Papers will be due WEDNESDAY 3/11 instead of Monday 3/9...hopefully this will give you more time to revise and re-write!
Notecard Assignment (you will have the rest of the week to work on this assignment and/or your paper!)
Each of you will need to post three "notecards" on the blog by the end of the period Friday. Individual assignments are below, but each of you need to do one character card for Ahab that includes:
1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
2. A list of adjectives describing Ahab.
3. At least three quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Ahab's unique character and fate.
4. At least three quotes from Ahab himself that reveal his "monomania" and his complex/ambiguous personality.
You also each need to do a symbol card (be prepared to do a symbol encyclopedia of you choose the White Whale!) that includes:
1. A one-paragraph analysis of the symbol and its role in the novel.
2. At least one quote by Ishmael refering to the symbols and its importance.
3. At least one quote by another character refering to the symbol and its importance.
Individual character card assignments are below. These need to follow the same format as the Ahab cards, but you need only use two quotes from your character and two from Ishmael or Ahab.
Tatum - Queequeg
Kyle - Father Mapple
Emily - Elijah
Whitmore - Bildad
Megan - Peleg
Julia Bambla - Starbuck
Sammy - Stubb
Luke - Flask
Colleen - Pip
Sarah - The Carpenter
Kailtyn - Steelkilt
Jessica - Fedallah
Kelsey - Ishmael (you won't find any quotes about him, so use four quotes by him.)
About Me
- Mr. Dalton
- Mr. Dalton is an instructor in the Upper School at Beaufort Academy. He is inept at car repair and home or lawn maintanance of any sort, but is an accomplished philosopher. In his spare time he enjoys throwing darts while listening to old Duran Duran cassettes.
22 comments:
Ahab
1. Ahab is a rough, somewhat mad man, but he is a very good captain. He is more concerned with his own dark thoughts than with the outside world. Melville portrays him as intelligent and learned but brave and proud to a fault. He has been lost in his monomaniac world ever since the whale razeed his leg. He is compared to King Ahab, a dark and prophetic comparison. Ahab is silent and brooding, except when he has something vastly important to say. He is secretive as is evident by his whaling companions, whom he hid until a moment when he thought his great nemesis was near. Ahab is vastly intelligent, but because of his oppressive obsession with the white whale he remains trapped in his tragic quest until he can kill the beast or be killed by it.
2. Monomaniac, ungodly, god-like, tragic, intelligent, driven
3. “He’s a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen.” “Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ‘mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales.” “I know Captain Ahab well; I’ve sailed with him as mate years ago; I know what he is-a good man-not a pious, good man, like Bildad, but a swearing good man-something like me-only there’s a good deal more of him.”
4. “Tis split too-that I feel; the jagged edge galls me so, my brain seems to beat against the solid metal; aye, steel skull, mine; the sort that needs no helmet in the most brain-battering fight!” “They think me mad-Starbuck does; but I’m demonic, I am madness maddened!” “The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and-Aye! I lost this leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer. Now, then, be the prophet and the fulfiller one. That’s more than ye, ye great gods, ever were.”
Analysis Kinda:
Ahab is compared to Ahab from the Bible. This allusion was made to compare his family and fate. He was named Ahab because his mom thought it to be prophetic. His name has already led him to misfortunes liked the allusion suggested. He had his leg removed by a whale. Ahab tries to counteract the denoted ill struck fortune he is tied to by going to college, getting married, and starting a sweet family. However his anxieties of the whale and unsettling profit have led him to be a quiet, moody, never jolly man. His queer strength gives him the image of a God but he is far from holy. He is an experienced and divided man between perseverance and fate.
Adjectives:
Disturbed
Psycho
Deranged
Persevering
Quotes by Others:
“I know, too, that ever since he lost his leg last voyage by that accursed whale, he’s been a kind of moody—desperate moody, and savage sometimes; but that will all pass off.” (78)
“For with the charts of all four oceans before him, Ahab was threading a maze of currents and eddies, with a view to the more certain accomplishment of that monomaniac thought of his soul.”
“But at this critical instant a sudden exclamation was heard that took every eye from the whale. With a start all glared at dark Ahab, who was surrounded by five dusky phantoms that seemed fresh formed out of air.” (180)
Quotes by Ahab Himself!:
“They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! The wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!“ (143)
“The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents’ beds, unerringly I rush! Naught’s an obstacle, naught’s an angle to the iron way.” (143)
“This smoking no longer soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring, --aye, and ignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jets were the strongest and fullest of trouble. What businesses have I with this pipe?” (113)
Symbol:
The line is a symbol of a terror and recognition of morality. Melville, goes into a very detailed description, as usual, about the rope. It is nothing but material and mad for its distinct purpose. However, the rope is seen as something much greater than just hemp and tar. It is danger, destructions, or even death. The whalers tend to its safekeeping for hours. They make every precaution to avoid any mishap. However, the aura and possibility of flaw still exist. This analogy helps Melville explicate the thoughts of death that loom on the boat and the dangers of whaling. He provides the analogy of the rope as a noose. He pictures the rope as a hazardous tool taking men to sea to be lost or “pull(ed) into the jaws of death.” He also describes the line as a serpent which relates the rope as evil and brings about “dangerous affair.” “It is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever present perils of life.” This quote summarizes that everyone must die, but we tend to live life on the surface without recognition of death. When one comes to realize their ultimate fate then they don’t just see a material world but what possibilities it holds under the surface. This symbol of the line is a synecdoche to one of the several themes in the book. The line is another small example of how you must read past the surface of the image into its actual meaning, symbol, and purpose. The line symbolizes mortality and seeing beyond the materialistic world into a deeper meaning.
Quotes by Ishmael:
The one in the passage above…
“It is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever present perils of life.”
