In the next many chapters we are finally introduced to a real female presence: the whaling ship. The ship is consistently referred to using feminine pronouns and whaling is even referred to as an “Egyptian mother” (p. 104). This is a particularly curious and perhaps problematic element of our interpretation of gender within the realm of whaling for it creates a complex relationship perhaps impossible to fully interpret. On the one hand, we have of course the possibility of a highly misogynistic interpretation in which the men control the female boat, using her and constantly redirecting her in order to accomplish their task. However, there is at the same time the fact that the whale-men respect and value the ship they sail upon, depending on her greatly to guide them and keep them safe out at sea. In addition, we cannot ignore given the rest of this novel thus far the sheer magnitude of this feminine presence: the ship plays an obviously substantial role in the voyage and thus in the entire story and is referred to at times as having its own will, if not personality:<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship\u2019s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through. With all her might she crowds all sail off shore\u2026\u201d (p. 102)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Nevertheless, the ship remains an object.<\/p>\n
This odd tension can be resolved in part, I believe, when we look to the gender of the whale. In the highly recognizeable and widely known exclamation \u201cthere she blows!\u201d the whale is considered female. This static phrase, however, is where that gender role begins and ends, for both in describing Moby Dick and the stories and reputations of other famous whales, they are all referred to as \u201che\u201d and in fact are given each and every one a highly masculine name. In taking these two non-human but highly highly prominent elements of the novel, we can see a complex but also undeniable sexism. The whale, while referred to from a distance as female, is considered not just male but overwhelmingly masculine, almost brutish, when up close revealing its strength, size, and intelligence, e.g. when the battle begins. This seems to indicate the necessity by the whale-men to maintain their pride and masculinity by creating a dominant male threat to fight against.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the next many chapters we are finally introduced to a real female presence: the whaling ship. The ship is consistently referred to using feminine pronouns and whaling is even referred to as an “Egyptian mother” (p. 104). This is a particularly curious and perhaps problematic element of our interpretation of gender within the realm […]<\/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-659","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\/659","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=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}