Ugh, man, I finally feel like I’m waking up again.

Last week I had some minor oral surgery. Nothing too serious, no teeth being removed or anything like that, but nonetheless I had to go under general anaesthesia; that is, I was knocked out cold. It’s always a strange experience, I haven’t had it since I had my wisdom teeth out, and I’ve been some time recovering from it. The last few days have felt a bit like an extended dream which I cannot fully sink into nor awake from. But now, I’m coming awake again, and none too soon: the hunt is on!

Summary

Ahab smells Moby Dick and once again has himself raised in a seat above the mastheads, among the sails. Before he’s even all the way up, he spots the whale itself, its hump sparkling in the sun, and begins the hunt in earnest.

The Pequod approaches and the boats are lowered. Moby Dick himself is crusing through the water without a care in the world, peacefully setting his wake while sea birds circle around and even perch on the harpoon sticking out of his hump, from his previous deadly encounter with a whaling vessel. The three boats (Starbuck is instructed to stay behind and mind the ship) approach, and the whale goes below the surface.

The birds notice it first, a tiny white speck coming up directly beneath Ahab and Fedallah’s boat. Anticipating an easy strike, Ahab switches places with Fedallah that he might toss the first lance, but alas, it was not to be. In spite of Ahab’s clever maneuvering, Moby Dick comes up and wraps his jaws directly around the middle of the boat, and after jostling and teasing it a bit, bites it clean in half.

Then, the great white whale proceeds to swirl around the floundering Ahab, who cannot swim since losing his leg (though he can float). The other boats dare not approach or lance the beast, lest its panic tear their captain to pieces, as it swims circles around over and over, nearly drowning the captain and his men with its wake.

Finally, the Pequod approaches, and Ahab instructs Starbuck to charge at the whale, to scare if off, that the fatal circle might finally be broken. This works, and the captain and his boat’s crew are collected, as well as the broken pieces of the boat itself.

Moby Dick begins to make his escape. The other boats, now with their oars double-manned, try to make chase, but the whale is too vigorous. Everyone goes back to the Pequod, and the pursuit continues on wind power. The masts are manned, keeping an eye on the whale, but he must be re-spotted every time he dives into the depths.

Ahab paces the deck, when he’s not up in the rigging himself on the lookout for his prey. He continually walks past the wreck of his boat. Stubb approaches and tries to make a joke of it, but is rebuked by Ahab and Starbuck in turn, followed by Ahab rebuking Starbuck as well, calling his first and second mate two sides of the same coin.

Finally, Ahab retires to his scuttle, sleeping on his feet once again, outside of his cabin.

Analysis

God, where do you even start with this?

Well, I suppose it’s longer than most chapters in this book, especially recently, but in terms of thematic content it’s not quite as dense. This is Melville operating in a different mode, not being philosophical and contemplative but rather descriptive. It’s an action scene! We haven’t had one o’ these in ages!

Out of the Blue

Something that I found really striking here is the way that the narration is suddenly very, very intent on describing things sensually. There is no longer any abstraction, we are getting deep into this big, bold Romantic description description of the natural world.

There’s all this stuff early on about the distinctive smell of the whale to get us into it, and then we’re getting the specific way the water around Moby Dick’s head is being parted, the way the birds are ruffling their feathers, the perfect peace and calm of the scene before any violence can be incited.

Moby Dick is described in mythological terms as analogous to Jove (that is, Jupiter (that is, Zeus)) transporting Europe in the form of a bull. A peaceful prelude to literally legendarily horrifying violence and violation. Playing up the contrast between the tranquility of the ocean and the incredible danger that is actually present in this scenario.

And also, reminding us that what is happening here is still part of that same natural scene. Or, rather, that if there is anything supernatural going on, it is of an older order of things. Remember back when I said this book was actually eldritch horror? Here’s another example. A sort of dry-run for The Great God Pan.

Melville is looking at nature and not only being struck with awe by its beauty and majesty, but also fear and dismay. The sea itself is the true malicious power here, the very essence of nature. The birds, the water, the warm sun, it is all of a piece, one monolithic entity, seeking to catch man in a deadly trap. You could even wring some gnostic ideas out of it, come to think of it. This tempting appearance of the world only hides the potential of horror and pain beneath.

And yet, it is also nothing more than exactly what it seems. An animal, going about its business as normal. The boats approach, the animal plays with them, and then continues on its journey, blithely unaware of any danger or potential conflict. This too ties into the existential horror of the sperm whale: Moby Dick could very well have not an ounce of malice in his heart!

The Moment of Crisis

Another thing that is especially striking in this chapter is how Ahab takes command of the situation, and how everyone reacts to him.

Mostly, they simply follow his commands. He’s back to being the captain, the incredibly skillfull whaler that he is. Barking out orders, still keeping his word about the doubloon, bending every effort of his professional experience towards his aim: killing that damn whale.

