Moby Dick

“Quitting the pump at last, with the rest of his band, the Lakeman went forward all panting, and sat himself down on the windlass; his face fiery red, his eyes bloodshot, and wiping the profuse sweat from his brow.  Now what cozening fiend it was, gentlemen, that possessed Radney to meddle with such a man in that corporeally exasperated state, I know not; but so it happened. Intolerably striding along the deck, the mate commanded him to get a broom and sweep down the planks, and also a shovel, and remove some offensive matters consequent upon allowing a pig to run at large.” (239-240)

“But there was more than this: the order about the shovel was almost as plainly meant to sting and insult Steelkilt, as though Radley had spat in his face.  Any man who has gone sailor in a whale-ship will understand this; and all this and doubtless much more, the Lakeman fully comprehended when the mate uttered his command.” (240)

With all the work that must be completed on the ship, especially a whale-ship, there has to be a hierarchy that must be maintained.  That being said, the story of Stellkilt and Radley depicts what occurs with the break down of hierarchy on the boat.  Every man has a duty and place within the ship, whether he is a common sailor like Ishmael, a harpooner like Queequeq, or first mate like Starbuck; there is an order.  Thus when Radley provokes Steelkilt by demanding him to clean up pig filth, for the shear enjoyment of being cruel, he was breaking the natural order.  Not only had Steelkilt just worked furiously at pumping out the ship but it was not his duty to clean and muck the deck.  So when Steelkilt refuses to follow his commanding officer’s demands he was also breaking the hierarchy but he did so because he was defending his honor; that he had just completed backbreaking work and it was unfair for Radley to force him to do such menial chores.  If all order is lost upon the boat, then there is no hope for the voyage.  Within that environment, the success and the failure of the voyage’s future depends on its crew maintaining discipline.

In my mind, the Town-Ho’s story was an allegory warning what would happen if one member of the crew disobeyed the natural order of the ship.  Furthermore, was this story a foreshadowing of the impending doom of the Pequod? By secretly stowing away a separate crew, was Ahab not upsetting the natural balance of the Pequod?  Did he not dishonor the original crew of the Pequod by producing his own? What I find curious is that Radley’s ultimate punishment was death by the white whale, Moby Dick.  It was as if Moby Dick intrinsically knew that Radley had so grievously disobeyed the laws of the ship and the sea that he had to be done away with.  Thus will members of Pequod face the same fate by disobeying the natural order?

“That instant, as he fell on the whale’s slippery back, the boat righted, and was dashed aside by the swell, while Radley was tossed over into the sea, on the other flank of the whale.  He struck out through the spray, and, for an instant, was dimly seen through that veil, wildly seeking to remove himself from the eye of Moby Dick.  But the whale rushed round in a sudden maelstrom; seized the swimmer between his jaws; and rearing high up with him, plunged headlong again, and went down.” (251)

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