Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 1851
During my unplugged week I read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It was a fascination – like experiencing a bizarre traveling circus that only appears after midnight.
The whole book filled me with sadness. I’m reading it with 170 additional years of history and knowledge and I think; the suffering we inflicted on entire species of whales in the name of profit and indulgence. And then I think, in what ways are we doing the same thing now in 2021? How about plastics and oil for starters…
I never formally studied this book so I have no preconceived scholarly analysis. The endless exposition that was a mix of fact and speculation was just boring. I have to attribute my attitude to that 170 year chasm. I wouldn’t have been any wiser at the time.
I’m too sensitive when it comes to animals to ever be able to admire Moby Dick and appreciate the story. All I could think about was how wrong humankind was about the nature of whales and God…how wrong we still are in some cases.
A Leviathan?
Leviathan was not a whale. The peaceful, curious nature of whales was all I could think about when reading how Melville described the beast Captain Ahab hunted – and I couldn’t separate the author from the ruthless nature of the Captain.
Below is the Sperm whale (wholly misnamed out of ignorance); and the demon, the monster, the man-killing beast from hell, the Leviathan that Melville described…and this was all I could think about while reading Moby Dick:
The Light Bulb – the Bright Idea seekers
The whale population was being decimated. In 1835 the first constant electric light was demonstrated. It took 44 more years of scientists tinkering with the bulb device before a usable one was created in 1879. Thank God someone was striving for a better way. Reminds me of electric cars and Elon Musk. Reminds me of anyone launching out against the flow in pursuit of a better world.
But humankind continued hunting whales for profit, some countries even now continue. (Sometime in the year 2100, But humankind continued using gasoline and oil for cars….)
I really can’t enjoy this book. I know it was about revenge; I know it was about deeper symbolic references of man and their madness to dominate. It didn’t move me. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to. Maybe Herman just wanted to incite me, end of story.
Some Decent Prose When Not Choked by the Exposition
There were only one or two portions that gripped me and really pulled me onto the deck of the ship, in all her fiery madness. Here is one of them:
“…darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at
intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated
every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire.
The burning ship drove on, as if remorselessly commissioned
to some vengeful deed. So the pitch and sulphur-freighted brigs
of the bold Hydriote, Canaris, issuing from their midnight harbors,
with broad sheets of flame for sails, bore down upon
the Turkish frigates, and folded them in conflagrations.
“…as their uncivilized laughter
forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace;
as to and fro, in their front, the harpooneers wildly gesticulated
with their huge pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on,
and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly
shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea
and the night, and scornfully champed the white bone in her mouth,
and viciously spat round her on all sides; then the rushing Pequod,
freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse,
and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material
counterpart of her monomaniac commander’s soul. So seemed it to me, as I stood at her helm, and for long
hours silently guided the way of this fire-ship on the sea.”
-Excerpt, pg 398 Moby Dick
In Conclusion
This book could be 200 pages; better yet, a short story. The overindulgent exposition and the fact that it was a true horror story of the slaughter of such a beautiful, peaceful animal, killed my soul and any hint of enjoyment for me.
One more extraordinary clip of the beautiful cachalot, it’s accurate name…enjoy
Stay safe beautiful people, stay extraordinary – even if the world would rather you not be~
Featured Photo by Samuel Bryant, 1956
I read it years ago but didn’t dislike it . I didn’t relate what was going on then to what we all already knew about the Great Whales . I read novels set during wars too . I guess what I found gripping was Captain Ahab’s obsession/madness and how it is seen by the crew and the author . Thus also the vividness and danger of sea voyages – and not forgetting the cold !
Yes, Melville certainly painted the picture for us of Captain Ahab’s madness. There were a few aspects of this book I did enjoy and that was one of them. Also, how he made the ship come alive as though it were a living breathing thing, like an extension of Ahab’s madness was really interesting. And yes, Melville did a great job with describing the whaling life and the cold. I felt like I was out there on the seas with them.