Mar 04 2010
The Sea
Along with many other things throughout the novel, the depiction and sentiment towards the sea changes along with the shifting narrator, and is also an indicator of the narrators growth.
The omniscient narrator seems to be ambivalent towards the ocean. This is because the ocean is itself ambivalent. Terrible storms and death are carried by the same playful breezes that originate in the tropical air that first stirs Ahab from his seclusion. Melville has personified, and masculinized the sea as the heaving chest of Sampson.
It is also interesting to see the change in Ishmael’s attitude toward the sea from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel. In the beginning, Ishmael regards the sea as a sanctuary from the perils of life on land. A charming mistress ever enticing him towards the shore. He has many positive feelings towards the ocean, and as such considers it, to a certain degree, a partner of the human race:
If they but knew it, all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me. 1
At the end of the novel, however, Ishmael regard the ocean as an unfeeling, ever present entity that allows us to feed off of its bounty simply because of lack of emotion. Ishmael recognizes the immense, impersonal nature of the ocean, and that it was here long before man and will be long after:
Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago 551
Notice also the white imagery employed in these final lines. This perhaps hints towards the fact that Moby Dick will always be hunted to some degree in some form or another by someone, just as the ocean will roll on and on. Moby Dick represents the unattainable, and there will always be someone who thinks the unattainable attainable.
2 Responses to “The Sea”
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I really like the idea of the Ishmael growing with his interpretation of the sea. However, I think it is important to take into account the specifics of this voyage in particular before assigning “growth” to Ishmael. This was far from a normal sail for the crew of the Peaquod. Totally disregarding Moby for a moment, there was much of this voyage that could sour a man against the ocean. The where long calms, intense storms, and an infuriating lack of whales. These factors could get a man from “cherishing” the sea to thinking of the it as “yawning,” “sullen,” and “shrouded.” This is not to say that Ishmael has not grown, per se, but he may just be upset with the ills that his beloved ocean has thrown his way.
Great post, I had not really considered the sea as an entity of itself. Your last quote from page 551, was one of my favorite because I really thought it spoke to the nature of the novel, that everything continues with or without you. If Ishmael had not lived to retell the story of the Pequod, no one would have know what had happened to the crew and the boat. The only clue that the ocean left was Ishmael sitting in Queeqeuq’s coffin. Furthermore, I think that the change in Ishmael’s attitude towards the see is due more to the fact that he realized that you cannot always escape from what plagues your mind. The ocean was his escape and the Pequod was the tool of getting there. But I think this demonstrates that you always think you can run away and everything will be better but really, not until you accept and confront what is plaguing you, you will never find peace. I’m not sure if Ishmael ever found peace.