“…so the graceful repose of the line, as it silently serpentines about the oarsmen before being brought into actual play—this is a thing which carries more of true terror than any other aspect of this dangerous affair.” (229)
“As the least tangle or kink in the coiling would, in running out, infallibly take somebody’s arm, leg, or entire body off, the utmost precaution is used in stowing the line in its tub.” (227)
Elijah Analysis:
Elijah is the humbug profit that serves as an allusion to the profit Elijah in the Bible. In the beginning of the novel we are introduced to him, which forebodes the fate of the Pequod. Because of his early entry, his prophecy carries a looming darkness throughout the novel which creates a tension between fate and human capability. Also, the ending of the novel is predestined because of the clear correspondence Elijah and Ahab have to the Biblical story. Elijah has a very mysterious persona. Ishmael senses that Elijah may be dogging them, but then he settles on the fact that he is just a humbug. Elijah is half hearted in warning Ishmael and is creepy about letting out the truth. The contradiction between Elijah’s precognitive reasoning and Ishmael’s character interpretation ties into the theme of human instinct versus fate.
Adjectives:
Mysterious
Indirect
Grimy
CREEPY
Precognitive
Superficial
Quotes by Ishmael:
“…what all this gibberish of yours is about, I don’t know, and I don’t much care; for it seems to me that you must be a little damaged in the head.” (87)
“I was resolved to satisfy myself whether this ragged Elijah was really dogging us or not, and with that intent crossed the way with Queequeg and on that side of it retraced our steps. But Elijah passed on, without seeming to notice us. This relieved me; and once more, and finally as it seemed to me, I pronounced him in my heart, a humbug.” (88)
Quotes by Elijah:
“I was going to warn ye against—but never mind, never mind—it’s all one, all in the family too; --sharp frost this morning, ain’t it? Good bye to ye. Shan’t see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it’s before the Grand Jury.”
“But nothing about that thing that happened to him off Cape Horn, long ago, when he lay like dead for three days and nights; nothing about that deadly skrimmage with the Spaniard afore the altar in Santa? - heard nothing about that, eh? Nothing about the silver calabash he spat into? And nothing about his losing his leg last voyage, according to the prophecy?” (87)
1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
2. A list of adjectives describing Ahab.
3. At least three quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Ahab's unique character and fate.
4. At least three quotes from Ahab himself that reveal his "monomania" and his complex/ambiguous personality.
1. Ahab is the captain of the Pequod. He survived a near death experience after having his leg amputated by Moby-Dick. He defies not only his physical handicap but also the dangerous oceans to pursue his goal to end the existence of Moby-Dick. He is flawed like so many others and his hubris helps him bring himself down. He is much more of a dictator than a leader, he has made a pact with God to hunt Moby-Dick to the ends of the earth and the men in his command have made a pact to hunt with him until they return home. He cares only for himself and enacting the vengeance that he seeks and nothing will stop him.
2. Grim, Isolated, Self-centered, inspiring, controlling, married
3. -“He’s a queer man, Captain Ahab---so some think---but a good one. Oh thou’lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He’s a grand ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but when he does speak when you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ’mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales.” P. 78 (Captain Peleg to Ishmael)
-“I know Captain Ahab well; I’ve sailed with him as mate many years ago; I know what he is---a good man---not a pious man, like Bildad, but a swearing good man---something like me---only there’s a good deal more of him.” P. 78 (Captain Peleg to Ishmael)
-“He’s got enough, though to make up for all deficiencies of that sort in other chaps,” abruptly said the stranger, placing a nervous emphasis upon the word he.” P.87 (Elisha to Ishmael and Queequeg)
4. –“‘Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb.” said Ahab, “That thou wouldst wad me that fashion? But go thy ways; I had forgot. Below to thy nightly grave; where such as ye sleep between shrouds, to use ye to the filing one at last.---Down, dog, and kennel!’”p.111 (Ahab to Stubb)
-“‘How now,” he soliloquized at last, withdrawing the tube, “This smoking no longer soothes. Oh, my pipe! Hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring,---aye, and ignorantly smoking windward all the while; to windward, and with such nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jest were the strongest and fullest of trouble. What business have I with this pipe? This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapors among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I’ll smoke no more---’”p.113 (Ahab to the universe)
-“Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke---look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!”p.138 (Ahab to the crew)
You also each need to do a symbol card (be prepared to do a symbol encyclopedia of you choose the White Whale!) that includes:
1. A one-paragraph analysis of the symbol and its role in the novel.
2. At least one quote by Ishmael referring to the symbols and its importance.
3. At least one quote by another character referring to the symbol and its importance.
The symbol that I have chosen is the rope. It is analogous to ones life and LIFE in general. One’s life is in the hands of this rope, this hemp line. It wraps around the whale boat like a snake and the oarsmen “seem as Indian jugglers, with the deadliest snakes sportively festooning their limbs.” The line controlled by the whale is as the lines of life spun by the Fates. “All are born with halters round their neck; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realized the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life. And if you be a philosopher, though seated in the whale-boat, you would nota t heart feel one whit more of terror, than though seated before your evening fire with a poker, and not a harpoon, by your side.” Death is the halter around ones neck and we cannot control it. Death can be sudden and quick or slow and drawn out. A snake bit would result in either depending on the poison level administered in the initial bite. A bite from the fangs of a king cobra the snake of choice for Indian juggles would be a sudden death because the poison administered is fatal. It can not be controlled and that halter of looming death is imminent. All we can do is come to terms with death and if it is staring us in the face accept it. As a philosopher one realizes this fact and has come to terms with death. Life does end and all we can do is accept the fact that we are all immortal and at some we are all going to die; whether it is while we are sitting in front of a fire or looking death in the eyes from a whale boat.
