{"id":821,"date":"2010-02-26T18:38:06","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T22:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=821"},"modified":"2010-02-26T18:38:06","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T22:38:06","slug":"faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=821","title":{"rendered":"Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Faith, sir, I’ve –”<\/p>\n

“Faith? \u00a0What’s that?”<\/p>\n

“Why faith, sir, it’s only a sort of exclamation-like–that’s all, sir.”<\/p>\n

(Melville, 467)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In chapter 127, “The Deck,” the carpenter is working on caulking the new life buoy. \u00a0While he and Ahab are talking, the carpenter starts answering Ahab’s question with “faith,” and Ahab reacts by picking apart the carpenter’s words. \u00a0 Then the carpenter tries to backpedal by saying that it was simply a meaningless expression. \u00a0I feel that Melville didn’t include this passage just to have an amusing joke about language. \u00a0All of the characters, especially Ahab, have had crises of faith, and this moment briefly highlights their struggles.<\/p>\n

For many of the sailors, Starbuck in particular, Christian\u00a0faith is a simple, natural thing. \u00a0Even the non-Christian sailors had faith: \u00a0the most prominent is Queequeg with his little black god. \u00a0And if they had not had any kind of faith before seeing Moby Dick, by the second day of the chase they have faith in “Ahab, their one lord” (492) — “the hand of Fate had snatched all their souls” and they faithfully follow orders. \u00a0(491)<\/p>\n

For Ahab, his faith has been redirected several times. \u00a0He probably started out as a devout Christian, but then he changed focus to Moby Dick and to fate. \u00a0By the second day he proclaims, “I am the Fates’ lieutenant; I act under orders.” (497) \u00a0He relinquishes all authority and control of his actions, simply bowing to what he calls “the Fates.”<\/p>\n

The only character who does not consistently have faith in something is Ishmael. \u00a0He starts on land as a Christian, but after his meeting with Queequeg and his experiences on the Pequod, he beings to question his beliefs about religion, race, and gender. \u00a0By the end of the novel, I think Ishmael is as confused about “the truth” as the reader is.<\/p>\n

The only character who has no faith is the character who survives. \u00a0I think that besides needing a plausible way for Ishmael to be able to tell this story, Melville wants to show that blind faith is a bad guide. \u00a0Ahab has blind faith in fate, and that ends up killing almost everyone on the ship. \u00a0But the crew also has blind faith in (or at least are blind followers of) Ahab. \u00a0A mutiny would have saved their lives, even if it had meant committing murder; but the crew just follows orders. \u00a0Ishmael is able to save himself because he does not have faith in anyone but himself.<\/p>\n

Melville, Herman.\u00a0Moby Dick<\/em>. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1988, reissued 2008. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Faith, sir, I’ve –” “Faith? \u00a0What’s that?” “Why faith, sir, it’s only a sort of exclamation-like–that’s all, sir.” (Melville, 467) In chapter 127, “The Deck,” the carpenter is working on caulking the new life buoy. \u00a0While he and Ahab are talking, the carpenter starts answering Ahab’s question with “faith,” and Ahab reacts by picking apart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821","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=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1021,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions\/1021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}