whale's head has been suspended out of the water. The junk also contains oil, but this oil is trapped in a honeycomb of tough fibers.

Chapter 44: The Chart

Ishmael describes Ahab's attempts to locate Moby Dick. Ahab believes that he can predict where the whale will be by tracing currents that the whale might follow in search of food. He is also aware that Moby Dick has been known to show up in a certain place at the same time every year. Ahab's single-minded focus occasionally leads him to burst into fits of near-mad shrieking. Ishmael speculates that these fits are the result of the remainder of Ahab's soul trying to escape from his demented psyche.

Chapter 78: Cistern and Buckets

Ishmael describes Tashtego's tapping of the case. The sperm that it contains is lifted from the whale's head, which still dangles alongside the ship, to the deck by a relay of buckets. In tapping this whale, Tashtego accidentally falls into the case, which is at least twenty feet deep. In a panic, Daggoo clears the tangled lines and tries to get a line inside the head to Tashtego, but the tackle holding the head aloft breaks, and the great mass falls into the ocean. Queequeg dives in and manages to save Tashtego by cutting into the slowly sinking head and "delivering" Tashtego as a doctor would a baby.

Chapter 35: The Mast-Head

Ishmael describes his first post on the masthead (the top of the ship's masts) watching for whales. He provides a history of mastheads and their role on whaling ships. He proceeds to discuss statues, hermits, and ancient Egyptians as prior "mast-head standers." The masthead is a place where whalers spend a great deal of time, and Ishmael laments its lack of comforts: on a South Seas ship, the masthead offers only two small pegs upon which to stand. He compares this setup to that of other ships, which have miniature cabins atop the masts. Ishmael admits that he himself daydreams too much to keep a good watch, and he warns captains against hiring "romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men," who are likely to miss whales in the vicinity. Reality identical with divinity: "There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship."

Chapter 47: The Mat-Maker

Ishmael describes the slow, dreamy atmosphere on the ship when it is not in pursuit of a whale. He and Queequeg make a sword-mat, and Ishmael likens their weaving to work on "the Loom of Time": the threads of the warp are fixed like necessity, and man has limited free will, as he can interweave his own cross-threads into this fixed structure. When Queequeg's sword hits the loom and alters the overall pattern, Ishmael calls this chance. He is jolted out of his reverie by Tashtego's sighting of a whale. Suddenly, everyone is busied in preparation for the whale hunt. Just as the men are about to push off in the harpoon boats, "five dusky phantoms" emerge around Ahab.

Chapter 14: Nantucket

Ishmael digresses from the story to discuss the island of Nantucket. He details some of the legends about its founding and some of the tall tales that are told about life on the island. He notes that a Nantucketer "owns" the seas and that this "empire," covering two-thirds of the globe, is larger than that of any country.

Chapter 90: Heads or Tails

Ishmael elaborates upon the strange fishing laws of England, which state that any whale or sturgeon captured on its coast is "fast" and belongs to England. The head must be given to the king and the tail to the queen, leaving nothing for the hunter. Ishmael tells the story of some poor whalemen who lost all profits from their hard-earned whale to a wealthy duke.

Chapter 83: Jonah Historically Regarded

Ishmael examines the Jonah story—which has shadowed the novel ever since the "Extracts" and Father Mapple's sermon in New Bedford—through the eyes of an old Sag Harbor whaleman who questions the tale based on his personal experience. Sag Harbor, as Ishmael calls him, doesn't believe that a whale of the kind described in the Bible could swallow a man, and he thinks that a whale's gastric juices would not permit a man to survive in the whale's stomach. Ishmael details various theologians' arcane responses to such practical questions.

Chapter 92: Ambergris

Ishmael explains that ambergris, though it looks like mottled cheese and comes from the bowels of whales, is actually used for perfumes. He ponders the origin of the idea that whales smell bad. In the past, whaling vessels were unable to render blubber into oil at sea, and the rotting blubber created a powerful stench when they arrived in port. The rendered oil, however, is odorless and a natural cleanser. Ishmael notes that live whales, like beautiful women, actually smell pleasantly musky.

Chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale

Ishmael explains what Moby Dick meant to him at the time of the voyage: above all, it was the whiteness of the whale that appalled him. Ishmael begins his discussion of "whiteness" by noting its use as a symbol of virtue, nobility, and racial superiority. To him, the color white only multiplies the terror when it is attached to any object already "terrible" in and of itself, such as a shark or polar bear. The idea of the blankness of whiteness is introduced.

Chapter 7: The Chapel

Ishmael finds the Whaleman's Chapel, which contains plaques commemorating those lost or killed at sea. He ponders the contradictory message inherent in the chapel: if heaven really is a better place, it doesn't make sense for a dead man's friends and relatives to mourn him so inconsolably. Ishmael is surprised to find Queequeg in the chapel.

Chapter 62: The Dart

Ishmael gives a quick account of the harpooning of a whale. He argues that the system presently in use is inefficient, as the harpooner is forced to row strenuously before harpooning the whale and is thus breathing too hard to aim properly.

Chapter 49: The Hyena

Ishmael laughs at the absurdity of the situation in which he finds himself: he has never been on a whaling voyage before, and he is surprised at the danger that attends even an ordinary whale hunt. The Pequod's mates tell him that they have hunted whales in much more dangerous conditions than those that Ishmael has just witnessed. Ishmael decides to rewrite his will and asks Queequeg to help him do so. He feels better afterward, and comes to a morbid understanding of himself as a man already dead: any additional time that he survives at sea will be a bonus.

Chapter 54: The Town-Ho's Story

Ishmael narrates a story about another ship, the Town-Ho, that was originally told to Tashtego during a gam between the Town-Ho and the Pequod. Ishmael announces at the beginning of the chapter that he gives the reader the version that he once told to some Spanish friends in Lima. The basic story concerns Radney, a mate from Martha's Vineyard, and Steelkilt, a sailor from Buffalo, who have a conflict on board the Town-Ho, a sperm whaler from Nantucket. Steelkilt rebels against Radney's authority, assaults him after being provoked, and starts a mutiny. The mutineers are captured, flogged, and released, but Steelkilt wants revenge against Radney, who flogged him when the captain would not. The Town-Ho encounters Moby Dick before Steelkilt can murder Radney, though, and, in the process of trying to harpoon the whale, Radney falls out of the boat. Moby Dick snatches him in his jaws. Ishmael's Peruvian listeners have a hard time believing the story, but he swears on a Bible that he is telling the truth and claims to have met and spoken with Steelkilt.

Chapter 23: The Lee Shore

Ishmael offers a brief portrait of Bulkington, a sailor whom he first meets in New Bedford. Ishmael watches Bulkington steer the Pequod and thinks of him as a restless pioneer, fated to die at sea. Ishmael considers this kind of death infinitely preferable to fading away through cowardice, and, in an imaginary address to Bulkington, declares that the death at sea will transform Bulkington into a god.

Chapter 65: The Whale as a Dish

Ishmael offers a culinary history of the whale. He remarks that no one except for Stubb and the Eskimos still eat it. Deterrents include the exceedingly rich quality of the meat and its prodigious quantities. Furthermore, it seems wrong to eat whale because, though hunting the whale makes the meat a "noble dish," one has to eat the meat by the light of a lamp that burns the whale's oil. But, Ishmael ponders, perhaps this adding of insult to injury isn't so rare: his readers probably eat beef with a knife made from the bone of oxen and pick their teeth after eating goose with a goose feather.

Chapter 24: The Advocate

Ishmael proceeds to stand up for the whaling profession, arguing that whaling is heroic, economically critical, and has expanded geographical knowledge. He defends the dignity of whaling by pointing to the involvement of noble families in the industry, to the fact that the Bible and other books mention whales, and to the fact that Cetus, the whale, is a constellation in the southern sky. Ishmael closes by declaring that anything worthwhile that he might accomplish can be credited to his time spent on a whaling ship, his "Yale College" and his "Harvard." Call and response type debate about whaling.