Individual character card assignments are below. These need to follow the same format as the Ahab cards, but you need only use two quotes from your character and two from Ishmael or Ahab. Jessica – Fedallah
1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
2. A list of adjectives describing Ahab.
3. Two quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Fedallah's unique character and fate.
4. Two quotes from Fedallah himself that reveal his role in the story or his opinion.
1. Fedallah is a strange, “oriental” old Parsee (Persian fire-worshipper) whom Ahab has brought on board unbeknownst to most of the crew. Fedallah has a very striking appearance: around his head is a turban made from his own hair, and he wears a black Chinese jacket and pants. He is an almost supernaturally skilled hunter and also serves as a prophet to Ahab. Fedallah keeps his distance from the rest of the crew, who for their part view him with unease. He is a prophet and has many times dreamed the death of Ahab. He is a shadow on board the Pequod and is more of a mystery than any other men on the ship.
2. Spooky, Quiet, Mysterious, Asian, Stoic, Placid
3. “Whence he came in a mannerly world like this, by what sort of unaccountable tie he soon evinced himself to be linked with Ahab’s peculiar fortunes; nay, so far as to have some sort of a half-hinted influence; Heaven knows, but it might have been eve authority over him; all this none knew. But one cannot sustain an indifferent air concerning Fedallah. He was such a creature as civilized, domestic people in the temperate zone only see in their dreams, and that but dimly; but the like of whom now and then glide among the unchanging Asiatic communities, especially the Oriental isles to the east of the continent---those insulated, immemorial, unalterable countries, which even in these modern days still preserve much of the ghostly aboriginalness of earth’s primal generations, when the memory of the first man was a distinct recollection, and all men his descendants, unknowing whence he came, eyed each others as real phantoms, and asked of the sun and the moon why they were created and to what end; when though, according to Genesis, the angels indeed consorted with the daughters of men, the devils also, add the uncanonical Rabbins,indulged in mundane amours.”p.191 (Description of Fedallah)
“Such an added, gliding strangeness began to invest the thin Fedallah now; such ceaseless shuddering shook him; that the men looked dubious at him; half uncertain, as it seemed, whether indeed he were a mortal substance, or else a tremulous shadow cast upon the deck by some unseen being’s body. And that shadow was always hovering there. For not by night, even, had Fedallah ever certainly been known to slumber, or go below. He would stand still for hours: but never sat or leaned; his wan but wondrous eyes plainly say---We two watchmen never rest.” P.401 (Ishmael describing Fedallah)
4. ‘“I have dreamed it again,” said he.
“Of the hearses? Have I not said, old man, that neither hearse nor coffin can be thine?”
“And who are hearsed that die on the sea?”
“But I said, old man, that ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two hearses must verily be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by mortal hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in America.”
“Aye, aye! A strange sight that, Parsee:---a hearse and its plumes floating over the ocean with waves for the pall-bearers. Ha! Such a sight we shall not soon see.”
“Believe it or not, thou canst not die till it be seen, old man.”
“And what was that saying about thyself?”
“Thought it come to the last, I shall still go before thy pilot.”
“And when thou are so gone before---if that ever befall---then ere I can follow, thou must still appear to me, to pilot! I have here two pledges that I shall yet slay Moby Dick and survive it.”
“Take another pledge, old man,” aid the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up like fire-flies in the gloom---“Hemp only can kill thee.”
“The gallows, ye mean.---I am an immortal on land and on sea!”
Both were silent again, as one man. The grey dawn came on, and the slumbering crew arose from the boat’s bottom, and ere the dead whale was brought to the ship.”
P.377 (dialogue between Fedallah and Ahab)
Ahab
Analysis:
Captain Ahab of the ship Pequod is a deeply disturbed individual. A great whale hunter, he unfortunately met his match in the great White Whale, and lost his leg. Now, he attributes all his life’s wrongs to that whale as a corporeal image on which he can focus his violence and rage. He has become so focused on the goal to rid the world of Moby Dick that nothing else matters to him: not his own safety, his ship’s, or his crew’s. He considers himself to be an irresistible leader (“my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they revolve”). He gives few orders, but when he does, they must be carried out efficiently. Any man that crosses him (or that he feels has crossed him) is a target for abuse.
Adjectives:
1. Eccentric 2. maniacal 3. crippled 4. unwhole 5. pitiable 6. contumacious 7. taciturn 8. hardened 9. inflexible 10. charismatic
Ahab’s personal quotes:
“How now…this smoking no longer soothes. Oh, my pipe! hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsciously toiling, not pleasuring, - aye, and ignorantly smoking to windward all the while; to windward, and with such nervous whiffs, as if, like the dying whale, my final jets were the strongest and fullest of trouble. What business have I with this pipe? This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapors among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I'll smoke no more - ” –Ahab, Chapter XXX, The Pipe
“I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, where'er I sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but first I pass.” –Ahab, Chapter XXXVII, Sunset
“I thought to find one stubborn, at the least; but my one cogged circle fits into all their various wheels, and they revolve. Or, if you will, like so many ant-hills of powder, they all stand before me; and I their match…They think me mad - Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself!” –Ahab, Chapter XXXVII, Sunset
“Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!” –Ahab, Chapter XXXVII, Sunset
Other quotes:
“He looked like a man cut away from the stake, when the fire has overrunningly wasted all the limbs without consuming them, or taking away one particle from their compacted aged robustness.” –Ishmael, Chapter XXVIII, Ahab
“It's very queer. Stop, Stubb; somehow, now, I don't well know whether to go back and strike him, or - what's that? - down here on my knees and pray for him? …How he flashed at me! - his eyes like powder-pans! is he mad?” –Stubb, Chapter XXIX, Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb
“Ah, God! what trances of torments does that man endure who is consumed with one unachieved revengeful desire. He sleeps with clenched hands; and wakes with his own bloody nails in his palms.” –Ishmael, Chapter XLIV, The Chart
“My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but feel that I must help him to it. Will I, nill I, the ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife to cut. Horrible old man! Who's over him, he cries; - aye, he would be a democrat to all above; look, how he lords it over all below! Oh! I plainly see my miserable office, - to obey, rebelling; and worse yet, to hate with touch of pity! For in his eyes I read some lurid woe would shrivel me up, had I it.” –Starbuck, Chapter XXXVIII, Dusk
Symbol
1. The whale-line is a symbol of the constant presence and foreshadowing of death in the novel. The slightest mistake involving the whale-line, which represents the treacherous life of a whale-man, could mark the end of one’s life. The whale-line is a symbol of Fate. The looms of Fate spin threads that interconnect everyone just as the whale-line connects the sailors in the boat. Melville refers to the line as “the deadliest snakes”, these lines lure men out of their peaceful gardens (the ports) and into the uninhabitable desert (the oceans). The line is used and referred to throughout the novel as a literal line to cause death and as a symbol to signify the nearness of death to everyone in the ship.
