In Chapter 128, \u201cThe Pequod Meets the Rachel,\u201d the reader experiences one of Captain Ahab\u2019s cruelest and most selfish moments in the novel. As he slows his speed to meet the other ship, Ahab unhesitatingly calls out in question of the white whale. He sickly yet predictably exhibits maniacal joy upon hearing from the captain that Moby Dick has indeed been sighted.<\/p>\n
Next, this other captain boards The Pequod to petition his urgent cause to Ahab. One of his ship\u2019s whale-boats has recently been lost, and on it is his twelve year-old son; thus, he pleads to Ahab to have the two ships join forces in pursuit of his son and other lost crewmates and agrees to pay entirely for the forty-eight hour search to make up for The Pequod\u2019s lost profits during what Stubb describes as \u201cthe height of the whaling season\u201d (469). This captain attempts to present his case in such a way that Ahab must relate to it and agree wholeheartedly to the request. In fact, the conversation between the two \u2013 if we can even call it a conversation, as Ahab does not utter a word until the very end \u2013 is like a man-to-man kind of talk. The captain tries to appeal foremost to Ahab\u2019s sense of paternal affection and protectiveness: for instance, he implores, \u201c\u2018Do to me as you would have me do to you in the like case. For you too have a boy, Captain Ahab \u2013 though but a child, and nestling safely at home \u2013 a child of your old age too \u2013 Yes, yes, you relent; I see it \u2013 run, run, men, now, and stand by to square in the yards\u2019\u201d (470).<\/p>\n
However, there are warning signs to us readers that Ahab is not about to acquiesce \u2013 particularly in terms of his body language and facial expression. All while the captain of the Rachel expresses the graveness and desperation of his dilemma, Ahab is described as listening \u201cicily\u201d and standing \u201clike an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own\u201d (470). This prepares us for his negative response: Ahab abruptly and curtly cuts off the fellow captain, just as he is assuming that The Pequod will join the hunt for his loved one, and rejects his wish. Ahab claims that his ship cannot afford to lose any time and that it must carry on its way at full speed; subsequently, \u201churriedly turning, with averted face, he descended into his cabin, leaving the strange captain transfixed at this unconditional and utter rejection of his so earnest suit\u201d (470). Ahab\u2019s feelings have hardened so much so that he does not feel the homosocial bonds that should connect to him to other men and other sailors. He has abandoned the empathy and compassion of a parent. The only hunt Ahab is interested in is his personal one for vengeance. As I read this, I couldn\u2019t help but tear up \u2013 Ahab is so sick and twisted, he cannot pause his chase for two days to help another man find his kin? Even Ahab\u2019s crew, many of whom live in fear of their absolutist monarch, expect to take the more sympathetic and less selfish course, as Stubb remarks, \u201c\u2018His son!…oh, it\u2019s his son he\u2019s lost! I take back the coat and watch-what says Ahab? We must save that boy\u2019\u201d (469).<\/p>\n
Besides revealing more about Ahab as a character, this chapter lends the reader some interesting historical information about common whaling practices in the nineteenth century. The narrator informs us that, although not true in this case with the Rachel, a Nantucket captain typically sent his son away for three to four years to sail aboard another ship besides his own. This was done out of fear of the father losing his neutrality, which could negatively affect the success of the whaling expedition and the development of the young boy. Melville writes, \u201cthe first knowledge of a whaleman\u2019s career shall be unenervated by any chance display of a father\u2019s natural but untimely partiality, or undue apprehensiveness and concern\u201d (470). As a boy growing up to be a whaler in Nantucket, you better have been prepared to grow up fast! No holding your father\u2019s hand. And perhaps the captain of the Rachel has to learn a harsh lesson for going against the grain and trying to simultaneously play the roles of captain and father. Unfortunately for him in Chapter 128, he encounters the wrong ship run by the wrong man. Most likely his son will be lost forever to the mother sea…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Chapter 128, \u201cThe Pequod Meets the Rachel,\u201d the reader experiences one of Captain Ahab\u2019s cruelest and most selfish moments in the novel. As he slows his speed to meet the other ship, Ahab unhesitatingly calls out in question of the white whale. He sickly yet predictably exhibits maniacal joy upon hearing from the captain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","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=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}