Feb 01 2010
The Ramadan and science
Descartes decided that “I think, therefore I am.” Ishmael believes that in order to think, one must first be, and in order to think well, one must be well as well. By examining the tradition of fasting, Melville connects ideas that are spiritual (religion) with a basis in the physical world, suggesting that the mind has a physical place in the body and treating the idea of the “mind” in a scientific way.
After Queequeg has spent days and nights fasting, Ishmael tries to discourage him from partaking in an activity which he perceives to be “stark nonsense; bad for the health; useless for the soul; opposed, in short, to the obvious laws of Hygiene and common sense”(83). (I thought it was intersting that Hygiene was capitalized here, as if Melville would like to emphasize the hygiene is just as important as the religions that get capitalized.) Melville writes that
fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves in; and all thoughts must necessarily be half starved. This is the reason why most dyspeptic religionists cherish such melancholy notions about their hereafters. In one word, Queequeg, says I, rather digressively; hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans. (83)
Melville writing is suggestive, and he makes makes use of the idea of cause and effect, which is scientific in nature. If the body caves in, he writes, then the spirit caves in as well, implying that the body and spirit exist together, and that the state of one affects the state of the other. Melville recognizes that our existance has a physical, scientific basis in addition to a spiritual one.
Melville’s tone funny and sarcastic here (“hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling.” ) He suggests that the mind and body are connected, that the spirit has a physical manifestation, and that our physical states also affect the mind. In this way, he adds science to religion; there would be no religion if we are not in a condition to believe in it, he suggests.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Signet Classic, 1998.
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Very good, Megan — there is certainly a lot of religious/spiritual exploration that occurs alongside the scientific descriptions that Melville includes in the novel — the two are often inextricably linked. I also like that you noted Melville’s sarcastic tone here; is it Ishmael’s? Melville’s? Who is the religious skeptic?