I previously posted about an instance in which Melville uses a footnote to describe the migratory patterns of sperm whales. \u00a0 Stylistically this had struck me, as it was an interesting device to find used sparingly in the middle of the novel.\u00a0 I noticed too how the narrator’s voice changed between the footnote and the rest of the text.\u00a0 He sounded more authoritative on the nature of whales, referring to a scientific publication that appeared to be fictionalized.<\/p>\n
Much later on in the book, there is notably another example of Melville’s use of a footnote to describe the habits of whales.\u00a0 In the middle of the The Chase – First Day <\/em>chapter (the bottom of page 537 in the Signet book), the narrator illustrates a maneuver of the whale in which the whale leaps into the air, as if to obtain a better vantage point of the area around him. I wonder how certain Melville himself felt about this reason for the whale’s breaching, or rather, if\u00a0 people in his time commonly believed this.\u00a0 One web page I’ve found lists other plausible explanations for breaching, and says that scientists are still speculative as to an exact reasoning.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the narrator says this is “peculiar” to sperm whales, which does not seem to be the case, as other types of whales, especially the humpback, are known to breach.<\/p>\n Here is a video of\u00a0 a humpback’s impressive breaching: