From reading Moby Dick in high school, I always remembered \u201cThe Whiteness of the Whale\u201d as my favorite chapter because of the eloquence of Melville\u2019s writing. Is this chapter perhaps the best study in prose of a single color, ever? He explores the imagery and symbolism of whiteness across various references in various settings. Most importantly for this class and this topic, \u201cThe Whiteness of the Whale\u201d helps readers to understand classifications of masculinity and how gender functions in the novel.<\/p>\n
For Ishmael, this chapter is his announcement of the most horrifying attribute of the whale\u2013 its whiteness: \u201cIt was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me\u201d (168). Whiteness is associated with \u201cmajesty\u201d and the \u201cdivine,\u201d but also \u201cpanic,\u201d \u201cdread,\u201d and the \u201cghastly.\u201d The color and the significance of the color become gendered by Ishmael: he links whiteness to men. Firstly, he notes that various nations \u201chave in some way recognized a certain royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric old kings of Pegu placing the title \u2018Lord of the White Elephants\u2019 above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial color the same imperial hue\u2026.whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds\u201d (168). Absolutist monarchies of the past were propagandized by rulers as divine, or divinely acquired; so white, as a \u201csymbol of the divine spotlessness\u201d according to Ishmael, is an appropriate color to characterize those in power (168). White is associated with hegemonic patriarchy, which includes male-ruled politics, male-governed justice, and male-monitored religion. It is the color that represents the regality, wisdom, and all-out might of men.<\/p>\n
Ishmael offers a contrast, that white is also linked to \u201cthe innocence of brides,\u201d and thus their purity and virginity (168). This is an important acknowledgement because white can take on multiple forms and is not wholly male-owned or masculine in tone. But in the realm of men, it is attached to those who hold absolute power and may be prone to acts of terror and cruelty (\u2026as we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely). Just as the King of Prussia rules over his land \u2013 and nation states have historically been referred to in the feminine, France and England and Russia described by historians through pronouns \u201cshe\u201d and \u201cher\u201d \u2013 the white, male Moby Dick rules over his feminized sea.<\/p>\n
The metaphor and symbolism of the color white can naturally be extended to race. As is evident through the hierarchy aboard the Pequod, the white men have control over the brown, ethnic, \u201cothered\u201d male. Ishmael notes that \u201cthis pre-eminence in [whiteness] applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe\u201d (168).<\/p>\n
Ishmael uses other articulate references to describe the elusiveness and awfulness of white, including the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The White Mountains and, more specifically, Mount Chocorua (their tallest peak), were habitually depicted in landscapes by the artists of the Hudson River School in the mid-nineteenth century. These artists believed in painting landscapes as evocations of the sublimity and divinity of nature, and thus the White Mountains were entirely appropriate as subject matter.<\/p>\n
Based on Ishmael\u2019s description, white is also associated with redemption: \u201cin the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed\u201d (169). This phrase calls to mind the ivory white stub of Captain Ahab; perhaps the reader can infer that his artificial leg symbolizes his survival and redemption. He had fought Moby Dick, and while scathed, he carried on after the confrontation. Similarly, the captain of the Samuel Enderby from London, who we meet in Chapter 100, \u201cLeg and Arm,\u201d possesses an ivory white arm after he lost his real arm in a treacherous rendez-vous with the white whale. Moby Dick is characterized in this chapter as an \u201cold great-grandfather\u201d with \u201ca milky-white head and hump, all crows\u2019 feet and wrinkles\u201d (391). The English captain also describes him as \u201cthe noblest and biggest\u201d whale he ever saw (392). This depiction adds to our understanding of whiteness: the whiteness of the massive monster enhances his aura of wisdom, nobility, regality, and strength. Moby Dick\u2019s tail is \u201clike a marble steeple\u201d that came down and ripped the captain\u2019s boat completely in two, shredding it into splinters, when he met face-to-face with the most awful and impressive force of the sea (392).<\/p>\n
But there is a clear difference between these two captains. The Englishman has clearly learned his lesson for acting over-aggressively and is now ready to retreat, vowing to focus his travels on capturing smaller whales and to never again target the enigmatic white whale: \u201c\u2018he\u2019s welcome to the arm he has, since I can\u2019t help it, and didn\u2019t know him then; but not to another one. No More White Whales for me; I\u2019ve lowered for him once, and that has satisfied me. There would be great glory in killing him, I know that; and there is a ship-load of precious sperm in him, but, hark ye, he\u2019s best let alone; don\u2019t you think so, Captain?\u2019 \u2013 glancing at the ivory leg\u201d (395). Ahab does not think so. In contrast to the English captain, the white whale is still Ahab\u2019s magnet. Thinking about pursuing Moby Dick causes his blood to boil and his heart to pulse so furiously that the planks aboard the Samuel Enderby beat in rhythm, as a man named Bunger says, surprisingly eloquently (395). Ahab continues to feels utterly emasculated by Moby Dick, to the point that it has driven him mad. He is not satisfied by his ivory white leg and does not accept the artificial walking substitute as a good enough redemption. He wants full revenge. This chapter reveals an emasculating moment in which Ahab has to awkwardly and clumsily transition from the Pequod to the Samuel Enderby \u2013 this being the first time he has set his peg leg aboard another ship besides his own. Despite the English captain\u2019s warning, Ahab continues to be bitterly and madly driven in the pursuit of the white male to reassert his masculinity and experience the pride of killing the thing that no one else has managed to kill. But the reader can infer that Ahab\u2019s ambition for revenge will inevitably end in his destruction.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018And I\u2019m thinking Moby Dick doesn\u2019t bite so much as he swallows\u2019\u201d \u2013 the Englishman (394). Gulp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From reading Moby Dick in high school, I always remembered \u201cThe Whiteness of the Whale\u201d as my favorite chapter because of the eloquence of Melville\u2019s writing. Is this chapter perhaps the best study in prose of a single color, ever? He explores the imagery and symbolism of whiteness across various references in various settings. Most […]<\/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-978","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\/978","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=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}