Chapter 88: Schools and Schoolmasters

Ishmael takes a moment to explain some whaling terms, beginning with "schools" of whales. Schools are typically composed of one male—the "schoolmaster" or "lord"—and numerous females, the "harem." When whalers find a school, they hunt only the females and calves, as the males are too large and dangerous. As the male whales age, they leave their harems behind and become solitary, ill-tempered wanderers. The all-male schools are like a "mob of young collegians." The major difference between the males and the females, according to Ishmael, is that males abandon injured comrades while females do not, even risking their own lives to aid and comfort a friend.

Chapter 89: Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish

Ishmael takes some time to explain his reference to "waifs" in Chapter 87. He goes on to talk about whaling codes past and present, which say that a "Fast-Fish" belongs to the party fast to it (the party that has laid claim to it) and a "Loose-Fish" is fair game for anybody who can catch it. A fish is "fast" when it is physically connected to the party after it or when it bears a waif, or marker. Lawyerlike, Ishmael cites precedents and stories to show how difficult it is to maintain rules, especially when they admit so much ambiguity. Metaphorically, everything in the world can be conceptualized according to the code that judges possession to be the sole legal criterion of ownership. Even entire nations, Ishmael observes, can be classified as "Fast-Fish" or "Loose-Fish" and colonized accordingly by more powerful nations.

Chapter 86: The Tail

Ishmael then considers the opposite end of the animal, celebrating the whale's most famous part: its tail. He admires its combination of power and grace, and muses that it represents the whale's attempts to reach to heaven—the tail is often seen protruding toward the skies. Whether this positioning is viewed as an act of angelic adoration or demoniac defiance (like the shaking of a fist) on the whale's part depends on the mood of the spectator. Ishmael notes that the tail is the sperm whale's most frequent means of inflicting injury upon men.

Chapter 53: The Gam

Ishmael then explains why the Pequod and the Albatross did not have a "gam." Ishmael defines a gam as "[a] social meeting of two (or more) Whale-ships, generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats' crews: the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other." Ships typically exchange letters, reading material, and news of their relative successes. Ahab, however, desires gams only with ships whose captains have information about Moby Dick.

Chapter 76: The Battering-Ram

Ishmael then points out that the blunt, large, wall-like part of the sperm whale's head seems to be just a "wad." In actuality, inside the thin, sturdy casing is a "mass of tremendous life." Ishmael notes that the whale's head, like many other things in nature, derives its strength from its flexibility and ability to be compressed and change shape.

Chapter 56: Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes

Ishmael then tries to find some acceptable depictions of whales. To his mind, the only pictures that come close are two large French engravings that show the sperm and right whales in action. He wonders why the French have been best able to capture whales and whaling in art, because France is not a whaling nation.

Chapter 80: The Nut

Ishmael then turns to the whale's skull, calling the whale's brow "false" because there really isn't much in the skull besides the sperm—its brain is only about ten inches across and is hidden behind some twenty feet of forehead. Ishmael then says that he would rather feel a man's spine than his skull to try to know him. If creatures were judged by their spines rather than their brains, he argues, people would discount the smallness of the whale's brain and admire the magnitude of his spinal cord. He believes that the whale's hump signifies its indomitable spirit.

Chapter 2: The Carpet-Bag

Ishmael travels from New York to New Bedford, Massachusetts, the whaling capital of the United States but misses the ferry to Nantucket, the original New England whaling center (which he wants to sail in for the sake of tradition). Looks for an inn in New Bedford, but stumbles into , a church full of wailing and weeping African Americans, where a sermon is being preached on "the blackness of darkness." Wanders into Spouter-Inn, owned by Peter Coffin. Ominous name of the inn and owner satisfy mood. Place is dilapidated and cheap.

Chapter 6: The Street

Ishmael wanders about New Bedford, marveling at the town and its people. Because of the maritime industry centered here, the town is full of men from all corners of the globe, from the South Pacific to the remote mountains of Vermont. The great mansions and finely dressed women of the town all exist thanks to the high prices that whale oil commands.

