Journal #2

Yuna Lee

June 28-July 2 (Chapter 28-51)

I could observe that the story resembles a style of a play in several chapters of this section. There are various stage directions such as “(Enter Ahab: then, all)” (chapter 36, pg. 253), “(Waving his hand, he moves from the window)” (chapter 37, pg. 265). Another feature of a play shown in the book is soliloquy. Chapters 37, 38 and 39 are soliloquies from Ahab, Starbuck, and Stubb respectively. It is also noticeable that Ishmael slowly loses his voice and perspective as a narrator. Especially in section 2, it seems like it is Melville himself telling the story because the book provides information or opinions that Ishmael might not be aware of, such as soliloquies of the other characters and some profound knowledge related to whaling. Despite all these alterations in the style of writing, Melville still uses figurative language. One of them is simile – “They dined like lords; they filled their bellies like Indian ships all day loading with spices” (chapter 34, pg. 240). When providing background information about the whales, he uses division-classification as the narrator says, “I divided the whales into three primary books, sub divisible into chapters…” (chapter 32, 217). To express Ahab’s personality, Melville uses hyperbole, “I’d strike the sun if it insulted me” (chapter 36, pg. 259). In this phrase, he successfully conveys the idea of what kind of man Ahab is.

Among all the literary techniques used in this section, allusion and analogy are definitely the most powerful tools used by Melville. An example of an allusion is, “This was strangely heightened at times by the ragged Elijah’s diabolical incoherence uninvitedly recurring to me, with a subtle energy I could not have before conceived of.” (chapter 28, pg. 196) In the Bible, Ahab is pictured as an evil King who was countered by the prophet Elijah. In the book, a character named Elijah, the same as the prophet, gives prophecies that make Ishmael feel suspicious about Ahab. This biblical allusion can foreshadow the conflicts between the captain and other sailors. Melville also alludes to the “Iron Crown of Lombardy” saying, “Is, then, the crown too heavy that I wear?” (chapter 37, pg. 264) He alludes to Shakespeare saying, “and can hardly suspect them for mere sounds, full of Leviathanism, but signifying nothing” (chapter 33, pg. 238) This phrase is a reference to a play called ‘Macbeth ‘– “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. I think that he used allusions to stimulate ideas and to connect the story to other information that might be more familiar to us. Besides allusions, he uses analogies saying, “… great glory to be slapped by a queen” (chapter 31, pg. 211) He compares being kicked by Ahab and being slapped by a queen as both honorable things. Another analogy is when Ahab says, “… then mine own electric thing, that had perhaps expired from out me.” (chapter 36, pg. 262) Both electricity and Ahab’s anger are powerful. They also pass along easily; just as Ahab’s desire for revenge against Moby Dick spread out to everyone in Pequod.

Lastly, the main topic of section 2 is interesting for me. The fact that people interpret nature and God differently based on their own perspective strikes me. Also, I think that Melville shows the different types of interpretations effectively by writing them in the form of a dialogue. Starbuck says, “Vengeance on a dumb brute! cried Starbuck, that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous.” (chapter 36, pg. 258) I could realize that Starbuck believes that things just happen and that nature is just there. Therefore, Ahab losing his leg was a tragedy but there was nothing behind it. Moby Dick did not attack Ahab out of malice so to Starbuck, attempting a revenge sounds ‘dumb’ and ‘mad’. On the other side, Ahab says, “But in each event – in the living act, the undoubted deed – there, some unknown but still reasoning things puts forth the moldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask.” (chapter 36, pg. 258-259) Ahab believes that nature is a representation of something and that his desire for revenge is reasonable – he even dreams about it. By expressing two different opinions as a dialogue helped me to understand both sides.