Feb 15 2010
Bulkington
In Chapter 23, The Lee Shore, Melville uses the character of Bulkington to demonstrate the physical and spiritual immersion of whalers into life at sea:
… it fared with him as with the storm-tossed ship, that miserably drives along the leeward land. The port would fain give succor; the port is pitiful; in the port is safety, comfort, hearthstone, supper, warm blankets, friends, all that’s kind to our mortalities. But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship’s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through. With all her might she crowds all sail off shore; in so doing, fights ‘gainst the very winds that fain would blow her homeward; seeks all the lashed sea’s landlessness again; for refuge’s sake forlornly rushing into peril; her only friend her bitterest foe.
The excerpt continues the tone established at the beginning of the novel, where Ishmael describes his own relationship to the sea. For Bulkington, the sea had also become a means of escape and source of strange familiarity, or at least strange to those outside the whaling world. Bulkington does not appear to be particularly unique in his reversal of the typical notion of home, as Ishmael, Ahab, and indeed all the men on board share both a connection to the sea and an aversion of the safety of port. While the object of the voyage is to survive the perilous months at sea, battling weather and whales, even the particular whaling climate of Nantucket or other towns that cater to the industry does not suit one such as Buckington. Instead, “the land seemed scorching to his feet,” resulting in the desire to immediately begin another voyage.
Know ye, now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?
Here Melville further extends the metaphor, linking the sea to the freedom of thought and action. Dying on the sea becomes a more glorious end than on land, for the vastness and openness of the sea allows for the independence of the soul. The land, while safe and represented by safety, comfort, hearthstone, etc., restricts an individual’s internal growth, especially one inclined to the sea. Melville continuously explores the relationship between the effects of the environment on the individual, and the idea of what is or is perceived as natural by society and the reader. He pushes this notion by elevating the personal impact that the isolation and natural brutality of the sea has on different sailors and seeing how it accumulates into a core element of the community that develops on board a whaling ship.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Signet Classic, 1998.
One Response to “Bulkington”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Interesting post, Ryan. I agree that Melville uses the sea almost as an additional character in Moby-Dick and uses the sailor’s interactions with the ocean as ways to explore the different, layered meanings of the sea. Ishmael views the sea as a means to gain freedom and a venue for him to escape from conventional society. He enjoys the contemplation that can occur when looking out onto the vast body of water. The ever cautious and wary Starbuck has respect and a certain amount of fear concerning the sea, conscious of its’ power and strength. Ahab’s relationship to the sea appears to be more of a location for him to seek revenge on the leviathan that has left him maimed. The ocean is merely a means to find Moby Dick. Pip, on the other hand is terrified of the sea and its seemingly bottomless deep where mysterious creatures, like Moby Dick lurk.