Chapter 19: The Prophet

Just after signing the papers, Ishmael and Queequeg run into a scarred and deformed man named Elijah, a prophet or perhaps merely a frightening stranger, who hints to them about the peril of signing aboard Ahab's ship. He drops references to several frightening incidents involving Ahab, but Ishmael and Queequeg disregard the man's warnings.

Chapter 51: The Spirit-Spout

Looking down from the masthead one night, Fedallah thinks that he sees a whale spouting. The ship then tries to follow it but the whale is not seen again. Mysteriously, a similar spout is seen regularly each night from then on. Ishmael calls it a "spirit-spout" because it seems to be a phantom leading them on. Some think it might be Moby Dick leading the ship on toward its destruction. The Pequod sails around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, a particularly treacherous passage. Through it all, Ahab commands the deck robustly and, even when he is down in the cabin, keeps his eye on the cabin compass that tells him where the ship is going. Between the phantom spout and the dangerous passage, the men resign themselves to being "practical fatalists."

Chapter 64: Stubb's Supper

Most whalemen do not enjoy whale meat; Stubb, however, wants to dine on a steak from his whale. While he devours his steak, sharks dine on the carcass of the whale, which has been tied fast to the ship. Stubb calls on the black cook, Fleece, to make his supper; he also demands that the cook order the sharks to stop eating the whale flesh. The cook delivers a sermon to the sharks, telling them that they ought to be more civilized. Stubb then proceeds to torment the cook, who likens Stubb to a shark.

Chapter 20: All Astir

Over the course of several days, the ship is provisioned for the coming voyage. Ishmael hears that Ahab's health is improving—he is still recovering from the loss of his leg—but he and Queequeg have yet to meet the mysterious captain.

Chapter 93: The Castaway

Pip, the Pequod's cabin boy, is drafted to be a replacement oarsman in Stubb's harpoon boat. Having performed passably the first time out, Pip goes out in the harpoon boat a second time. This time, however, he jumps from the boat in fear when the whale raps the bottom of the boat beneath his seat. Pip's boatmates become angry when they have to cut the whale loose in order to save Pip after he gets tangled in the lines. Stubb tells him never to jump out of the boat again, threatening not to pick him up next time. But Pip does jump again, and to teach him a lesson, Stubb leaves him alone in the middle of the sea's "heartless immensity." This experience drives him mad, at least insofar as his shipmates can observe. Ishmael, on the other hand, declares that the experience endows Pip with divine wisdom.

Chapter 11: Nightgown

Queequeg and Ishmael awaken in the middle of the night. It is cold and the warmth of the bed and of their companionship is pleasant. They share a smoke, and Queequeg begins to recount his life story.

Chapter 12: Biographical

Queequeg is a native of a South Pacific island called Kokovoko, which is "not down on any map; true places never are." The king's son, he desired to leave the island to see the world and, he claims, to learn about Christianity. When a whaling ship stopped at Kokovoko, he sought passage but was denied a job. He stowed away on the departing ship and, through sheer persistence, was finally taken on as a whaler. He has since become a skilled harpooner. Although his father is probably dead by now, meaning that Queequeg would be king, he can never go back, because his interaction with Christianity has made him unfit to ascend his homeland's "pure and undefiled throne." For Queequeg, Ishmael notes, "that barbed iron [Queequeg's harpoon] was in lieu of a scepter now." The two plan to go to Nantucket to find a berth aboard a whaler.

Chapter 61: Stubb Kills a Whale

Queequeg views the squid as a good omen, indicating the presence of a sperm whale nearby. The crew soon sights a spouting sperm whale, which Stubb and Tashtego succeed in killing.

Extracts

Quotations from various sources in which whales are mentioned. Suggest the wide range of things that the whale has represented at different times.

Chapter 38: Dusk

Starbuck's monologue. Though he fears that all will turn out ill, he feels inextricably bound to Ahab, compelled to help him to "his impious end." When he hears the revelry coming from the crew's forecastle, he laments the whole doomed voyage and the "latent horror" in life. Shakespearean soliloquy.

