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Most of Melville’s novel deals with aspects of whaling — life on a whaling ship, specific details of how to catch, dissect, even cook a whale. This group’s posts will consider passages or events in the novel that refer specifically to the details of whaling, and what those details might reveal to the reader about larger themes in the novel.
Melville was not a scientist, and yet he reveled in details regarding the science of whales and whaling. He also considered philosophy a science, as did most of his nineteenth century peers. This group’s posts will consider how passages or events in the novel might reveal Melville’s thinking about the science of whales, of the sea, of humankind, and can also consider how his philosophical cogitations might be attempts at scientific explanation (of human motivation, or of humanity’s relationship to whales and the natural world). Another possibility: how does science seem to fall in line with, or oppose, or mingle with, the aspects of religion in this novel? How does Melville write about religion and science together?
This novel contains many, many references to the Bible and to religious figures, stories, morals, parables. It is often said that Melville wrote this novel with a Bible near his elbow. So, this group’s posts will consider all manner of religious allusion — notice how and when and why Melville refers to a biblical story, or a biblical figure, and do a little web research to find out who the figure is or where the allusion comes from (if you can’t figure it out or don’t know it). Also, posts can focus on moments where religious imagery or religious tones are invoked, without clear or specific references to the Bible.
Posts from this group will focus on the tricky concept of narration — at times, Ishmael seems to be in full control of the narrative (he IS the narrator). At other times, he seems to disappear behind an all-seeing, omniscient form of narration that seems out of place with the first-person narrative. Focus on passages or aspects of the novel where the narration is important, either because it calls attention to itself loudly (for example, there are moments in the novel where the narration resembles a play or telescript), or where the narrator seems biased, unreliable, etc. Notice what you can about disparities between what Ishmael-the-narrator might be thinking and what Melville-the-author may have intended or meant to hide behind Ishmael’s narration.
Melville’s novel is highly allusive: he makes references to Shakespeare, to Milton, to contemporary authors, to historians, to classical literature in Latin and Greek. He was a multimedia man, and he put a lot of that media into his novel. This group’s job is to think about what passages or events might resemble moments in other forms of literature. Does a particular passage recall a moment in Shakespeare (one of his plays, or a line of his poetry)? Does a particular passage resemble a Greek myth you read in high school? You can also do a little bit of web research to find out what particular literary allusions Melville might be making in a passage. Or, you can make an educated guess — you can even say that a passage reminds you of a totally different, later, or more contemporary piece of literature you read (as long as you explain why).
Much of this novel is about the work done on or for the ship in the whaling business, but work can be defined in many ways. There are also multiple hierarchies of workers on the ship. Posts for this group will focus on passages where issues of labor seem important or salient — does the passage/event equate labor with slavery? Is the narrator making a commentary about slavery in America? What aspects of labor does the narrator celebrate, and which does he denounce, and why?
Posts for this group should focus on issues of gender (masculinity, femininity) as they appear in particular passages of the novel. You could ask yourself the question, for example, “How is a particular passage or event in the novel gendered? Is it betraying a particularly masculine perspective, and why?” You could also discuss perceptions and representations of masculinity, femininity, homosexual (or homosocial) relations, or Melville’s (Ishmael’s) perceptions of feminism and the feminine. You could also discuss passages in the novel that relate nature to gender, work/labor to gender, and so forth.
This group’s postings will be about how particular passages in the novel pertain to issues of the natural world, or how they might allude to or suggest Melville’s (or Ishmael’s) views on the environment.
The posts for this group should focus on issues of character: how passages from the novel reveal hidden depths of a particular character, or how an event in the novel informs your understanding of a particular character. Posts can focus on issues of motivation (what motivates a character to act as he does?), narration (how does the narrative description of the character change or affect your understanding of the character? Can you see a discrepancy between the character’s actions and the narrator’s descriptions?), attitude (what is the narrator’s attitude towards the character, and what does this attitude do to color your perception of the character?).