From The Monkey-Rope
"I seemed distinctly to perceive that my own individuality was now merged in a joint stock company of two; that my free will had received a mortal wound; and that another’s mistake or misfortune might plunge innocent me into unmerited disaster and death."
Musing: Oh man! - is Melville fit for today's times, or what? So here we are - humanity - reliant on one another not to breathe in each other's faces; not to harm each other simply by being alive. In these days, I am not an individual. I am a part of the collective. I must wait for that terrible concept of fate to decide where I will land. This virus is one more white whale swimming through the world. What will we make of its meaning?