Chapter 39: First Night-Watch

Stubb's monologue, providing yet another perspective on the voyage. Stubb, believing all to be "predestinated," can only laugh and sing a ditty. Shakespearean soliloquy.

Chapter 81: The Pequod Meets the Virgin

The Jungfrau (Virgin) is out of oil, as she has had no success in catching whales.Her captain boards the Pequod to beg for some. Ahab asks about the White Whale, but the Jungfrau has no information. Almost immediately after the captain of the Jungfrau steps off the Pequod's deck, whales are sighted, and the captain goes after them desperately. The Pequod also gives chase and succeeds in harpooning a slower whale before the Germans can catch it. The whale is old, blind, and covered with growths, and in its flesh the crew finds an ancient-looking stone harpoon point. After bringing the carcass alongside the ship, the crew discovers that the whale is sinking and dragging the ship down with it. Ishmael then notes that it is impossible to predict which whales will sink. The inexperienced crew of the Jungfrau then starts chasing a finback, a whale that to the unskilled observer resembles a sperm whale but is too fast a swimmer to be caught.

Chapter 91: The Pequod Meets the Rose-Bud

The Pequod encounters a French ship, the Bouton de Rose (Rose-Button or Rose-Bud), from which a terrible stench arises. This ship has two whales alongside: one "blasted whale" (a whale that died unmolested on the sea) that is going to have nothing useful in it and one whale that died from indigestion. Stubb asks a sailor aboard the Rose-Bud if they have any news of Moby Dick. The man answers that they have never heard of the White Whale. Crafty Stubb asks why the man is trying to get oil out of these whales when clearly there is none in either. The sailor replies that his captain, on his first trip, will not believe the sailor's own statements that the whales are worthless. Stubb goes aboard to tell the captain that the whales are worthless, although he knows something that the other sailor doesn't: the second whale might contain ambergris, a valuable substance found in the intestines of sick whales. Stubb gets the sailor to help him trick the French captain into thinking that the "blasted" whales pose a threat of infection to the crew. The captain dumps the whales and Stubb, pretending to be helpful, has the Pequod's boats tow the second whale away. As soon as the Rose-Bud leaves, Stubb ties up to the second whale and finds the sweet-smelling ambergris inside it.

Chapter 22: Merry Christmas

The Pequod leaves Nantucket on a cold Christmas Day. Bildad and Peleg pilot the ship out of port. Ahab still has not appeared on deck. Ishmael finds the start of the voyage disconcerting and is meditating upon his situation when he receives a kick and a scolding from Peleg. The Pequod is soon clear of the harbor and into the open ocean, and Bildad and Peleg take a small boat back to shore as the whaling ship "plunge[s] like fate into the lone Atlantic."

Chapter 73: Stubb and Flask Kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk Over Him

The Pequod spots a right whale. After killing the whale, Stubb asks Flask what Ahab might want with this "lump of foul lard" (right whales were far less valuable than sperm whales). Flask responds that Fedallah says that a whaler with a sperm whale's head on her starboard side and a right whale's head on her larboard will never capsize afterward. They then both confess that they don't like Fedallah and think of him as "the devil in disguise." The right whale's head is lifted onto the opposite side of the boat from the sperm whale's head, and, in fact, the Pequod settles into balance. As Ishmael observes, however, the ship would float even better with neither head there. He observes Fedallah standing in Ahab's shadow and notes that Fedallah's shadow "seem[s] to blend with, and lengthen Ahab's."

Chapter 5: Breakfast

The Spouter-Inn's breakfast table is filled with whalers, yet the meal, to Ishmael's surprise, is not enlivened with sea stories or bawdiness. Instead, the men eat in silence. Queequeg uses his harpoon to help himself to more meat

Chapter 66: The Shark Massacre

The crew lashes the sperm whale they have caught to the side of the ship to be dealt with in daylight. But the men are forced to poke with spades or kill the numerous sharks that attempt to devour the whale carcass. Ishmael warns that it is unwise "to meddle with the corpses and ghosts of these creatures": Queequeg nearly has his hand cut off by the sharp teeth of one dead shark hoisted onto the ship for its skin.

