This post does not really fit under “Characters and Characterization,” yet it relates to an earlier post I made in that section.\u00a0 However, I think it relates more to the narrator, so I will classify it as such.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned in a previous post, Ishmael is somewhat invisible as a character.\u00a0 However, throughout the book, especially in later chapters, the reader gets glimpses of him.\u00a0 One thing I’ve noted is his opinions on the work he has undertaken; this novel.\u00a0 He seems to think rather highly of it, and see it as some sort of noble work. In chapter 104, The Fossil Whale, Ishmael states<\/p>\n
For in the mere act of penning my thoughts of this Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with their outstretching comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs.\u00a0 Such, and so magnifying, is the virtue of a large and liberal theme!\u00a0 We expand to its bulk.\u00a0 To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In saying this, Ishmael connects this work to large themes of the universe.\u00a0 He seems to be claiming that this book is <\/em>mighty, as it deals with such a mighty theme.\u00a0 More than that, it is so important as to weaken him, as he struggles with the meaning of the universe.\u00a0 This fits in with what we discussed in the first class, how some people hate this book, but some think it holds all the answers to life.\u00a0 Ishmael appears to be in the latter camp.<\/p>\n
Of course, this begs the ever present question:\u00a0 how separate are Ishmael and Melville?\u00a0 Does Melville see his work this way?\u00a0 I would argue yes, as he constantly inserts massive life morals and questions into the work.\u00a0 To him, it is not just a book about a whale.\u00a0 Did this make him more upset when\u00a0 the critics slammed this work, or shelved it under “cetology?”\u00a0 Or did he laugh at their folly, knowing the deep truths were there, and they just couldn’t see?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This post does not really fit under “Characters and Characterization,” yet it relates to an earlier post I made in that section.\u00a0 However, I think it relates more to the narrator, so I will classify it as such. As I mentioned in a previous post, Ishmael is somewhat invisible as a character.\u00a0 However, throughout the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-narrative","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","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=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":962,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions\/962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}