Stanley Baldwin is a writer and teacher living in Nebraska.
Sample Chapter
Introduction
In his "Introduction" to the 1998 Oxford World's Classic edition of Moby-Dick, Tony Tanner suggests that
the novel could only have been written in America and only in the mid-nineteenth century. The country then "seemed
to stand at a new height, or new edge, of triumphant dominion and expansionary confidence in the western world."
Tanner and others point out that, during Melville's life, the United States emerged from a colonial society to
a world power with its own significant history and mythology. There were also tremendous advances in technology
-- the development of the railroad, telegraph, and telephone enabling easier travel and communication. Democracy
was on the rise, and the country was ready to produce literary voices of its own.
At the time that the novel was published, the terrible destruction of the Civil War was not yet imagined. In fact,
the Compromise of 1850, originated by Kentucky's Senator Henry Clay, effectively postponed the conflict eleven
years by admitting one territory as a free state (California) while allowing slave owners to populate others (Utah
and New Mexico). It was a prosperous, optimistic time in America, but some scholars argue that this very frame
of mind kept many readers away from Melville's most interesting work because the novel was too dark or complicated
for its time. In letters to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville himself discusses his difficulty in finding
an adequate audience.
Tanner's salient point, though, is that America in the mid-nineteenth century was an ideal place and time to "generate
its own epic and myth -- in effect find its own Homer." A strong argument can be made for Moby-Dick's being
the first great American epic in its length, its elevated style, and its treatment of the trials and achievements
of democratic heroes or epic anti-heroes of national and cultural significance. Tanner treats this possibility
in detail.
Perhaps more to the point, however, is the importance of time and place to the emergence of a great book about
whaling. As Charles Olson points out (Call Me Ishmael, 1947; excerpted in Modern Critical Interpretations of Moby-Dick,
edited by Harold Bloom), of 900 whaling vessels on the seas in 1846, 735 were American. Americans had been whaling
since colonial days, but the industry peaked in the United States in the 1840s. Nantucket Island and New Bedford,
Massachusetts, were the most important whaling ports in the world. Sperm oil alone was processed in excess of five
million gallons per year.
Melville had served as a crewman on a whaler and knew the profession well. Among other accurate details, he discusses
the length of a voyage (two to three years), life aboard ship, the number of open boats in a given chase, and the
crews on those boats: usually one officer, one harpooner, and four oarsmen per boat. He is able to find comic relief
in standard procedures such as the method of payment and the shore life of crewmen.
Just a few years later, kerosene became popular as a cheap fuel for lamps, and excessive hunting began to destroy
the schools of whales. In Chapter 105 of the novel, Ishmael expresses certainty that the whale will never be eliminated
to the degree that the American buffalo had been. It is, he thinks, too difficult to find whales in the world's
vast oceans. In only a few years, he would be proven wrong. The whale has become even more endangered in subsequent
years.
The historical setting of the novel was essential. It contributed to the creation of a great book about whaling
and perhaps to the writing of the first American epic.
A Brief Synopsis
"Call me Ishmael," the narrator begins, in one of the most recognizable opening lines in American literature.
This observant young man from Manhattan has been to sea four times in the merchant service but yearns for a whaling
adventure. On a cold, gloomy night in December, he arrives at the Spouter-Inn in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and
agrees to share a bed with a stranger. Both men are alarmed when the bunkmate, a heavily tattooed Polynesian harpooner
named Queequeg, returns late and discovers Ishmael beneath his covers. But the two soon become good friends and
decide to sail together from the historical port of Nantucket.
In Nantucket, they sign on with the Pequod, Queequeg the more attractive employee due to his excellence with the
harpoon. Ishmael, lacking any further ambition, will be a common sailor. The ship's captain, Ahab, is nowhere to
be seen; nevertheless, they hear of him. He is a "grand, ungodly, god-like man" (Chapter 16), according
to one of the owners, a man of few words but deep meaning, who has been in colleges as well as among the cannibals.
A raggedy prophet of doom named Elijah catches the two friends on the dock and hints at trouble with Ahab. The
mystery grows on Christmas morning when Ishmael spots dark figures in the mist, apparently boarding the Pequod
shortly before it sets sail.
The ship's officers direct the early voyage. The chief mate, Starbuck, is a sincere Quaker and fine leader. Second
mate is Stubb, a prankster but an able seaman. Third mate is Flask, dull but competent. When Ahab finally appears
on his quarter-deck one morning, he is an imposing, frightening figure whose haunted visage sends shivers over
the narrator. A white scar, reportedly from a thunderbolt, runs down his face and, they say, the length of his
body. He has a grim, determined look. One leg is missing and replaced by a prosthesis fashioned from a sperm whale's
jaw.