Chapter 63: The Crotch

The crotch is a wooden support for a harpoon. Ishmael quickly digresses from describing the crotch to consider the loose harpoons that pose a threat to the boats. Each line has two harpoons attached to it. Ideally, both would be thrown and stuck into the whale. More commonly, however, the whale dives after the first strike and the second harpoon must be thrown overboard to prevent injury to those in the boat. Dangling loose in the water, the second harpoon still poses a great danger to the boats.

Chapter 52: The Albatross

The men soon see a ship called the Goney, or Albatross, a vessel with a "spectral appearance" that has been at sea for four years. Ahab asks this ship's crew, as the two ships pass by, if they have seen Moby Dick. The other captain tries to respond, but a gust of wind blows the speaking trumpet from his mouth. The two ships' wakes cross as they continue on, and the schools of fish that have been following the Pequod turn to follow the Albatross, which saddens Ahab. The Pequod continues its way "around the world," and Ishmael ruminates that this grand-sounding mission really amounts to going in circles.

Chapter 75: The Right Whale's Head— Contrasted View

The right whale, on the other hand, Ishmael explains, has bones in its mouth shaped like Venetian blinds, a huge lower lip, a tongue, and two external spout holes. He likens the right whale to a Stoic and the sperm whale to a "Platonian."

Chapter 74: The Sperm Whale's Head— Contrasted View

The two whale heads hanging from the Pequod provide an opportunity for Ishmael to give a lesson on "practical cetology." The sperm whale has a great well of sperm, ivory teeth, a long lower jaw, and one external spout hole. Ishmael describes the sperm whale as having "more character" than the right whale, as well as a "pervading dignity" based on the "mathematical symmetry" of its head. He wonders at the whale's small eyes, which are placed on opposite sides of its head, affording the whale a strange visual perspective. He notes also that the external portion of the whale's ear is tiny, comprised of only a small pinhole.

Chapter 27: Knights and Squires

This chapter introduces the rest of the Pequod's officers. The pipe-smoking second mate, Stubb, a native of Cape Cod, is always cool under pressure and possesses "impious good humor." The third mate, Flask, a native of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard, is a short, stocky fellow with a confrontational attitude and no reverence for the dignity of the whale. He is nicknamed "King-Post" because he resembles the short, square timber known by that name in Arctic whalers. Each mate commands one of the small harpoon boats that are sent out after whales, and each has a "squire," his harpooner: Queequeg is Starbuck's harpooner; Tashtego, "an unmixed Indian from Gay Head," on Martha's Vineyard, is Stubb's harpooner; and Daggoo, "a gigantic, coal-black negro-savage" from Africa with an imperial bearing, is Flask's harpooner. Ishmael notes that few whalers are American-born except the officers, who are almost always American: "the native American liberally provides the brains, the rest of the world as generously supplies the muscles." The rest of the crew is also international. But, says Ishmael, all of these "Isolatoes" are "federated along one keel" and unified by their comradeship at sea and shared danger. Ishmael also mentions Pip, a poor black boy from Alabama who beats a tambourine on ship.

Chapter 43: Hark!

This chapter offers a short, dramatic dialogue between two sailors on watch. One thinks that he has heard a humanlike noise from the hold (where a ship's cargo is normally stowed). The other hears nothing, and the first reminds him that Stubb and others have whispered about a mysterious passenger in the hold.

Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend

Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg—a cosy, loving pair. Contemplating Queequeg's serene comportment, Ishmael develops a great respect for his new friend, noting that "[y]ou cannot hide the soul" under tattoos and appearances. Although Ishmael still thinks of Queequeg as a savage, the latter becomes, in Ishmael's mind, "George Washington cannibalistically developed." Ishmael makes some small gestures of friendship toward Queequeg, and the two become friendly. He admires Queequeg's sincerity and lack of Christian "hollow courtesies." According to the customs of Queequeg's home, he and Queequeg are "married" after a social smoke out of the tomahawk pipe. Queequeg gives Ishmael half his belongings, and the two continue to share a bed, having many long chats. Ishmael even consents to join in Queequeg's idol worship, explaining to his Christian readers that he is only obeying the Golden Rule, as he would hope the "savage" to join in Christian worship with him.