And yet, he has Starbuck stay behind, though he is also very skilled. He can simply no longer trust his first mate, not in the matter of the actual hunt of Moby Dick himself. It’s funny, he trusts him enough to mind his lifeline when he’s hanging in the rigging, but not enough to take to a boat. Ahab knows that Starbuck won’t outright murder him, but he might sabotage the hunt in some other, smaller way.

This is because of what happened last chapter, I believe. Starbuck is motivated by love and generosity, he wants to get everyone home safe, including Ahab. He’s only trying to save all their lives and souls and get them back to Nantucket! And now Ahab knows that that is what’s in his heart, too, and is using that information accordingly.

There are a couple of funny moments in all this high drama. One where Ahab is bobbing in the ocean while Moby Dick literally swims circles around him:

Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship’s mast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene; and was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her!—“Sail on the”—but that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, and whelmed him for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancing to rise on a towering crest, he shouted,—“Sail on the whale!—Drive him off!”

Another moment that feels so very cinematic, yet has never been filmed, at least to my knowledge. It’s so perfect, Ahab floundering in the water, so near and yet so far from his prey at last, pathetically burbling to his ship to rescue him, interrupted by a wave crashing over him.

The other moment that really struck me, as both funny and poignant, is with Stubb after the hunt:

Stubb saw him pause; and perhaps intending, not vainly, though, to evince his own unabated fortitude, and thus keep up a valiant place in his Captain’s mind, he advanced, and eyeing the wreck exclaimed—“The thistle the ass refused; it pricked his mouth too keenly, sir; ha! ha!”

“What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck? Man, man! did I not know thee brave as fearless fire (and as mechanical) I could swear thou wert a poltroon. Groan nor laugh should be heard before a wreck.”

This gives us a neat little window into how the rest of the crew perceives Ahab, I think. They’re not seeing him as a man losing his mind, but merely highly motivated and virile. He is that legendary hero, and he’s doing his great deed! We should all be so lucky as to be nearby, and catch some of his reflected glory.

It’s interesting the way this reflects how Old Ishmael himself has written many of the preceding chapters, building up his captain’s legend and legacy. That’s the thing that sticks in the mind, not all this other stuff about him breaking religious laws or throwing his life away on a mad quest for metaphysical revenge.

Instead it’s just… this guy seems like he knows what he’s doing. He’s giving orders forcefully and charging into the fray. Such men have lead many to death and disaster over the ages, and this particular little episode feels distressingly relevant at this particular moment in time.

The Whale Himself

One of those famous questions that gets asked about this book is: what does Moby Dick represent?

Is it God? Is it the infinite? The divine, the unknowable, those things that cannot be comprehended by mortal man? Is it the unfettered power of capitalism? Is it the state? The subconscious mind? Is it the nation of Ireland?

Well, my peculiar view is that it’s most interesting to read it as exactly what it is in the text: a sperm whale. A big one, that’s tangled with many whalers before and survived, but it has no malice, because it’s just a whale. It doesn’t even know it’s being hunted, in this chapter. Ahab is doing battle at him, but Moby Dick is not doing so in return.

I mean, just look at the facts: the other boats don’t approach because they know Moby Dick could kill the captain and the crew of his boat in an instant if he wanted to. A flick of that big scything jaw, a swish of the tail, it’s over. They’re all toast.

No, no, this great foe upon which Ahab has piled all his woes is completely unconscious. Unaware of what violence is being done to his reputation among humanity by his chroniclers. He’s just a big ol’ whale swimmin’ around in the ocean, as I wrote many years ago. Going about his business as usual: frolicking with the birds, diving for squid, traveling around the greaet Pacific ocean with no particular destination in mind.

What of him biting that whale boat in twain? Just a bit of fun. It’s just a big ol’ mammal after all, have you never played with a noodle at a swimming pool? Have you never enjoyed something frivolous in the moment of its destruction?

Imagine you are eating a bag of chips, and decide to perch one precariously in your mouth, as you slowly bring your jaws togehter, cracking it into bits. Just enjoying the sensation of it. That’s all that’s going on here. There’s even the hilarious little bit where Ahab is getting annoyed at ol’ Dick playing around too much, and yanks on his jaw to encourage him to get on with it.

and while the other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisis impossible to withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious with this tantalizing vicinity of his foe, which placed him all alive and helpless in the very jaws he hated; frenzied with all this, he seized the long bone with his naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench it from its gripe.

Literally grabbing at Moby Dick’s teeth with his bare hands, daring him to bite down. Crazy shit, man.

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Whew! Man, what a chapter. I didn’t even get into the Fedallah stuff, but trust me, there will be time enough for that in the next one.

I had some notion of writing these posts on successive days, not unlike the chase itself, but I don’t think that’s reasonable, haha. I could write them all out and then post them that way, but I’ve delayed enough, over the years. Let’s just take this at the usual pace, and get it done.

Until next time, shipmates!