Lucas Lorimer                     Ch. 108- Epilogue July 30(day written), 2019 Journal #5

            The end. These chapters are action packed, philosophical and, tear jerking (not that I cried). To me the most impactful part of these chapters was by far the ending. The symbolic death of the bird and the fact that Ahab would turn out to be killed in fact not by the whale he loathed or with the ship he loved but instead would die by his own hand left a lot to mull over.

            If the whole book had been like the ending I would’ve enjoyed a lot more than I did. The ending seemed to impact me most with the deaths of everyone and the entire concept of death left me thinking a lot. The death of the hawk and the metaphor described by Melville is obviously that the ship was destroyed by Satan and that Satan would only die once he had taken a part of heaven (Jesus) who is depicted as the hawk. This was interesting because I did not expect the book to end on an allusion to Jesus and Christianity even though it had been talked about a fair bit throughout the book.

            Another thing that left me thinking was the entire concept of death. What with Ahab already presuming he would meet his death on this third encounter and the fact that nearly everyone dies there is a lot of death going on. But even more importantly to me was the indifference of the world to death.

            Once before in this section Ahab talked about the calm waters and said that they seem falsely calm since they have probably witnessed some of the greatest horrors. And once again in the end of the last chapter the sea rolls on as it did five thousand years ago. This sentence hit me like a ton of bricks. This is what the end amassed to, not a single tear shed, not a singe woe uttered and the sea rolls on and on and on like it always has done and always will do. Death is normal and it really makes a reader think about his own death and how meaningless it is.

Lucas Lorimer                                  Ch. 81-107 July 30(day written), 2019 Journal #4

            Throughout these chapters there is a lot of talk on Moby Dick. In these chapters the Pequod meets many different ships and to each one Captain Ahab asks them all if they have seen the white whale. He is obsessed with his goal and he will not be swayed. Throughout these questionings of the different ships we learn more and more about the white whale. Through the stories of other sailors Moby Dick’s power grows in our imaginations.

            As these chapters go on whaling has changed in my perspective since the beginning of the book. I realize that more and more whaling is not so atrocious a thing. Maybe that is just me falling victim to the way the book is written but due to all the negative press that whaling receives nowadays I think that it has influenced the world to be really angry at whalers. Reading this book, though, had changed my mind. I feel like whaling is more noble now.

            Maybe my thoughts on this topic are situated only to that timeframe where technology was not advanced enough and killing a whale was like a war were there are o predetermined winners. A fair battle, it could be called. Nowadays what with the advances of technology killing whales has become easy and it is not something would call noble.

            Chapters that would aid me in changing my mind were chapters like “The Honour and Glory of Whaling” were the greatness of battling whales compelled me to change my way of thinking.

            Another interesting thing was the issue of Ahab’s leg which when slightly damaged is thrown away and he orders the creation of a new one. This reminded me of the ruthlessness of Ahab and how focused he is on his goal that anything that stands in his way or shows signs of weakness will be thrown out.

Lucas Lorimer                                  Ch. 52-80 July 30(day written), 2019 Journal #3

            Throughout this third section we see a lot of action. Whales are killed, and harpoons are thrown and throughout all this violence there are parts that have made me feel sick but none of them were as disgusting or as philosophically captivating as the one about sharks.

            I guess I just find sharks more attractive than whales but the chapter that discusses the violence of the sharks as they eat away at the lifeless body of the whale was one of the coolest chapters in the book. The whale has just been killed and it has been attached to the side of the boat. Stubb tells the negro cook to hack a piece of flesh off the whale and cook it for him. This in and of itself is already disgusting in my opinion.

            Then we see that there are “millions” of sharks biting human head sized chunks out of the whale. Once the meat has been cooked and prepared for stubb he tells the cook that he is not happy with his meal because it has been overdone and he prefers it tough the way the sharks eat it. And this is where things get interesting because Stubb tells the cook to tell the sharks to shut up because they are making a racket while eating the whale slapping their fins against the side of the boat in the middle of the night.

            I have never heard of people preaching to sharks and I can only assume that this a way of Stubb being derogatory to the cook since he is black. Stubb then preaches to the sharks and Melville shows us once more the racism of the time. I do not know if Melville was a racist or if he is simply making fun of the racists but when the cook starts preaching to the sharks he uses swear words. Then Stubb trying to tell him to stop swearing uses swear words at the same time.

            Even more interesting is the content of the sermon preached to the sharks by the cook. He says that he does not blame the sharks for being so violent since it is in their nature but that if they can govern the inner shark in them they can be angels for angels are nothing more than sharks well governed. This reminds me of the Christian faith and I think that this a jibe at the Christians who preach that everyone has sin in them but what we must do is govern our sinful nature.