Chapter 13: Wheelbarrow

Together, Ishmael and Queequeg set off for Nantucket with a wheelbarrow full of their things. The people of New Bedford stare at this white man and "savage" behaving so friendly with each other. Queequeg tells Ishmael stories about the first time that he used a wheelbarrow (he picked it up instead of wheeling it) and about a white captain who attended a wedding feast on Kokovoko and made a fool of himself. On the ferry to Nantucket, a bumpkin mimics Queequeg. Queequeg flips the man around in the air to rebuke him and is subsequently scolded by the captain. A moment later, a rope in the ferry's rigging breaks, and the bumpkin is swept overboard as the ferry goes out of control. Queequeg takes charge of the ropes to secure the ferry and then dives into the water to save the man who has gone overboard, which wins everyone's respect.

Chapter 26: Knights and Squires

We meet the first mate, Starbuck, a pragmatic, reliable Nantucketer. Starbuck believes that it is rational—and necessary—to fear whales, and his reverence for nature inclines him toward superstition. He is characterized by the other officers of the Pequod as "careful," although this term is relative when used to describe a whaler. Speaking about Starbuck leads Ishmael to reflect upon the dignity of the working man. Ishmael finds evidence of God in even the "meanest mariners" and admits that he will frequently ignore people's faults to emphasize their "democratic dignity."

Chapter 97: The Lamp

Whalemen are always in the light, Ishmael explains, because their job is to collect oil from the seas. These men have free access to the oil, and each keeps a collection of lamps in his bunk. The interior of the ship is illuminated like a temple.

Chapter 4: The Counterpane

When Queequeg and Ishmael wake up the next morning, Queequeg's arm lies affectionately thrown over Ishmael, as if the latter were "his wife." He is reminded of a phantom hand that he felt on him when his grandmother sent him to bed with no supper. Ishmael watches the cannibal don a fancy hat and boots and shave himself with his harpoon. He marvels at the "savage's understanding of civilized manners."

Chapter 33: The Specksynder

analyzes the whaling industry rather than whales. Beginning with trivia about the changing role of the specksynder (literally, "fat-cutter"), who used to be chief harpooner and captain, Ishmael moves on to a discussion of onboard leadership styles. He notes that the dependence of whalers upon one another for successful hunting and therefore wages begets its own discipline, and that a whaling ship is less hierarchical than other vessels. (INTERDEPENDENCE) Nevertheless, many captains make a great show of their rank. Ahab doesn't flaunt his superiority, although he can be a tyrant. In fact, Ishmael admits that it can be hard to see exactly what is remarkable about Ahab: one must "dive . . . for [it] in the deep."

Chapter 87: The Grand Armada

When the Pequod sails through the straits of Sunda (near Indonesia) without pulling into any port, Ishmael takes the opportunity to discuss the isolation and self-containment of a whaling ship. While in the straits, the Pequod encounters a great herd of sperm whales swimming in a circle (the "Grand Armada"), but, as the ship chases the whales, it is itself pursued by Malay pirates. The Pequod escapes the pirates and launches boats after the whales, somehow ending up inside their circle, a placid lake. One harpooned whale flounders in pain, causing panic among the whole herd. The boats in the middle are in danger but manage to escape the chaos. They "drugg" the whales by attaching lines with large blocks of wood attached, which provide resistance and tire the swimming whales. The whalemen also try to "waif" the whales, marking them with pennoned poles as the Pequod's, to be taken later. They succeed in capturing only one whale.

