In the chapters leading up to the end of the novel, the sense of impending doom is heightened. We understand that the Pequod and its inhabitants are inextricably entangled in fate, what will be will be. The harpooners play a special part in this sequence, their outside position as other gives them a unique perspective of the Pequod and its fate. This ability to somehow see, sense, or divine what is predestined is certainly present in Fedallah\u2019s prophecy, but there are a handful of other instances that represent this same wonder.<\/p>\n
The transformation of Queequeg\u2019s coffin into the means of salvation for Ishmael, thus in many ways living up to Queequeg\u2019s initial oath to Ishmael signals that Queequeg has some special connection or access to the current of fate that others are not privy to. His seeming decision not to die of the illness is another indicator of his singular position as a \u201csavage\u201d to maybe play a more active or at least more aware role in his course of life. In chapter 126, The Life Buoy<\/em>,<\/p>\n the watch\u2026was startled by a cry so plaintively wild and unearthly\u2026that one and all, they started from their reveries, and for the space of some moments stood, or sat, or leaned all transfixedly listening, like the carved Roman slave, while that wild cry remained within hearing. The Christian or civilized part of the crew said it was mermaids, and shuddered; but the pagan harpooners remained unappalled. Yet the grey Manxman \u2013 the oldest mariner of all \u2013 declared that the wild thrilling sounds that were heard, were the voices of newly drowned men in the sea\u201d (463)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Members of the crew have different responses to the uncanny cries, but the Harpooners are not frightened. This may be because they are aware that it is seals \u2013 the answer Ahab gives to put everyone at rest. I however would argue that it is because the uncivilized\/non-christian Daggoo, Queequeg and Tashtego are much more comfortable with the realm of the supernatural. They are not afraid that things exist that we cannot understand or explain as they have not been socialized to accept the scientific model of the world. Rather they are able to see into what is actually at work with a different viewpoint, one not clouded by irrational fear of the irrational. This quiet power recommends them to Ahab and this is why Ishmael later remarks that they are the only men on board who Ahab still seems to trust. He takes their power as outsiders as a marker of a clear knowledge of the future, rather than a sense of the nature of fate, and wrongly interprets that because they are \u201con his side\u201d that he is in the right and will win out. Ahab makes the same mistake of projecting his own delusions of divinity and destiny onto Fedallah\u2019s prediction.<\/p>\n Fedallah\u2019s prediction comes out right; he really has a mystic connection to time\u2019s predestination, but Ahab mistakes it as an assurance that he will survive the journey. Instead it is a prediction of the destruction of not just Ahab, but the ship and all the crew but Ishmael. Whether Fedallah is aware of the actual end or not is unclear, but seems possible, that he is facing the fate that he understands must and will come to be. Ahab thinks that the two hearses cannot possibly be encountered on the voyage. He then comes to see that one is Moby Dick and the other the Pequod. In this revelation he sees how deluded he has been, how deeply he has believed in his own fabrication. Ahab and the Harpooneers go down alike in a great climax of fate-action, laid equal in their watery grave. The sea washes over everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the chapters leading up to the end of the novel, the sense of impending doom is heightened. We understand that the Pequod and its inhabitants are inextricably entangled in fate, what will be will be. The harpooners play a special part in this sequence, their outside position as other gives them a unique perspective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}