            The sermon ends with the cook saying that its no use preaching to the sharks because they will continue being violent and eating until they are satisfied but they can never be satisfied. This again reminds me of the Christian faith where the Christians say non-christians will continue trying to satisfy the sinful desires of the flesh but that those desires can never be satisfied.

Lucas Lorimer                                  Ch. 28-51 July 30(day written), 2019 Journal #2

            These were a battle. The toughest chapters of the book by far were these meditative ones. It seems like Melville goes on so many tangents to describe useless things like the thought processes of so many characters and this is where the amazingness of the book is really shown with the description and the way Melville can use words to portray every emotion.

            These are the chapters where the mysterious Ahab is revealed. He is shown to be a crazy captain who is obsessed with the white whale, Moby Dick. There are chapters devoted entirely to Ahab’s craziness like chapter 30 where Ahab is smoking his pipe when realization dawns on him that smoking is nice, and it is for happy people. He says he cannot be happy, so he flings his pipe into the ocean and vows never to smoke again. This crazy captain is criticized by some and by others his crazy nature inspires them to push harder.

            It is in these chapters that the readers get a sense for the mightiness of the whale. It is viewed as this monster that is the king of the sea. The whales are listed, and they are described in one of the longest chapters yet. Here we get more of an understanding for the hugeness of the sperm whale and the reason why he keeps being called a leviathan.

            Another thing I noticed is the way the book seems to be written in play form what with the formatting of dialogue and stage directions. This made me feel tenser and it was as if there was an action scene that is being played out. Everything seemed more fast paced and action-like. Melville’s style of writing really amazes me, maybe because I haven’t heard half of the fancy words he uses or because of the way he can put so much detail into action scenes that unless your paying really close attention or have done whaling can make the reader bored. (don’t want to be offensive but this book is really hard to understand at times.

Lucas Lorimer                                                              Ch. 1-27 July 30, 2019 Journal #1

            A very dense and philosophical beginning. Melville talks about the innate desires of man to go to the sea. He gives us an introduction into his life as a sailor. As I go reading through this book I notice how detailed it is and how philosophical it is. Probably the most challenging piece of literature I have ever had to read. The time frame allows for a lot of racism and Ishmael seems to think his Christian faith makes him a million times better than Queequeg. It really is sickening to realize how mean humans can be. Queequeg is seen as a savage and is talked about derogatively of.

            What becomes evident the more I read of Melville’s Moby Dick is the seemingly unnecessary description which he puts into simple aspects of the book. For example, in chapter 3, Melville goes on to intensely describe some of the paintings he sees at the spouters inn.  However, I doubt that this description has no purpose. The paintings are all f whaling voyages and this description is probably a way of Melville telling readers what a whaling voyage consists of.

There is a lot of talk about religion and it is talked about in both negative and positive lights. Through these initial chapters it is possible to see the changing faith of Ishmael. From the very beginning it would be foolish to say that Ishmael showed signs of being a devout Christian, however much he says that Christianity is right and savagery is wrong. We see Ishmaels faith wane as he prays to yojo, Queequeg’s god.

What’s more, religion wise Ishmael and Queequeg go to a chapel and listen to a Christian sermon on Jonah and the whale. This is very interesting because all of the details talked about in the sermon are immensely exaggerated to be more in sync with sailors.

In chapter 109, I really liked the scene in which Ahab establishes his dominance over the Pequod. “There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod. — On deck!” The description of Starbuck’s expression was also really detailed and captured the emotions he was having in the moment, when Ahab pointed the musket at him. The book says he had flashing eyes and fiery cheeks (p.379).

            Wow I’ve noticed I only write my reflections about the early chapters of the section but that’s because I write it as I read ok anyways…It’s kind of weird but cool how Melville describes Pip in chapter 110. Pip is saying that his old self died and with that old self left behind his cowardness (p.383). It’s just like being baptized. We leave behind our old selves and we are born again in the Lord’s name and kingdom. I also liked how he implemented Pip’s tambourine (at least I think so) in this section.

I Am. So. DISAPPPOINTED. I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONNA KILL THE WHALE AAAAAAAAA. It ended so sad and everything too. So many symbols being thrown around and such. I have been tricked and I am now mad at the book because I was looking forward to the killing of the whale, which was the whole point of this book. The whole book was to build up to the moment they met Moby Dick, and in the end, they don’t even get him…I want a part two with like Ishmael’s children that avenge his first whaling crew or something. I am shocked.

In chapter 81, I was able to find some little lessons from the events that unfolded. They’re really cliché but they’re there so might as well point it out. One was that you have to be careful with who you trust. Captain Derick seemed nice and all at first, asking for oil, which he did receive by the way (p.284). But when something that both parties wanted appeared, the whales, Derick instantly made the Pequod his enemies. The other lesson is that sometimes, even though you may not want to, it’s better to let go instead of holding on. Starbuck was hesitant on dropping the whale, but if he hadn’t, the boat would’ve tipped over (p.291).

