Reflection #4

Ana Luiza Bueno

                                                                     Reflection #4

Moby Dick is reputedly a humorless book; Ishmael’s heavy remarks and generally monotonous tone is a familiar aspect of the novel that builds its essence. Not much humor is found throughout the book, with exception of a few comical features which, due to the complexity of the writing, are hard to be understood by the general public. Several dialogues, which as previously noted in another section, are set apart from the usual vocabulary used by Ishmael. Within these dialogues, lies an abundance of effortless jokes presented by the smart and witty crew. The character who stood out the most in the use of humor in speech is none other than Stubb. Chapter 81 presents an abundance of comical remarks, namely brought forward by Stubb. When referring to the whale’s stomach pain, he cries, “Lord, think of having half an acre of stomach ache!” In being realistic, the humorous aspect of it is still clear! Similarly, found in page 363, during an intense competition between two other ships, one of them being German, Stubb exclaims, “Its against my religion to get mad; but I’d like to eat the villainous Yarman”. “Yarman” means “German”, which gives the statement its comical aspect. Many other jokes are seen coming from other members of the crew, but it is certainly more difficult to find one coming directly from Ishmael. As a matter of fact, directly following these intense and somewhat funny moments, come Ishmael’s informational texts, loaded with facts. This provides the book with a big contrast, which is also another feature of Melville’s writing. I would personally enjoy more humor, but I do prefer quality over quantity, so I still am able to appreciate the book and its characteristics.

Another majorly effective approach to keeping readers engaged and immersed in the story is by getting them to think. What better way is there to make people think than making several rhetorical questions like this one? One may realize that Melville’s use of rhetorical questions can occupy up to half a page! These questions come up consecutively, one after the other. Inquiries are a way of allowing the reader to make their own decisions and think for themselves in a way that they may agree with the author. Additionally, it is a way of following Melville’s train of thought which was used to reach his conclusions. This is seen particularly in chapters loaded with information, not those focused on the voyage. In fact, chapter 89, regarding Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish contains an entire page replete with questions! One example is “What are the Rights of Man and Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish?” Although the ordinary inexperienced reader would not be able to answer this, curiosity would cause them to immediately think ahead and proceed the read. It certainly improves the read and optimizes the “interest rate” of the one reading.

Further, a somewhat distinctive trait found within the book is the unusual length of his sentences. Although most sentences are of normal length, and others are remarkably short, as in “Call me Ishmael”, awfully long sentences are particularly common. The audacious use of commas and semicolons make for an excessively big sentence. I would like to express my greatest amazement regarding the magnitude of some of these stated above. In doing so, I will present and quote an entire sentence (pg. 464) that, I doubt not, could take up most of my paragraph; “According to a careful calculation I have made, and which I partly base upon Captain Scoresby’s estimate, of seventy tons for the largest sized Greenland whale of sixty feet in length; according to my careful calculation, I say, a sperm-whale of the largest magnitude, between eighty-five and ninety feet in length, and something less than forty feet in its fullest circumference, such a whale will weigh at least ninety tons; so that, reckoning thirteen men to a ton, he would considerably outweigh the combined population of a whole village of one thousand one hundred inhabitants.” Above that, even larger and more complex ones are located in the book. These are clearly compact with information that could serve importance to the story but that, due to its overwhelming amount of information between only two punctuations, can be ignored by any readers. Although I find it important to read every page, it is unquestionably a tiring feat.