Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off–then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
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Professor Friedman commented in class that Melville was not thought of as a political or cultural writer. Ishmael’s numerous comments, however, about his impressions of Queequeg, a cannibal and a “savage,” indicate otherwise. Indeed, writing a book that seems willing to take on most issues about the human condition, Melville does not exclude the particularly touchy subject of race on the eve of the civil war. Melville encapsulates the problem when Ishmael writes “But savages are strange beings; at times you do not know exactly how to take them” (48-49). Let me not try to get in over my head, but the issue of how much latitude to give people different from oneself, or “savages,” endures. With imperialism, or any means of subjugation, Americans saw the imminently-conquered practicing totally foreign habits. The few more tolerant granted them their difference, making limited worth judgements on them as people, while most used the easy definition of “different” as inferior, rationalization to subjugate them. And I would contend further that this issue continues today. Liberal sociologists maintain that inner-city high school students don’t succeed in school solely because of their environment, while more conservative thinkers are comfortable to make some judgement about their nature dooming them. I digress: Ishmael experiences his problem firsthand with Queequeg. Irrespective of his introduction to Queequeg, outfitted with his tomahawk in addition to his imposing stature, compounded on the news that he actually goes around selling heads (did I read that right?), Ishmael has presuppositions and biases against the character of people like Queequeg. Melville certainly doesn’t make it easy for us to be completely pro-Queequeg when he is a cannibal, but while the descriptor “cannibal” may in fact just be an accurate term for Queequeg, when conflated with “savage” it takes on its negative connotations. Despite his view, allowing the reader to experience and even share a bit of racism, Ishmael includes many of the virtues of Queequeg. They abound our reading for Wednesday, but a couple of my favorites were from The Counterpane. Ishmael writes, after Queequeg gives him the privacy to dress, “this is a very civilized overture; but, the truth is, these savages have an innate sense of delicacy, say what you will; it is marvellous how essentially polite they are” (27). While Ishmael missed the mark with the word “civilized,” he nailed it with “delica[te],” or, considerate. Goodness does not stem from “civilization,” (just think of stingy, “pious” Bildad) and Ishmael shows signs of acknowledging that. And even if he doesn’t acknowledge it quite yet, he allows us to. Similarly, on the next page, Ishmael includes an instance of Queequeg’s good sense. Unlike how a Christian man applies his ablutions, Queequeg uses his harpoon to shave. Though Ishmael regarded it negatively at the time, later he admires Queequeg’s resoucefulness and handy use of very sharp steel, giving him a very close shave. Again, we are invited to as well. At the very least, if Melville doesn’t have some political agenda, I don’t know who does.
For these posts, consider the representation of race, racism, race relations, and racial identity in various passages of the novel. How does Melville use Ishmael, a white man, to project or explore certain ideas about race or racism or relation among races? How does Ishmael discover his own ideas about race? How do these ideas converge with or offer a critique of certain received ideas about race? What do certain passages seem to suggest about the nature of racial identity, or about race relations?
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Most of Melville’s novel deals with aspects of whaling — life on a whaling ship, specific details of how to catch, dissect, even cook a whale. This group’s posts will consider passages or events in the novel that refer specifically to the details of whaling, and what those details might reveal to the reader about larger themes in the novel.
Melville was not a scientist, and yet he reveled in details regarding the science of whales and whaling. He also considered philosophy a science, as did most of his nineteenth century peers. This group’s posts will consider how passages or events in the novel might reveal Melville’s thinking about the science of whales, of the sea, of humankind, and can also consider how his philosophical cogitations might be attempts at scientific explanation (of human motivation, or of humanity’s relationship to whales and the natural world). Another possibility: how does science seem to fall in line with, or oppose, or mingle with, the aspects of religion in this novel? How does Melville write about religion and science together?
This novel contains many, many references to the Bible and to religious figures, stories, morals, parables. It is often said that Melville wrote this novel with a Bible near his elbow. So, this group’s posts will consider all manner of religious allusion — notice how and when and why Melville refers to a biblical story, or a biblical figure, and do a little web research to find out who the figure is or where the allusion comes from (if you can’t figure it out or don’t know it). Also, posts can focus on moments where religious imagery or religious tones are invoked, without clear or specific references to the Bible.
Posts from this group will focus on the tricky concept of narration — at times, Ishmael seems to be in full control of the narrative (he IS the narrator). At other times, he seems to disappear behind an all-seeing, omniscient form of narration that seems out of place with the first-person narrative. Focus on passages or aspects of the novel where the narration is important, either because it calls attention to itself loudly (for example, there are moments in the novel where the narration resembles a play or telescript), or where the narrator seems biased, unreliable, etc. Notice what you can about disparities between what Ishmael-the-narrator might be thinking and what Melville-the-author may have intended or meant to hide behind Ishmael’s narration.
Melville’s novel is highly allusive: he makes references to Shakespeare, to Milton, to contemporary authors, to historians, to classical literature in Latin and Greek. He was a multimedia man, and he put a lot of that media into his novel. This group’s job is to think about what passages or events might resemble moments in other forms of literature. Does a particular passage recall a moment in Shakespeare (one of his plays, or a line of his poetry)? Does a particular passage resemble a Greek myth you read in high school? You can also do a little bit of web research to find out what particular literary allusions Melville might be making in a passage. Or, you can make an educated guess — you can even say that a passage reminds you of a totally different, later, or more contemporary piece of literature you read (as long as you explain why).
Much of this novel is about the work done on or for the ship in the whaling business, but work can be defined in many ways. There are also multiple hierarchies of workers on the ship. Posts for this group will focus on passages where issues of labor seem important or salient — does the passage/event equate labor with slavery? Is the narrator making a commentary about slavery in America? What aspects of labor does the narrator celebrate, and which does he denounce, and why?