            I am still amazed at how much information Ishmael seems to know about everything, specifically whales. In chapter 85 and 86, he just goes into great detail about his theories about how the whale’s respiratory system works and what comes out of the spout and about how whales use their tails in different ways. He really did his homework before going into his first whaling voyage. All this information is also really helpful to the reader for us to learn more about whales. I’m also guessing that some of these things he learned on the way since this is a story being told by him after the adventure.

            I’m not sure if the men were being racist or just focusing at the task at hand, but I felt really bad for Pip when they left him behind or when they were all cursing at him. Melville maybe intended for this since he kind of belittles Pip (p.333). They also tell him that he’s worth less than a whale in Alabama if he were to be sold into slavery. The poor boy; luckily the Pequod saved him from getting lost in the middle of the ocean.

The writing style in this book is quite weird at times. At one section, it became a play and then it just continued as a normal narrative as if nothing happened. I don’t quite understand the point of it but I’m fine with that. Another is when I found a dictionary type of definition in the middle of the story. It was the definition of “gam” (p.199). I searched it up and actually found a similar definition on google and the timeline of the usage of the word. It showed that it was used a lot during the 1800s, so I found that pretty cool.

            In chapter 54, we get a huge story about the Town-Ho and the people on it. It’s another great example about how Melville puts in these “random” stories or information for us to have a better understanding of the story. If you’ve ever watched Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, it’s kind of like that. When a new character showed up, the movie cut to a back story in order for us to know the character a little more. It was also a very exciting story to read, and Melville uses a lot of details to keep the reader engaged.             One thing I did find quite odd is the first whale they were able to hunt down and kill. I thought there would be maybe a bit more about it since it’s a pretty big deal for Ishmael since he’s never actually done this before. He does explain all the aspects of it pretty well and how it all works, like with the lines and the harpoons and positioning (p. 236-238), but I don’t know. I feel like it’s missing something. Maybe extend the chase a bit longer or Ishmael’s reactions and thoughts to the first whale killing he’s been a part of.

The transition from the first section to the second is quite cool. In chapter 27, which is in the first section, we get introduced to the main characters on the boat. I am guessing that they will stick around for the rest of the book, since we’ve just now started to get into the whaling part. The part I found cool was the little stories Melville gives to each of the leaders and their harpooners, like little origin stories (p.103-105). He didn’t even have to go into that much detail, but he did so that we could have a better understanding of the members of the boat and to create little connections to them.

            One thing that I was really amazed with was Ahab’s random reflection and self-care (p.111). He took his pipe everywhere he went to have a smoke for years now, but he suddenly decides to quit smoking. The captain simply chucks it away and moves on with his life. It no longer brought him the satisfaction or pleasure like it used to before. It was just a habit now, and a bad one. Sometimes, we shouldn’t do things just because we feel like we must, or because everyone else does it. Ahab stood up to himself and made a very good choice and teaches us a valuable lesson.             Melville also really likes to use intricate and long words or phrases to describe the simple things that happen throughout the book. One example is when Dough-Boy (what a name HAHAHA) calls for dinner and when Flask is called, he does a sort of funny dance all the way until he is in the captain’s line of sight and pretends like nothing happened. This book, although it may not seem like it most of the time, has some funny events that happen. You may miss it sometimes due to the way the author explains it but it’s there if you read well.

In the page of the book (starting at chapter 1) we can already see Melville’s very interesting descriptions. For example: “driving off the spleen”, “growing grim around the mouth (alliteration too)”, etc. (p.14) His word choices and vocabulary in general are really fun to read and describe everything so perfectly, so it’s easy to picture the story in your mind while you read it. Another great example is in the phrase: “Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?” (p.15)

            Queequeg is also such a funny and good character to use in the beginning of the story. He’s the perfect companion to Ishmael, which talks a lot, so he just sits there and listens. It’s like he’s the brawn and Ishmael, the brains, a classic stereotype. Queequeg is also kind of like a comic relief. The setting in the beginning is all dark and gloomy, and he sounded scary at the start, but then transitions into a respectable gentleman, which is ironic (p.35). This savage cannibal suddenly turns into a polite friend to Ishmael. 

            I like how Melville depicts Christianism through Ishmael. In the chapter where Queequeg fasts for Ramadan (p.76), Ishmael completely respects what his friend is doing and won’t judge him just because he isn’t like him. Maybe like Voltaire, he is criticizing Christians because a lot of them try to force their views and opinions down people’s throats. Here, Ishmael says that Christians should be charitable towards other’s views, and not think that we are superior to them. He handled that perfectly and had a humble and kind attitude.