Feb 02 2010
Classifying whales and men
Chapter thirty-two in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick deals exclusively with Ishmael’s own categorization system for whales. Throughout this chapter, Ishmael tells the reader everything he has experienced or has heard of that would be useful in distinguishing whales from one another. Yet, the most common piece of knowledge is that whales are largely a mystery. Ishmael begins the chapter with quotations regarding this mysteriousness, this “ impenetrable veil covering our knowledge of the cetacea” (126). Despite this grounding in mystery, Ishmael goes on to provide the reader with his own set of classifications for the whale. These are based largely on size and then appearance. Within these divisions, whales are discussed regarding their value to whalers, primarily the value of their oil. However, he also comments on whales’ sociability:
The Fin-Back is not gregarious. He seems a whale-hater, as some men are man-haters. Very shy; always going solitary; unexpectedly rising to the surface in the remotest and most sullen waters; his straight and single lofty jet rising like a tall misanthropic spear upon a barren plain; gifted with such wondrous power and velocity in swimming, as to defy all present pursuit from man; this Leviathan seems to be the banished and unconquerable Cain of his race, bearing for his mark that style upon his back.
From there I drew a similarity from the way Ishmael discusses whale to the way in which he discusses men. He also feels the need to categorize men based on their birthplace. The three mates on the Pequod are all introduced with their origins as one of their chief characteristics. Just as Ishmael judges whales based on the value of their oil, he seems to judge men based on their affinity with water. The Lakeman, while being born far from the ocean, is still respected because the Great Lakes have given him similar experiences. The Canallers are predisposed to betrayal due to their upbringing along the Erie Canal.
And yet in reality, this sort of stereotyping comes about because so much is unknown about individuals. Ishmael is able to classify people based on his limited experience and on what he has heard from others, just as he classifies whales. I found this to be yet another example of the science of whales being intertwined with Ishmael’s views on humanity.
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Very good, Abby — people often puzzle about the chapter(s) on cetology, but the main point to take away from them is Melville’s constant reiteration that whales are like people, and vice versa. Now why he makes these claims becomes an interesting question — is he doing it because, as we’ll discuss later in class, he’d like people to stop killing whales? Or is it because he wants to create a great metaphor about the destructiveness of humanity, and how awfully people treat one another? Or is he trying to humble us? Or is he using the comparison to point out obvious things or unseen things? Keep these questions in mind as you continue posting.