Ahab finally gathers the crewmen together and, in a rousing speech, solicits their support in a single purpose
for this voyage: hunting down and killing the White Whale -- Moby Dick, a very large sperm whale with a snow-white
head. Only Starbuck resists the charismatic, monomaniacal captain; the first mate argues repeatedly that the ship's
purpose should be to gather whale oil and return home safely. Eventually, even Starbuck acquiesces.
The mystery of the dark figures is explained during the voyage's first chase, long before meeting Moby Dick. Ahab
has secretly brought along his own boat crew, led by an ancient Asian named Fedallah, an inscrutable figure with
an odd influence over Ahab. Later, while guarding a captured whale one night, Fedallah tells Ahab of a prophecy
of his (Ahab's death).
Queequeg becomes deathly ill and orders a canoe-shaped coffin from the ship's carpenter. Just as everyone has given
up hope, the island aborigine decides to live and soon recovers. The coffin serves as his sea chest and later is
caulked and pitched to become the ship's life buoy. Queequeg heroically rescues two drowning men in the novel;
his coffin will save a third.
There are numerous "gams" in the novel, social meetings of two ships on the open sea. Crews normally
visit each other during a gam, captains on one vessel and chief mates on the other. Newspapers and mail are exchanged.
The men talk of whale sightings or other news. For Ahab, however, there is but one relevant question to ask of
another ship: "Hast seen the White Whale?" Some have. The captain of the Samuel Enderby lost an arm to
the leviathan. The Rachel has also seen Moby Dick. As a result, one of its open boats is missing; the captain's
son is aboard. The captain of the Rachel begs Ahab to aid in the search, but the Pequod's captain is resolute.
He is very near the White Whale now and will not stop to help.
Ahab is the first to spot Moby Dick. For three days, the crew pursues the great whale, who repeatedly turns on
the Pequod's boats, wreaking destruction and killing Fedallah, sinking the Pequod, and dragging Ahab into the sea
and his death. Only Ishmael survives, clinging to Queequeg's coffin. He floats for a day and a night before the
Rachel rescues him.
List of Characters Ishmael The narrator of the novel is a keen observer, a young man with an open mind who is wary of
Ahab but, like most of the crew, swept away by the captain's charisma.
Ahab The "grand, ungodly, god-like man" is a deeply complex figure, one of the most controversial
in American literature. His monomaniacal hunt for Moby Dick dominates the novel's plot.
Moby Dick The giant sperm whale seems to manipulate his confrontations with mankind in a manner beyond
the capacity of a leviathan. Critics debate the nature of Moby Dick: whether he is an allegorical representation
of some eternal power, a representation of Ahab's obsession, or nothing more, literally, than a whale.
Queequeg The Polynesian harpooner who opens Ishmael's mind and eventually -- and indirectly -- saves
his life. Queequeg is important to the theme of friendship and the value of diversity.
Father Mapple His sermon at the Whaleman's Chapel sets the tone for the novel. The message, through
the story of Jonah, is that we must disobey our own desires if we are to learn to obey God.
Starbuck The chief mate aboard the Pequod. He is the only one who attempts to stand up to Ahab's
obsessive direction of the ship's purpose. Even he eventually acquiesces.
Fedallah The ancient Asian who is Ahab's harpooner and spiritual guide. His prophecy regarding Ahab's
death ominously foreshadows the end of the novel.
Pip The cabin boy, who nearly drowns when he is abandoned during a whale hunt. He discovers painful
insights that allow him an unusual view of reality and temporarily endear him to Ahab.
Elijah The cryptic prophet who helps to set an early tone of dark mystery in the novel. He alerts
Ishmael to possible problems with Ahab and secrets aboard the Pequod.
Stubb The second mate. He considers himself to be quite the wit, but his treatment of Fleece, the
cook, is more cruel and racist than it is amusing.
Perth The ship's blacksmith. His story is an unusual departure for Melville as it is told with the
excessive sentimentality and predictability of melodrama.
Gabriel The raving Shaker prophet aboard the Jeroboam. He correctly predicts Ahab's final resting-place.
Bildad A hypocritical Quaker. The co-owner's exchange regarding Ishmael's pay allows Melville an
opportunity for a little caustic satire.
Summary
While the plot of this Great American Novel, the story of a sea captain's obsession with a white whale, is fairly
straightforward, the possible interpretations and meanings of it are immense and unknowable in scope. With its
myriad of metaphors, symbols, and characters, Moby Dick is as immense as the world itself.
Table of Contents
Learn about the Life and Background of the Author
Preview an Introduction to the Novel
Study a graphical Character Map
Explore themes and literary devices in the Critical Commentaries
Examine in-depth Character Analyses
Enhance your understanding of the work with Critical Essays
Reinforce what you learn with CliffsNotes Review
Find additional information to further your study in CliffsNotes Resource Center and online at www.cliffsnotes.com
CliffsNotes Review
CliffsNotes Resource Center
Index