2. “Yet habit-strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?-Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never heard over you mahogany, than you will hear over the half-inch whit cedar of the whale-boat, when thus hung in hangman’s nooses; and, like the six burghers of Calais before King Edward, the six men composing the crew pull into the jaws of death, with a halter around every neck, as you may say.”
3. The whale-line wraps around Pip and when it tightens he learns that his death is less important than that of the whale: “Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I won’t pick you up if you jump; mind that. We can’t afford to lose whales by the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you would, Pip, in Alabama. Bear that in mind, and don’t jump anymore.”
1. Ahab, the obsessive captain of the Pequod is an extremely complex character. Ahab has been largely damaged by his previous encounters with Moby Dick, the fabled white whale. This sole factor (of damage) is the only thing setting Ahab apart from a classic Tragic Hero. Ahab has his one flaw, just like Achilles or anyone else from Greek literature. After the first encounter with the whale, in which Ahab loses his leg, he becomes scarred so badly that his life goal becomes to find Moby Dick. His blind obsession came from his mental and physical damage, whereas most Tragic Heroes are born that way. His sanity slowly becomes more and more warped. Ahab views the whale as evil, and he thinks that his purpose in life is to destroy it. Ahab has an aggressive personality and character, but at the same time he is vulnerable and victimized. His endless pursuit of the whale, bordering on total madness, eventually leads to his downfall; along with the downfall of his crew.
2. Monomaniacal, god-complex, bitter, warped, psycho-social tendencies
3. “I am game for his crooked jaw, and for the jaws of Death too, Captain Ahab, if it fairly comes in the way of the business we follow; but I came here to hunt whales, not my commander's vengeance. How many barrels will thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? It will not fetch thee much in our Nantucket market.”
"Vengeance on a dumb brute!" cried Starbuck, "that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous."
“He’s a queer man, Captain Ahab---so some think---but a good one. Oh thou’lt like him well enough; no fear, no fear. He’s a grand ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but when he does speak when you may well listen.”
4. “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
“Come, Ahab's compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! Man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!”
“Aye, he's chasing me now; not I, him—that's bad.”
I love this quote because it makes Ahab sound like the random Captain from The Simpsons :)
PS that last post was just the Ahab one. For more information on the last quote, here's a reliable link.
http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com/characters/sea-captain-quotes.html
The Carpenter
1. The carpenter is a sixty year old jack of all trades. He can do just about anything on the ship, from being a dentist to making bird cages to painting oars and fixing the many wounds on the ship. He is not entirely intelligent, but the work he accomplishes with his hands far outweighs his lack of brightness. He is an efficient man and an expert in all that he does, he puts his heart and soul in to every piece of his work. The carpenter does not work through “reason or by instinct, or simply because he had been tutored to it, or by any intermixture of all these, even or uneven; but merely by a kind of deaf and dumb, spontaneous literal process.” The carpenter has been doing this for so long that he has mindlessly perfected his skills. He plays an important role in the novel because he builds Queequegs coffin, Ahab’s leg, and fixes all the little imperfections on the boat.
2. efficient, expert, old, experienced, peaceful, obedient
3. “For nothing was this man more remarkable, than for a certain impersonal solidity as it were; impersonal I say; for it so shaded off into the surrounding infinite of things...” “He was a stript abstract; an unfractional integral; uncompromised as a new-born babe; living without premeditated reference to this world or the next.” “He was a pure manipulator; his brain, if he ever had one, must have oozed along into the muscles of his fingers.”
4. "Time, time; if I but only had the time, I could turn him out as neat a leg now as ever (sneezes) scraped to a lady in parlor. Those buckskin legs and calves of legs I've seen in shop windows wouldn't compare at all. They soak water, they do; and of course get rheumatic, and have to be doctored (sneezes) with washes and lotions, just like live legs." "I'm a sort of srange-thoughted sometimes, they say; but that's only haphazard-like. Then, a short, little old body like me, should never undertake to wade out into deep waters with tall, heron-built captains; the water chucks you under the chin pretty quick, and there's a great cry for life boats."
Steelkilt
Analysis: Steelkilt is described as a great man, blond and strong and gentlemanly. He has a jocular, charismatic air that makes people want to be around him and causes the jealous ire of Radley. He is a confident individual, and is prideful of his stature. Even as a “land-lubber” he is described as being “as audacious a mariner as any.” He does not buckle under pressure, either through physical exertion or abuse from his superiors. He is honorable, but does not hesitate to fight when his dignity is called to question.
