Tag: Ahab

Chapter 100: Leg and Arm

Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Ahhhhhhhhh, a hundred chapters! Hard to believe I’ve made it this far. It’s very funny to me how the first 75 ot so posts were written in about a year, while the latter 25 have taken… significantly longer, shall we say. The events of the last, oh, three years have not exactly been conducive to my creative endeavors, or those of many others, I imagine.

Speaking of, I must apologize for the gap between posts, once again. I’ve taken a crack at this chapter several times, I got a bit too… in my own head about it. Lost the thread about what I was even doing with this blog for a while, went through cycles of overwhelming confidence and a complete lack, you know how it is.

Continue reading “Chapter 100: Leg and Arm” →

Chapter 99: The Doubloon

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Hoo boy, this is a big one.

I’ve really got my work cut out for me this time ’round. This is a very important and fascinating chapter, and has been the subject of a lot of study and discussion over the years. It’s not hard to see why, there’s obviously a lot going on here, and I will do my level best to untangle it, and perhaps offer a bit of my own commentary on top of all the others.

Continue reading “Chapter 99: The Doubloon” →

Chapter 96: The Try-Works

Robin VanGilder3 Comments

Okay, okay, I had my fun, let’s get back to serious business.

Honestly, I got most of the way into writing a big thoughtful analysis of the last chapter, but it really comes down to that little joke. That’s all ya need to know to unravel everything. I only get to do that once, I think, the inverse of my old post where I spun like 2000 words out of a one-paragraph chapter. Ah, that was a good one.

Continue reading “Chapter 96: The Try-Works” →

Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Ahhh, time to get into some real gay content.

I mean, not really, but also, yes. Look, people love to post excerpts of this chapter out of context, to make it sound like Moby-Dick; or, the Whale is some sort of pornographic free-for-all. As you and I well know by this point, that is not quite the case. And yet, there’s only so much that context can really change for writing like this. Let’s dig in and squish our hands around in it.

Continue reading “Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand” →

Chapter 93: The Castaway

Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Sometimes it’s easy to go skimming along through this book and then be suddenly met with an ugly reminder that it was written before the civil war.

Naturally, this is any time a Black character shows up. It happens again this chapter, and while it’s not as bad as the cook, there are still some off-hand comments and just… general weirdness and discomfort around the portrayal of Black characters in this book. Like I think it’s about as good as you can expect from any white writer in 1850, but still, it’s a bit jarring.

Continue reading “Chapter 93: The Castaway” →

Chapter 76: The Battering-Ram

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Boy I sure hope you’re ready for more whale physiology!

battering2

Continuing on with our little run of non-narrative chapters, today we’re getting a close examination of the sperm whale’s powerful forehead. Of course, this being Moby Dick, it has some deep philosophical implications that would drive a man mad if he fully understood them. Let’s get into it. Continue reading “Chapter 76: The Battering-Ram” →

Chapter 75: The Right Whale’s head—Contrasted View

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

I bet you never could’ve guessed this chapter title. Not in a million years.

right2

In this chapter, we learn a bit more about the other whale, the one the southern whalers usually spurn, at least these days. And by “these days” I of course mean the 1840s, when this book was written. Nowadays, nobody is out hunting whales, except the Makah of the Washington coast, and the Japanese, probably. Continue reading “Chapter 75: The Right Whale’s head—Contrasted View” →

Chapter 74: The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View

Robin VanGilder1 Comment

Okay, this may be a little less philosophical than I remembered.

spermhead3

But, I will find a way to make it so, in my particular way. Not to say that Ishmael stays squarely on topic for the whole chapter, such a thing has almost never happened, but it isn’t the feast of direct philosophical references I was assuming. I guess it is just that one off-handed remark from the last chapter, where he calls one head Locke and the other Kant. I remember a lot about Kant from my philosophical studies, but little about Locke, so I couldn’t expand much on that anyway. Continue reading “Chapter 74: The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View” →

Chapter 71: The Jeroboam’s Story

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

Alright, now we are back in it.

jero1
Jeroboam sacrificing to his idol, oil on canvas by Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert, 1641

Today’s chapter is a lengthy one, featuring the tale of another whaling ship that the Pequod comes across on that vast, wild plain of the Pacific Ocean. They hear the story of this ship, another wild tale that happens to be incredibly relevant to their own quest. Let’s listen in, shall we? Continue reading “Chapter 71: The Jeroboam’s Story” →

Chapter 70: The Sphynx

Robin VanGilderLeave a comment

See? I said I would start posting more regularly, and here I am at it again, less than a week later.

sphynx1

This chapter is a fun one, kind of a bridge between narrative and non-narrative. You get a bit of everything, including a return to Ahab being extremely portentous all the time. Let’s get into it! Continue reading “Chapter 70: The Sphynx” →