Day Forty-Nine

5/20

The Book: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

ISBN: 978-1-59308-018-1

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: Home

When: 11:20-12:05A

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 293 - 348 (55)

The Lead In: Never put off to later what should be done now. Reading late at night is bad for comprehension.

The 411 on the 55: Lots of research in today’s reading. A discussion of representation of whales in arts, depending on the experience of the painter. He discusses different countries in Europe and their views of whales in their art, though he also touches on India’s “Hindoos,” as he puts it.

There is a brief bit of fiction as one of the sailors thinks he spots the White Whale. As they pull towards the creature, they realize it isn’t a whale. In fact, its a giant squid. Which sperm whales eat, primarily. Apparently its bad luck and they head back to the ship, sad and quiet as a group. Queequeg, on the other hand, starts sharpening his harpoon. “When you see him ‘quid, then you quick see him a ‘parm whale.” Well said, Q.

A whale is sighted by Ishmael and again all the boats are in the water. This time, they make a kill. Melville is pretty explicit in his description of the death. Blood and guts, gruesome torture of the mammal. It’s a little gross to read, but it is well-written. It is one thing when someone writes about a subject that is disturbing and does it badly. To take something difficult to read and touch it up with craft and ability makes something disgusting beautiful. Stubb makes the kill.

Again, quickly following his fiction with an almost essay-like information blitz makes Melville shine. I can see lesser readers having fits, because it busts up the flow. But he seems to be focused on making you more knowledgeable on the entire task of whale-hunting, from beginning to end, while the secondary goal is telling a story.

Stubb eats whale steak that night.

Line of the Day: “But not only is the sea such a foe to man who is an alien to it, but is it also a fiend to its own offspring; worse than the Persian host who murdered his own guests; sparing not the creatures which itself hath spawned.” pg 326

The Fact on the Fiction: “Adult giant squids' only known predator are sperm whales. It has also been suggested that pilot whales may feed on giant squid. Juveniles are preyed on by deep sea sharks and fishes. Because sperm whales are skilled at locating giant squid, scientists have tried to observe them to study the squid.” Wikipedia