Adjectives:
Handsome
Merry
Jocular
Gentlemanly
Strong
Proud
Noble
Waggish
Personal quotes:
“Aye, aye, my merry lads, it's a lively leak this; hold a cannikin, one of ye, and let's have a taste. By the Lord, it's worth bottling! I tell ye what, men, old Rad's investment must go for it! he had best cut away his part of the hull and tow it home. The fact is, boys, that sword- fish only began the job; he's come back again with a gang of ship- carpenters, saw-fish, and file-fish, and what not; and the whole posse of 'em are now hard at work cutting and slashing at the bottom; making improvements, I suppose. If old Rad were here now, I'd tell him to jump overboard and scatter 'em. They're playing the devil with his estate, I can tell him. But he's a simple old soul, - Rad, and a beauty too. Boys, they say the rest of his property is invested in looking-glasses. I wonder if he'd give a poor devil like me the model of his nose.” –Steelkilt, Chapter LIV, The Town-Ho’s Story
Other quotes:
“Thus, gentlemen, though an inlander, Steelkilt was wild-ocean born, and wild-ocean nurtured; as much of an audacious mariner as any.” –Ishmael, Chapter LIV, The Town-Ho’s Story
“Be this conceit of mine as it may, gentlemen, at all events Steelkilt was a tall and noble animal with a head like a Roman, and a flowing golden beard like the tasseled housings of your last viceroy's snorting charger; and a brain, and a heart, and a soul in him, gentlemen, which had made Steelkilt Charlemagne, had he been born son to Charlemagne's father.” –Ishmael, Chapter LIV, The Town-Ho’s Story
“But there was more than this: the order about the shovel was almost as plainly meant to sting and insult Steelkilt, as though Radney had spat in his face… the Lakeman fully comprehended when the mate uttered his command. But as he sat still for a moment, and as he steadfastly looked into the mate's malignant eye and perceived the stacks of powder-casks heaped up in him and the slow- match silently burning along towards them; as he instinctively saw all this, that strange forbearance and unwillingness to stir up the deeper passionateness in any already ireful being - a repugnance most felt, when felt at all, by really valiant men even when aggrieved - this nameless phantom feeling, gentlemen, stole over Steelkilt.” – Ishmael, Chapter LIV, The Town-Ho’s Story
1. Ahab is a man shadowed by a dark past and haunted with his need for revenge. His cold exterior shades his other softer side. His main motive is to kill the whale that robbed him of his leg and ultimately his pride. Ahab's darkness also provides the personality to contain a foreshadowing of his future plans and his expectations of a mutinous crew. Ahab's paranoia drives him to the point of basic insanity, and his mind becomes enveloped with the whale and seeking revenge. His name not only reveals a historic darkness buried within him, but also a prediction of his future. His ties with the ancient King Ahab only highlights his complex and disturbed character whose life is spent avenging the past. Throughout most of the novel, Ahab's obsession pushes the crew to see another side of Ahab so distraught and overburdened with revenge, that he attempts to bribe the crew with a spanish coin. Ahab's complex character is well represented in the The chapter "The Quarter-Deck".
2. adjectives: avenging, dark, complex, foreshadowing, disturbed, mysterious
3. "...for my first vague disquietude touching the unknown captain, now in the seclusion of the sea, became almost a perturbation."
"For all men tragically great are made so through certain morbidness. Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but a disease."
"The prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see."
4. "I leave a white and turbid wake; pale waters, paler cheeks, Where'er I sail. The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but first I pass."
"...she wearies her endless hill. Is, then, the crown too heavy that I wear? this Iron Crown of Lombardy..."
"That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself! The prophecy was that I should be dismembered; and-Aye! I lost his leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer."
"Death to Moby Sick! God hunt us all, if we do not hunt Moby Dick to his death!"
1. The chapter entitled Sunset not only contains the name of the symbol, but the symbol itself. The chapter reveals a side of Ahab not yet seen before in the novel. Ahab is depicted as a man deeply disturbed by his need to avenge himself because of his leg. Sunset reflects a man deeply torn within himself and he is delivering a soliloquy that foreshadows his aim to "dismember his dismemberer". Ahab tells himself that nothing can swerve his fixed purpose to kill the whale that robbed him of his leg. A sunset symbolizes the ending to a day or more importantly to a way of life. The chapter entitled Sunset is a symbol in itself of a passing of the character that Ahab once had and the rise of a passionate avenging man, and the title also reveals a foreshadowing of the future.
2. p.143 "The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run...Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!"
3. p.144 "My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned; and by a madman! insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but I feel that I must help him to it."
1. Ishmael is also a complex character whose point of view is used to narrate the story. His character is also objective that is interrupted with is philosophical rejections and elucidations. HE is clouded by his intimidation and distaste for Captain Ahab, which drives his ambition to reveal the true character of Ahab. Before he boards the Pequod, Ishmael is at a point in his life where he is unsure of who he is and where he wants to go. The Pequod is an opportunity to escape and find something new and exciting to start a new phase of his life. Ishmael's character is a simple one yet his observations and complex philosophical ideas create a much more interesting and deep character.
2. he is...quiet, undecided, lost, deep, observant, hopeful, intelligent
3. "Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries- stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
"Why is almost every healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea?"
"But at that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to all"
The Pequod as a Symbol of Death
Analysis: The Pequod is named for a long-deceased Indian tribe, the Pequots, who were completely annihilated in the Pequot war. This reference to a doomed tribe provides foreshadowing to her fate and that of her crew. She is described as having “an old-fashioned claw-footed look about her”, with extensive weathering from the countless typhoons she has encountered. She is decorated with the bones and teeth of the whales her crew has taken, another gruesome symbol of death.
