Melville, who was not a scientist, frequently utilizes scientific justifications and explanations in the first few chapters.\u00a0 Reading this today, it\u2019s interesting to see what was considered acceptable or at least normal culturally in terms of scientific thought.\u00a0 For instance, during one of Ishmael\u2019s Queequeg observation sessions, he comments that Queequeg\u2019s \u201chead was phrenologically an excellent one.\u201d (44) Ishmael then compares busts of George Washington to Queequeg, which adds to his preexisting positive impression since Washington evokes images of new hope, national glory, and victory!\u00a0 Of course we know today that Phrenology is a form of scientific racism with no grounding whatsoever, but it\u2019s interesting to hear Ishmael, who probably doesn\u2019t know much about science or pseudoscience, mention this.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The type of thought process Ishmael uses here to describe Queequeg depicts the protagonist as someone with great judgment who will seek the silver lining even if it takes some effort.\u00a0 Although Ishmael spends plenty of time discussing the more \u201cbarbaric\u201d features of Queequeg as well, he does so in a tone that emphasizes hope and positivity:<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough all his unearthly tattooings, I thought I saw the traces of a simple honest heart; and in his large, deep eyes, fiery black and bold, there seemed tokens of a spirit that would dare a thousand devils.\u00a0 And besides all this, there was a certain lofty bearing about the Pagan, which even his uncouthness could not altogether maim.\u00a0 He looked like a man who had never cringed and never had a creditor.\u00a0 Whether it was, too, that his head being shaved, his forehead was drawn out in freer and brighter relief, and looked more expansive than it otherwise would, this I will not venture to decide; but certain it was his head was phrenologically an excellent one.\u00a0 It may seem ridiculous, but it reminded me of General Washington\u2019s head, as seen in the popular busts of him\u2026 Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.\u201d (44)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ishmael describes Queequeg in a whimsically philosophical tone here with metaphors that, based on prior and later descriptions of the amazing Queequeg, all seem completely reasonable and consistent with his character and intentions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melville, Herman.\u00a0 Moby Dick. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Melville, who was not a scientist, frequently utilizes scientific justifications and explanations in the first few chapters.\u00a0 Reading this today, it\u2019s interesting to see what was considered acceptable or at least normal culturally in terms of scientific thought.\u00a0 For instance, during one of Ishmael\u2019s Queequeg observation sessions, he comments that Queequeg\u2019s \u201chead was phrenologically an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-or-cetology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","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=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions\/269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}