The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
"The first man of the Pequod that mounted the mast to look out for the White Whale, on the White Whale’s own peculiar ground; that man was swallowed up in the deep." Musing: In a chapter filled with signs and symbols, here is yet another sign that the Pequod is on a doomed voyage. While this chapter describes the first man to lose his life 'hunting' the white whale, it will not be the last. Melville reminds us that the tragedy takes place once the hunters enter the home of t
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
Ahab: "Ye believers in gods all goodness, and in man all ill, lo you! see the omniscient gods oblivious of suffering man; and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude. Come! I feel prouder leading thee by thy black hand, than though I grasped an Emperor’s!” Musing: Ahab invites Pip to live the rest of the voyage in his cabin. The context of the time period can not be ignored here. This is 1851. Melville's father-in-
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
"Oh, sir, let old Perth now come and rivet these two hands together; the black one with the white, for I will not let this go.” Musing: The third sign has taken place - Ahab dashed the quadrant, the compass was demagnetized, and now the log line breaks. But Pip reappears. Ahab's kindness and compassion toward Pip is what prevents us from seeing Ahab as a complete villain. Certainly there are many reasons Ahab is drawn to the now mad Pip, but compassion is one of them. As Capt
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
"As for the men, though some of them lowly rumbled, their fear of Ahab was greater than their fear of Fate. " Musing: Such a line! In this chapter, the needle of the compass on board the Pequod has been turned by the storm. This is a bad omen for sailors and perhaps an indication that nature itself is trying to turn the ship away from doom. Ahab takes control by making his own needle for the compass. The rest of the crew remains silent as the ship glides toward its fate.
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
Starbuck: "'I stand alone here upon an open sea, with two oceans and a whole continent between me and law.- Aye, aye, ‘tis so.- Is heaven a murderer when its lightning strikes a would-be murderer in his bed, tindering sheets and skin together?- And would I be a murderer, then, if' - then slowly, stealthily, and half sideways looking, he placed the loaded musket’s end against the door." Musing: This chapter holds so many nuggets of beauty. Here is the moment when the fate of t
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
Starbuck: "'I can’t withstand thee, old man. Not reasoning; not remonstrance; not entreaty wilt thou hearken to; all this thou scornest. Flat obedience to thy own flat commands, this is all thou breathest. Aye, and say’st the men have vow’d thy vow; say’st all of us are Ahabs. Great God forbid!'" Musing: Starbuck is watching the sleeping Ahab while holding the musket. He knows he will never convince Ahab to cut the voyage short. He knows the men are all doomed. The irony here
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
"Starbuck: 'But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?- Yes, it would make him the willful murderer of thirty men and more, if this ship come to any deadly harm; and come to deadly harm, my soul swears this ship will, if Ahab have his way. If, then, he were this instant- put aside, that crime would not be his.'" Starbuck has tried to deter Ahab from continuing the voyage with words, but he has now entered Ahab's cabi
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
The Carpenter: "Then, if the hull go down, there’ll be thirty lively fellows all fighting for one coffin, a sight not seen very often beneath the sun!" Musing: When the Pequod lost the first man to take the watch on the grounds of the white whale, the life-buoy was also lost. Starbuck has the carpenter craft a new life-buoy out of the coffin he built for Queequeq when Queequeg was ill. This quote is another bit of foreshadowing.
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
“'All your oaths to hunt the White Whale are as binding as mine; and heart, soul, and body, lungs and life, old Ahab is bound. And that ye may know to what tune this heart beats; look ye here; thus I blow out the last fear!'” And with one blast of his breath he extinguished the flame." As a result of the typhoon and the plea from Stabuck to Ahab to end the voyage, the other crew members begin to show signs of a possible mutiny. This is Ahab's response to their fear. His holdi
The Daily Dick: Musings on the Greatest Novel Ever
"As the silent harpoon burned there like a serpent’s tongue, Starbuck grasped Ahab by the arm—'God, God is against thee, old man; forbear! ‘tis an ill voyage! ill begun, ill continued; let me square the yards, while we may, old man, and make a fair wind of it homewards, to go on a better voyage than this.'” Musing: This is Starbuck's final attempt to convince Ahab to stop hunting the white whale and head for home. The Pequod has been damaged by the typhoon and lightening has