“After much prolonged sauntering and many random inquiries, I learnt that there were three ships up for three-years' voyages - The Devil-Dam the Tit- bit, and the Pequod. Devil- dam, I do not know the origin of; Tit-bit is obvious; Pequod, you will no doubt remember, was the name of a celebrated tribe of Massachusetts Indians, now extinct as the ancient Medes.” –Ishmael, Chapter XVI, The Ship
“But, at last, when turning to the eastward, the Cape winds began howling around us, and we rose and fell upon the long, troubled seas that are there; when the ivory-tusked Pequod sharply bowed to the blast, and gored the dark waves in her madness, till, like showers of silver chips, the foam-flakes flew over her bulwarks; then all this desolate vacuity of life went away, but gave place to sights more dismal than before.”-Ishmael, Chapter LI, The Spirit Spout
Moby Dick has several important and complex characters. Ahab, the captain of the Pequod, is continuously developed throughout the book. He is first introduced by Peleg as a “grand ungodly, god-like man” who is sick in the head. He does not say much, but the reader comes to learn that when he does speak it is very important. He can be described as a strong person whose many experiences have made him wise and even feared. He is not emotional, but rather moody since the loss of his leg to a whale. Ahab’s wooden leg and crazy demeanor are ominous, foreboding, and mysterious which is intriguing to Ishmael. In Ahab’s mind, his quest for Moby Dick is not for himself, but for all of mankind versus oppression. He is portrayed as the classic tragic hero: he has a worthy cause- standing up for the principle and moral of the situation; he has an underlying agenda- vengeance for his leg and crippled spirit; he has a fatal trait- he will not stop until the whale is dead. Ahab is truly willing to sacrifice everything of himself and others. At times, Ahab has setbacks and letdowns, but he is always able to regain his determination and confidence- even until the end.
Ahab- ambitious, broken, crazy, daring, domineering, obsessive, passionate
“He’s a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but when he does speak you may well listen… Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ‘mong the cannibals.” pp. 78
“It’s better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.” pp. 79
“My soul is more than matched; she’s overmanned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down and blasted all my reason out of me!” pp. 144
“I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.” pp. 139
“What I’ve dared, I’ve willed, and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They think me mad- Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that’s only calm to comprehend itself!” pp. 143
“Swerve me? Ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents’ beds, enerringly I rush!" pp. 143
Ahab:
1.Ahab is characterized as a queer man but a good man. He’s a grand ungodly, god-like man that doesn’t speak much, but when he does it is something important. He’s lived a diverse life from cannibals to attending college. His name is compared to Ahab in the Bible who covets Naboth’s vineyard. Peleg assures Ismael that this is not to be taken to heart. There aree ominous side to Ahabs such as he stays close inside the house and he’s never very pious or jolly. His peg leg is imtimidating but Peleg says, “It’s better to sail with a moody good captain than a laughing bad one.” Ahab’s tough outer exterior is contrasted by the fact that he has a wife and child. This is unexpected because most seamen do not have time for families but somehow Ahab does.
2. Fearless, determined, vengeful, stubborn, doomed
3. a. “Small reason was there to doubt, then that ever since that almost fatal encounter, Ahab had cherished a wild vindictiveness against the whale, all the more fell for that in his frantic morbidness he at last came to identify with him, not only all his bodily woes, but all his intellectual and spiritual exasperations.” pg.156
b. “..In that wild simultaneous of a thousand concreted perils, -Ahab's yet unstricken boat seemed drawn up towards Heaven by invisible wires, -as, arrow-like, shooting perpendicularly from the sea, the White Whale dashed his broad forehead against its bottom....and Ahab and his men struggled out from under it, like seals from a seaside cave.” pg. 417 c.. ...So, in his inclement, holwing old age, Ahab's soul, shut up in the caved trunk of his body, there fed upon the sullen paws of its gloom! pg. 131
4. a."But war is pain, and hate is woe. Come in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy highest, come as mere supernal power; and though thou launchest navies of full-freighted worlds, there's that in here that still remains indifferent. Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee."pg.382
b. “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I'd strike the sun if it insulted me. For could the sun do that, then could I do the other." pg. 140 c. “Oh, boy, nor will I thee, unless I should thereby drag thee to worse horrors than are here. Lo! Ye believers in gods all goodness, and in man all ill, lo you! See omniscient gods oblivious of suffering man; and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude.” Pg. 392
Symbol:
1. Ismael describes a feeling of uneasiness when he first arrives at The Spouter Inn owned by Peter Coffin. A dilapidated little wooden house is adorned with a swinging sign and surrounded by no noise and dim light. He says, “It stands on sharp bleak corner, where that tempestuous wind Euroclydon kept up a worse howling than ever it did about poor Paul’s tossed craft.” Ismael is even more surprised when he arrives at the Try-Pots and sees the something resembling gallows. The symbol of the “coffin” that Ishmael sees before he sets foot on the Pequod is a foreshadowing of death when the crew encounters Moby Dick. In the Epilogue, the coffin shoots out of the water and floats by next to Ismael. He spends a day and almost a whole night in the coffin that was originally created by the carpenter when Queequeg thought he was going to die. The coffin is a symbol that follows Ismael from the first chapters of the novel to the last, representing his fear of dieing and the tragedy of the Pequod.
