Feb 01 2010
The Sea and the Opening Paragraph
In the opening paragraph of the Moby Dick, Ishmael’s cherished relationship with the ocean is established. In the mysterious, and ominous introduction, our narrator invokes the sea as a healer of land-induced woes. When Ishmael feels grimness in his soul he retreats to the sea for solace and rejuvenation. The “watery part of the world” offers Ishmael a “substitute for pistol and ball” (Melville 1). The free-flowing movement of the sea seems to lull our narrator back into a more peaceful and quiet frame of mind.
His suicidal thoughts (or potentially murderous tendencies) are not attributed to anything specific, so it’s difficult to say if Ishmael believes the physical land to be at the root of his darkness, or whether he just finds the sea to be a retreat from his own personal demons (not in relation to the land itself). Regardless, his ocean solution is not commonplace, yet Ishmael speaks as if it is a very normal way to deal with depression. In fact, so normal that he feels “almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean…” (1).
Melville’s attempts to normalize the lifestyle of taking “to the ship” functions to alert readers to the important role the sea is going to play in the rest of the novel. In order for readers to access the tale they must adopt those feelings as well. Ishmael is looking to get out on the open water “as soon as [he] can,” but it’s not until the 22nd chapter that Melville finally takes us aboard the ship. This extended time spent on land offers readers a foundation for the inevitable ensuing contrast of life at sea.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Signet Classic, 1998.
One Response to “The Sea and the Opening Paragraph”
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Cara, I think this was your first post? It’s on the right track — you attempt to explain what would draw Ishmael to the sea, what sort of natural appeal the sea might hold for a man of his temperament and character. For future posts, ask yourself, too, what sorts of natural or environmental underlying messages Melville may have been sending. Or, simply focus on the beauty and poetry of the passages that attempt to bring the reader into the natural world; after all, Melville’s talent lay in bringing to life the parts of the natural world that his audience was very distant from — NEw England matrons or men who may never have left Boston would be curious about – or disgusted by? — the aspects of sealife, whaling, whales, weather that Melville describes, leading us to ask more questions about why these elaborate natural descriptions pepper this novel.