Chapter 71: The Jeroboam's Story

While Ahab converses with the whale, the Jeroboam, another whaling ship, sails into sight. An epidemic has broken out aboard her, so her captain doesn't board the Pequod but brings a small boat alongside for a talk with Ahab. Stubb recognizes one of the men at the oars of the boat as a man about whom he has heard from the crew of the Town-Ho during the last gam. This man, who had been a prophet among the Shakers in New York, proclaimed himself the archangel Gabriel on the ship, ordered the captain to jump overboard, and mesmerized the crew. The Jeroboam's skipper, Captain Mayhew, wanted to get rid of Gabriel at the next port, but the crew threatened to desert if he was put ashore.The sailors aboard the Pequod now see this very Gabriel in front of them. As Captain Mayhew tells Ahab a story about the White Whale, Gabriel interrupts continually. According to Mayhew, he and his men first heard about the existence of Moby Dick when they were speaking to another ship. Gabriel then warned against killing it, calling it "the Shaker God incarnated." They ran into Moby Dick a year later, and the ship's leaders decided to hunt it. As a mate stood in the ship to throw his lance, the whale flipped the mate into the air and tossed him into the sea. No one was harmed except for the mate, who drowned. Gabriel had watched this episode from the masthead. The apparent fulfillment of his prophecy has led the crew to become his disciples. When Ahab confirms that he still intends to hunt the White Whale, Gabriel points to him, saying, "Think, think of the blasphemer—dead, and down there!—beware of the blasphemer's end!" Ahab realizes that the Pequod is carrying a letter for the dead mate and tries to hand it over to Captain Mayhew on the end of a cutting-spade pole. Gabriel manages to grab it, impales it on the boat-knife, and sends it back to Ahab's feet as the Jeroboam's boat pulls away.

Chapter 85: The Fountain

With an attempt at scientific precision, Ishmael discusses how whales spout. He cannot define exactly what the spout is, so he has to put forward a hypothesis: the spout is nothing but mist, like the "semi-visible steam" emitted from the head of such ponderous beings as Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, Jupiter, Dante, and even himself.

Chapter 41: Moby Dick

[A]ll evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. Ishmael compares the legend of Moby Dick to his experience of the whale. He notes that sperm whale attacks have increased recently and that superstitious sailors have come to regard these attacks as having an intelligent, even supernatural origin. In particular, wild rumors about Moby Dick circulate among whalemen, suggesting that he can be in more than one place at the same time and that he is immortal. Ishmael remarks that even the wildest of rumors usually contains some truth. Whales, for instance, have been known to travel with remarkable speed from the Atlantic to the Pacific; thus, it is possible for a whale to be caught in the Pacific with the harpoons of a Greenland ship in it. Moby Dick, who has defied capture numerous times, exhibits an "intelligent malignity" in his attacks on men. Ishmael explains that Ahab lost his leg when he tried to attack Moby Dick with a knife after the whale destroyed his boats. Far from land, Ahab did not have access to much in the way of medical care and thus underwent unimaginable physical and mental suffering on the ship's return to Nantucket. Ishmael deduces that Ahab's madness and his single-minded drive to destroy the whale must have originated during his bedridden agony. Aha either Satan or prometheus: he goes beyond the realm of man in the process of heroic enlargement. "He piled upon the whale's whit hump the sum of all the general rage..."

Chapter 96: The Try-Works

[E]ven in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. Ishmael attempts to explain the try-works, a set of pots and furnaces that boil the blubber and derive all the oil from it. He associates the try-works with darkness and a sense of exotic evil: it has "an unspeakable, wild, Hindoo odor about it, such as may lurk in the vicinity of funereal pyres." Furthermore, the pagan harpooners tend it. Ishmael comments that the hellish red fires of the try-works, combined with the black sea and the dark night, so disorient him that he loses his sense of himself at the tiller. Everything becomes "inverted," he says, and suddenly there is "no compass before me to steer by."

Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle

scripted like a scene from a play and presents the sailors, all of different nationalities, showing off and singing together. They get into a fight when a Spanish sailor makes fun of Daggoo. The onset of a storm, however, halts their fighting and makes them tend to the ship. Pip asks the "big white God," who may be either God or Ahab, to "have mercy on this small black boy."