Chapter 99. The Doubloon
“But one morning, turning to pass the doubloon, he [Ahab] seemed to be newly attracted by the strange figures and inscriptions stamped on it, as though now for the first time beginning to interpret for himself in some monomaniac way whatever significance might lurk in them. And some certain significance lurks in all things, else all things are little worth, and the round world itself but an empty cipher”
Musings:
Love this chapter. Earlier in the book, Ahab nailed a gold coin to the mast and said the first man to spot Moby-Dick would get the doubloon. Now, Ahab in his pacing, stops to look it over. He sees strength and importance and, in short, himself.
Starbuck sees evil and satan and general bad bad things.
Stubb sees money. Cash.
Flask sees how many cigars the money will buy him.
Queequeq sees symbols, like the ones on his body in the form of cool tattoos.
And Pip, he sees the meaninglessness of the coin when it is one day found at the bottom of the sea. Yikes. Pip!
As all English majors know, things have meaning. We read meaning into symbols and objects but often, we see things differently. When I was a kid and life was less exciting, we looked at the shapes of clouds and everyone saw different things in the clouds. Does it tell us something about ourselves? Probably. And this chapter is revealing each man’s unique personality as they look at the doubloon. So clever!
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