"How it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in unspeakable bliss; why do all the living so strive to hush all the dead; wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city." Melville's brilliance is in how deftly he places the contradictions within humans side by side so we can see what a universal mess we all are. If, as we have heard, people die and go to a 'better place,' then why would we grieve them so? That part of the passage is easy to interpret. Then there is the second part of Melville's quirky passage: Why do we so fear ghosts? Why are haunted houses intriguing to us? If we genuinely believe our loved on
"But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope." I mean, come on. This writing! In this passage, Ishmael is in the Chapel in New Bedford. The parishioners, he imagines, have lost sons and husbands and brothers to the sea. Names of the dead are on plaques on the walls. Still, one tends to believe that coming to church helps us rise above sorrow and find comfort in the knowledge that our loved ones are in a 'better place.' Surprisingly, Melville doesn't go there. He aligns faith with a jackal. Anubis, Greek god of the dead and lost souls, has the head of a jackal. Jackals feed on leftovers and scraps. They are often associated
"If any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for." Melville speaks truth! People who can laugh at their own foibles are usually the most confident people I know. This passage seems to say that if we give anyone a laugh, even at our own expense, then so be it. The passage also seems to imply that those folks who allow you to laugh at them are often worth exploring. I know some public figures who turn to revenge when they feel they are being
"What’s all this fuss I have been making about, thought I to myself—the man’s a human being just as I am: he has just as much reason to fear me, as I have to be afraid of him. Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." Such a delightful passage, really. In many ways, this is the heart of Moby-Dick. The 'love' story between Ishmael and Queequeq is too often interpreted as something romantic or sexual. I believe the true message is simply acknowledging the love between human beings. Melville spends several chapters detailing Queequeg's appearance. Queequeg is dark and tattooed and different from Ishmael. The passage above is the important 'lesson' Ishmael learns. We are all
"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in." There is some good advice in this passage. Sometimes things are frightening when we leave safe harbors (metaphor alert). Still, Melville seems to say that even if we run into customs or rituals different from ours, we should embrace the people who hold those practices close. It's interesting how we seem to crave adventure through travel only to complain when we experien
Preamble - It is time to look at the more pleasant aspects of my favorite novel and abandon the comparisons between Ahab and _rump. I found Ahab coming out ahead in every respect anyway. "I always go to sea as a sailor, because they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I ever heard of. On the contrary, passengers themselves must pay. And there is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid." This has always been one of my favorite lines from Moby-Dick. Melville does not create Ishmael (the everyman of the novel) as a traditional hero. Ishmael is a worker. He has not fallen from grace. He chooses to be a worker. He
