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originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: AnkhMorpork
Also: After his death, there were several subsequent sightings of a whale very much in appearance like Mocha Dick, which sparked rumors that he lived. I can't help but wonder whether this sensational news gave Melville the idea of a ubiquitous, immortal foe.
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
P.S. I should be getting up to Chapter 20 in the next few days and then I'm ready to embark on the voyage, even if it's just the two of us and a carpet bag.
In Reynolds' account, Mocha Dick was killed in 1838, after he appeared to come to the aid of a distraught cow whose calf had just been slain by the whalers. His body was 70 feet long and yielded 100 barrels of oil, along with some ambergris—a substance used in the making of perfumes and at times worth more per ounce than gold. He also had nineteen harpoons in his body. A decade later, The Knickerbocker reported another sighting of Mocha Dick in the Arctic Ocean, concluding "Vive 'Mocha Dick'!".[4]:267–8
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
a reply to: zosimov
I'm running behind and won't be able to set sail until towards the end of this week
He's out there, in the air as if hovering, the great whale, and so far the scene that has been set has the tone of "Jaws", along with a very healthy and hearty sense of humor and charm, particularly in the discovery that among all the men that one could hope to meet, Queequeg the "savage" turned out to be the most civilized and genteel of men, however tattooed and scarred like a checkerboard he might be.
So the true friend is the unexpected savage, and that's very curious.
I think he's supposed to represent something in the reader, perhaps that a checkered past that leaves it's tattoos on a man can nevertheless leave that same man innocent at heart, and it's this "way of being" that Queequeg has as a reflection of the inner man who is or has the potential to be one's own bosom buddy, even in spite of one's self and all the steeped prejudices of others based solely on appearance.
Queequeg is like the repressed ID made manifest as both a savage barbarian (peddling shrunken heads around town for a living), and as the most loving and dignified of the whole lot of them.
There is a deep mirth and humor in the irony of this, at the expense of those who might fancy themselves to be outwardly civilized but inwardly barbaric and depraved, hiding the checkered tattoos on the inside, instead of wearing them outwardly.
Luke 16:19-31“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
originally posted by: zosimov
This quote from Chapter 2 is a perfect example of Ishmael's occasionally caustic humor:
"Yet Dives himself, he too lives like a Czar in an ice palace made of frozen sighs, and being a president of a temperance society, he only drinks the tepid tears of orphans."
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
I would be very interested to get a take from you on just how this book was received upon publication ie: was anyone offended by it? or were they maybe too stupid to understand who he was addressing and what it was all about..?
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
a reply to: zosimov
Hey that's interesting. As would be expected. They would be insulted by it and consider it blasphemous.
When and how was it considered a masterpiece in American literature or when and how did it finally get the recognition that it deserved?
Also, is there any evidence that the book itself ended up having an impact on the social conscience once it was better received and understood?
Before I started reading it, I never had the impression that it was anything other than a dull old book about a whale or just vengeance.
I find Melville's penchant for dark humor to be way ahead of his time. He reminds me of Oscar Wilde in some ways. I wonder if he (Wilde) ever read it or commented on the book?
Was "Moby Dick" ever really seen as absolutely filled with mirthful irony and humor?
The idea of so many people reading it, without smiling, is almost disturbing to me. That's the real blasphemy, not to get the grave humor involved, imho.
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
The idea here is to intimate and foreshadow the need for an authentic repentance for running away from God's commands which are both necessary and hard, commands because if they were easy, only persuasion would be needed.
There appears to be a strong allegory running in back of the story, so it's a good thing to look for pregnant meaning and significance and metaphor.
As slowly as I'm reading, getting to it only for short periods, it is interesting the way the lead up to the voyage is setting the stage and paving the way.
He wishes to lift the mind and heart of the reader to contemplate a new vista of sorts there at the edge of the sea and the edge of the world - and out there somewhere swims a white whale under turbulent seas as if sent by God to swallow the guilty conscience and bring about a type of repentance that is also a form of praise and worship, like Jonah, upon which there will be a deliverance as God commanded the whale to vomit Jonah up on the beach, another edge of the world / new beginning.
In Biblical terms we know that Jesus himself felt that the sign of Jonah was significant, so we also have a death and resurrection, and the return to innocence and blamelessness, as with Queequeg.
originally posted by: AnkhMorpork
And woe to him to messes with the wrong whale.
Btw, I had an interesting experience earlier today. I went for a nap, and in the first hypnogogic imagery that I got, a great whale traversed my friend of vision.
I was visited! lol