2. “Yes, two of them, one for Queequeg, and one for me. It’s ominous, think I. A Coffin my Innkeeper upon landing in my first whaling port; tombstones staring at me in the whalemen’s chapel; and here a gallows! And a pair of prodigious balck pots too! Are these last rhowing out oblique hints touching Tophet?” pg. 67
3. a.“I was going to warn ye against-but never min, never mind-it’s all one, all in the family too;-sharp frost this morning, ain’t it? Good bye to ye. Shan’t see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it’s before the grand Jury.” Pg. 91 Elijah (an example of foreshadow)
b. “Are all my pains to go for nothing with that coffin? And now I’m ordered to make a life-buoy of it. It’s like turning an old coat; going to bring the flesh on the other side now, I don’t like this cobbling sort of business.” Pg. 394 the carpenter
Starbuck:
1. He is the chief mate of the Pequod, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent. He is described a long, earnset man with flesh was hard as twice-baked biscuit. He was not ill looking because his youthful skin reflected his health and strength. Ismael says that if you looked into his eyes “you seemed to see there the yet lingering images of those thousand fold perils he had calmly confronted through and endued with a deep natural reverence.” Like Ahab he also has a wife and child, but unlike Ahab, Starbuck was no crusader after perils and did not agree on potentially killing hundreds of men for one mans’s vengance.
2. Conscientious, superstitous, honest-hearted, proud, courageous
3. A.“By this, he seemed to mean, not only that the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is far more dangerous comrade than a coward. Pg. 102
b. “Starbuck was no crusader after perils; in him courage was not a sentiment; but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all mortally practical occasion. He thought that in this business of whaling, courage was one of the great staple outfits of th ship, like her beef and her bread, and not to be foolishly wasted.” Pg. 102
4. A.“I will have no man in my boat who is not afraid of a whale.” Pg.102
b. “I am here in this critical ocean to kill whales for my living, and not to be killed by them for theirs..”pg 103
1. Queequeg’s coffin is a symbol of death and survival as well. Queequeg makes the coffin when he is sick but expecting to die. This is a very morbid idea to make your own resting place. In this circumstance, the coffin symbolizes death. However, Queequeg ends up living. He then decides to etch all of his tattoos into the cover of the coffin and place his personal belingi0ngs into it. This represents life. His tattoos are his life story, and putting them on his coffin symbolizes a will to live. As well as storing his personal belongings in it does. The coffin actually ends in the story as a symbol of life as well. When the Pequod goes down, the coffin floats up and Ishmael holds on to it for dear life, which is ultimately what makes him the only survivor in the entire novel. The coffin is representative of the life saved, and the life that will go on and tell the story of what happened.
2.” Till, gaining that vital centre, the black bubble upward burst; and now, liberated by reason of its cunning spring, and, owing to its great buoyancy, rising with great force, the coffin life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirge-like main.”
3."Aye, and that's because the lid there's a sounding-board; and what in all things makes the sounding-board is this- there's naught beneath. And yet, a coffin with a body in it rings pretty much the same, Carpenter. Hast thou ever helped carry a bier, and heard the coffin knock against the churchyard gate, going in?
1. Ahab, captain of the Pequod, pursues the white whale, believing that it represents all that is evil in the world. Not only does he believe that, but he also feels it is his duty to destroy it. Ahab is overconfident and acts as if he is God and therefore immune to nature and everything that stands in his way. Not only is he physically flawed, due to his missing leg, but he suffers from psychological flaws as well. Yet it appears that his issues are what drive him forward in his quest for the white whale.
2. Compassionate, single-minded, dictatorial, egotistical, perseverant, monomaniacal
3. “There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.” –Ishmael
“All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.” –Ishmael
“But be all this as it may, certain that it is, that with the mad secret of his unabated rage bolted up and keyed in him, Ahab had purposely sailed upon the present voyage with the one only and all-engrossing object of hunting the white whale.” –Ishmael
4. “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!” –Ahab
“Come, Ahab's compliments to ye; come and see if ye can swerve me. Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!” –Ahab
“I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer.” –Ahab
1. The Pequod is only one of the many symbols in the novel. The Pequod is symbolic of doom. The ship itself is black as well as covered with whale teeth and bones. The Pequod not only looks and feels like death but it is ultimately death itself, as it becomes a coffin for it’s sailors.
2. “This old Peleg, during the term of his chief-mateship, had built upon her original grotesqueness, and inlaid in it, all over, with a quaintness both of material and device, unmatched by anything except it be Thorkill-Hake’s carved buckler or bedstead. She was apparelled like any barbaric Ethiopian emperor, his neck heavy with pendants of polished ivory. She was a thing of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her enemies.” –Ishmael
“It feels like going down into one’s tomb, for an old captain like me to be descending the narrow scuttle, to go to my grave dug berth.” –Ahab
1. Peleg is one of the owners of the Pequod. One of his main duties is to ensure that the ship is fully prepped for each voyage. He is an elderly man, "brown and brawny, like most old seamen." He has wrinkles around his eyes, not just from age but from sailings in "many hard gales." Between the two, Peleg and Bildad, Peleg is more generous.
2. Generous, stern, aged, wise, well-to-do, pompous
3. “I saw that under the mask of these half humorous innuendos, this old seaman, as an insulated Quakerish Nantucketer, was full of his insular prejudices, and rather distasteful of all aliens, unless they hailed from Cape Cod or the Vineyard.” –Ishmael
“I was alarmed by his energy, perhaps also touched at the hearty grief in his concluding exclamation.” –Ishmael
4. “It belongs to me and Captain Bildad to see the Pequod fitted out for the voyage, and supplied with all her needs, including crew. We are part owners and part agents.” –Peleg
“Talk not that lingo to me. Dost see that leg? I’ll take that leg away from that stern, if ever thou talkest of the marchant service to me again.” -Peleg
1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
The one-legged captain of the Peqoud, Ahab is driven to defeat the monster which dismantled his body. What has become a life obsession, Ahab will not back down until he has felt his revenge. Though he walks straight into inevitable danger and highly probable death, Ahab continues to perceive himself as omnipotent and superior to the invincible whale.
