Mar 05 2010
The Grand Armada
For my final post directly related to “Moby Dick,” I wanted to go back to one of my favorite chapters in the novel. I found one moment in “Grand Armada” to be one of the most touching in the text. While before Starbuck had bemoaned the fact the Pequod’s crew had so little of their human mothers in them, Ishmael’s brief encounter with mother whales and their own children invites the reader to see similar social constructs in the animals which have been portrayed so antagonistically up to this point. In this one moment of serenity, we sense that Ishmael may see the whale as not so different from men after all.
It is no coincidence that Queequeg and Starbuck are the men who share this quiet insight with Ishmael. Both men have been previously “feminized” in the text, at least within the context of the violent, hyper-masculine crew. As Queequeg is a celebrated killer of whales and a purported savage, it is ironic that he seems the most alarmed by any harm coming to this “nursery.” His horrified reaction seems based more on instinct than any calculated assessment of the situation, as if he knows it is somehow inherently wrong to bring violence upon this peaceful herd. As I think we discussed in class, this incident is one example of how Melville may have been asking his readers to feel sympathy for the hunted animals. For by disrupting this calm natural balance the crew brings disaster down onto themselves. It has already been suggested that without a maternal influence, the men of the Pequod are destined to commit acts of violence and inhumanity. One could argue then, that the destruction of the maternal element in the ocean by the crew foreshadows the violence that will be done unto them by the same principle.
Interestingly, the next chapter delves further into this gendered description of whales in that female whales are depicted as creatures that exist as part of a peaceful and cohesive community. In contrast with this, he also develops more parallels between man and whale by indirectly associating Ahab with the aged male whales that go off on their own belligerent paths. In this sense Ahab and the crew of the Pequod are again disrupting a natural balance struck within the group of whales themselves. Together these two chapters offer a surprisingly human interpretation of the beast, a portrayal which I have a difficult time believing was not meant to elicit some degree of sympathy or at least contemplation on the part of the reader.
2 Responses to “The Grand Armada”
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Conversely—and I don’t necessarily think this, but it is food for thought—perhaps there’s not so much a human interpretation of the beast to be had, but a bestial interpretation of the human as well. Melville consistently suggests that there is some significant degree of similarity between humans and whales, even when it might be totally inaccurate. Take the chapter “The Nut,” for example. Here, Ishmael states that from a certain angle, the skull of a Sperm whale looks like that of a human. Feel free to google pictures… the two are nothing alike. Thus, I do think the similarities between the two animals are exaggerated—and generally when Melville exaggerates, it’s to make a point. There’s a sense in this chapter that while indeed the whales are human enough to evoke sympathy, the humans are whale-like enough to just be products of nature… hunted just as the whales are.
This is a very thoughtful and insightful post. There is a quote in chapter 86, “The Tail,” that could be viewed of as in support of your ideas. Ishmael states that “real strength never impairs beauty or harmony, but often bestows it” (Melville, 363). This could be interpreted as Melville suggesting that there should be a mixture of both beauty and strength in everyone, men and women alike.