{"id":273,"date":"2010-01-31T16:26:36","date_gmt":"2010-01-31T20:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=273"},"modified":"2010-01-31T16:26:36","modified_gmt":"2010-01-31T20:26:36","slug":"being-paid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=273","title":{"rendered":"Being Paid"},"content":{"rendered":"

While lacking a conventional plot structure, Moby Dick<\/em>\u2019s magnetism is Ishmael\u2019s psychological process and his labor of storytelling, which reveal a complex and thoughtful protagonist. The most significant relationship formed during the initial 21 chapters (with apologies to Queequeg) is Ishmael\u2019s new intrigue with whaling. As he has not been whaling yet, most of whaling\u2019s \u2018presence\u2019 in the novel so far is the theoretical or the symbolic. What we do learn from Ishmael are the beliefs, ideas, and ideals that form the inner workings of his mind. Ishmael is satisfied in being \u2018a working man,\u2019 his self-effacing comments conveying an appreciation of hard labor and the desire to \u201cabandon the glory and distinction of such offices to those who like them\u201d (3). Ishmael lives simply, and his preferred lack of superfluous funds and possessions instills in him a way of directly correlating labor with the earnings it provides.<\/p>\n

And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather long lay, yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my three years’ beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver. \u00a0(76).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He further ruminates on the way he understands money and the act of being paid, saying, \u201cbeing paid<\/em>, – what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills\u201d (4). Ishmael understands that hierarchy is a necessary institution, especially on a ship, where quick and singular decisions must be made be some experienced force in order to keep order. He asks rhetorically \u201cWho ain\u2019t a slave?\u201d (4) but only in so much as to acknowledge the implicit order of things and to demonstrate that he understands the system, but is willing to work within it, and seems to derive pleasure out of it. His manner, confident but free of pretension, allows him to present himself to Captains Peleg and Bildad as a capable and willing worker. It is this sentiment about his own abilities that later makes him \u2018horrified\u2019 when he is presented with his \u2018first kick\u2019 by Captain Peleg for not working hard or fast enough as the Pequod disembarks from port. Ishmael respects Bildad\u2019s reputation for being able to make men work hard without taking on the character of a screaming taskmaster, while simultaneously conveying that he too feels small in Bildad\u2019s presence. Ishmael relates little of his past in the first chapters of his narrative, speaking instead simply in the moment; this is the way he also lives, moment to moment, deciding to go to sea when it suits him, confident in his own abilities. He is impressed by those, like Queequeg, who excel at their work and distrustful of those, like Elijah, who stray too far from normalcy and order. However, Elijah and the mysterious, so far unseen Captain Ahab are also sources of intrigue to him, representing those who have strayed or dropped out of the social order.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ishmael\u2019s self-status as a laborer works twofold- he equates hard work with monetary gain, recognizing the power of good, honest work. At the same time, his role as a simple seaman affords him the opportunity to witness what is going on around him, which gives him the information and structure for his other labor- the narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While lacking a conventional plot structure, Moby Dick\u2019s magnetism is Ishmael\u2019s psychological process and his labor of storytelling, which reveal a complex and thoughtful protagonist. The most significant relationship formed during the initial 21 chapters (with apologies to Queequeg) is Ishmael\u2019s new intrigue with whaling. As he has not been whaling yet, most of whaling\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[162,129],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-or-slavery","tag-ishmael","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","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=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}