2. A list of adjectives describing Ahab.
Obsessive
Persistent
Depressing
Compulsive
Manipulative
3. At least three quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Ahab's unique character and fate.
Ishmael: “There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable willfulness, in the fixed and fearless, forward dedication of his glance” (Melville 109).
"All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it."
"'He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn't speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab's above the common; Ahab's been in colleges, as well as 'mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier, stranger foes than whales.'"
4. At least three quotes from Ahab himself that reveal his "monomania" and his complex/ambiguous personality.
"'Oh, Life! Here I am, proud as a Greek god, and yet standing debtor to this block-head for a bone to stand on!'"
“This lovely light, it lights not me; all loveliness is anguish to me, since I can ne’er enjoy. […] What I’ve dared, I’ve willed, and what I’ve willed, I’ll do! They think me mad—Starbuck does; but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened!”
'Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!'"
You also each need to do a symbol card (be prepared to do a symbol encyclopedia of you choose the White Whale!) that includes:
1. A one-paragraph analysis of the symbol and its role in the novel.
Ahab’s ivory leg stands to perpetually symbolize Moby Dick’s triumph over Ahab. Not only does the presence of a fake leg hold as physical evidence of Ahab’s loss, but the fake leg itself is made out of whalebone ivory; Ahab literally carries a memento of the animal with him, as part of his own body. Disabling the basic, daily activities of life, Ahab can even feel his defeat as he moves through everyday motions. The leg does not only stand as a symbol of humiliation and recollection for Ahab, but for anyone he comes into contact with as well. (Note: For others Ahab’s fake leg also symbolizes his mysteriousness/ the mystery of Ahab.) Furthermore, the reminder which the leg evokes also conjures deep motivation in Ahab to kill the whale.
2. At least one quote by Ishmael referring to the symbols and its importance.
“His bone leg steadied in the hole; one arm elevated, and holding by a shroud; Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship’s ever-pitching prow.” …then Melville goes on to explain how Ahab looks out on the sea in dedication, toward some goal. It is no coincidence that Melville prefaced the entire explanation of his longing
3. At least one quote by another character refering to the symbol and its importance.
”I lost my leg. I now prophesy that I will dismember my dismemberer.”
“But Ahab; oh he’s a hard driver. Look, driven on leg to death, and spavined the other for life, and now wears out bone legs by the cord.”
Individual character card assignments are below. These need to follow the same format as the Ahab cards, but you need only use two quotes from your character and two from Ishmael or Ahab.
Tatum - Queequeg
1. A one-paragraph character analysis.
Queequeg’s character is initially developed through the formation of a close friendship with Ishmael. Queequeg has led his life in search for meaning; he has become a unique mix of many varied culture through this expedition. Though a seemingly brawny, bestial man on the outside, Queequeg turns out to be one of the most humane, civilized character in the novel. Queequeg is the vehicle through which Ishmael begins making some of his most profound analyses regarding humanity.
2. A list of adjectives describing Queequeg.
Accepting
Genuine
Caring
Self-aware
Self-confident
Humble
Serene
3. At least three quotes from Ishmael (or Bildad or Peleg or Starbuck) that reveal Ahab's unique character and fate.
“I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it.”
“And yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself.”
“Queequeg in his own proper person was a riddle to unfold; a wondrous work in on e volume; but whose mysteries not even himself could read, though his own live heart beat against them; and these mysteries were therefore destined in the end to moulder away with the living parchment whereon they were inscribed, and so be unsolved to the last.”
4. At least three quotes from Q himself that reveal his "monomania" and his complex/ambiguous personality.
4. "Queequeg disdained no seeming ignominy, if thereby he might haply gain the power of enlightening his untutored countrymen."
"Though he thought a wicked world in all meridians; I'll die a pagan."
"Queequeg embraced me, pressed his forehead against mine, and blowing out the light we rolled over from each other, this way and that"
1. Pip is the younger boy who was brought on to the ship primarily to do petty work around the ship, and to entertain. This is ironic as what happens to him. The first time out in the little boat when the whale is spotted, Pip freaks out and jumps out of the boat. Therefore, the whale is lost. So the crew says next time, they will leave Pip in the water. So the next time comes around and Pip jumps and is left there by his crew for several hours. He returns insane and raving. For the rest of the novel, Pip serves as a classic Shakespearean 'fool' who gives entertainment, but also provides symbolism. (HTRLLAP: Baptism gone wrong?)
2.Crazy, Insane, Loopy, Scarred
Quotes are coming, I promise :)
3. “There can be no hearts above the snow-line. Oh, ye frozen heavens! look down here. Ye did beget this luckless child, and have abandoned him, ye creative libertines. Here, boy; Ahab’s cabin shall be Pip’s home henceforth, while Ahab lives. Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou art tied to me by cords woven by my heart-strings. Come, let’s down.”
"So man's insanity is heaven's sense." (About Pip’s god-experience when he fell out of the boat, by Ishmael)
4. “Pip? whom call ye Pip? Pip jumped from the whaleboat. Pip’s missing. Let’s see now if ye haven’t fished him up here, fisherman. It drags hard; I guess he’s holding on. Jerk him, Tahiti! Jerk him off we haul in no cowards here. Ho! there’s his arm just breaking water. A hatchet! a hatchet! cut it off—we haul in no cowards here. Captain Ahab! sir, sir! here’s Pip, trying to get on board again.”
“Ah, now, had poor Pip but felt so kind a thing as this, perhaps he had ne’er been lost! This seems to me, sir, as a man-rope; something that weak souls may hold by. Oh, sir, let old Perth now come and rivet these two hands together; the black one with the white, for I will not let this go.”
"They tell me, Sir, that Stubb did once desert poor little Pip, whose drowned bones now show white, for all the blackness of his living skin. But I will never desert ye, Sir, as Stubb did him. Sir, I must go with ye."
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