APPROACHING MOBY-DICK

Moby-Dick is a whale of a text, in more ways than one. It’s long, dense, and challenging, and we certainly won’t be able to unfold it in all its complexity in the next two weeks. Below, I’ll suggest a strategy for your reading, though in the end you’ll have to wrestle with this text on your own terms.

In our discussions, we’ll be approaching this text from a variety of perspectives. We’ll be interested in traditional literary qualities of this text. So, for example, we’ll consider Ishmael as a narrator. What do we learn about him in the first section of the novel? How much does his perspective seem to color his account of events? Is Melville consistent in telling us this story from Ishmael’s point of view, or are there moments described in the text that Ishmael can’t know about because he’s not present?

We’ll also be interested in the way Melville uses symbols in this text. How does he treat symbolic functions? Do symbols have consistent meanings in the novel, or do their meanings shift over the course of the text, or vary from character to character? Consider not only the looming symbol of the white whale, but other examples in which objects become symbolic. For example, look closely at chapter 99, "The Doubloon." What do the various readings of the doubloon suggest about the way symbols work?

Think also about the various kinds of texts that are incorporated into this text. This novel includes sermons, definitions, inscriptions from memorial plaques, imagined posters, and quotations from a very wide variety of sources. Don’t skip over these. Rather, consider how they work in the novel. Can you discern a pattern in the "Extracts" at the beginning of the novel? Consider as well Melville’s treatment of whales as texts, especially in "Cetology" (chapter 32). What’s he doing here?

Beyond these literary questions, we’ll also want to consider this text from a political point of view. To what extent is this a political text? Is the Pequod parallel to the ship of state? It’s possible to read this text both in general political terms, as a statement about the perils of demagoguery. It’s also possible to read the novel in more specific terms, as it addresses the situation in the United States. For example, the ship has a crew of thirty (like the thirty states in 1850), who are described as "Isolatoes . . . federated along one keel" (131-2). What might the novel suggest, then, about the state of the union?

As you consider politics, you’ll want to pay attention to the racial politics of the novel as well. How does Melville treat race? He assembles a very racially mixed crew. What happens as they interact? How does he treat questions of blackness and whiteness? We’ve discussed representations of civilization and savagery in other texts this term. How is this dichotomy treated here? How does he address specific issues that affected African Americans and Native Americans in the mid-nineteenth century? For example, how does he treat slavery? And what are the implications of his naming the whaling ship the Pequod?

We’ll also consider this novel in theological and/or cosmological terms. What might it suggest about the order of the universe and/or the nature of God? How does Ahab understand the meaning of the white whale? Does Melville endorse his reading, or undermine it? As you tease out this issue, you might consider the religious beliefs and practices of the various characters in the novel.

Finally, in the midst of all of these issues, don’t lose sight of other issues that are raised by the interactions among the characters in the novel. What does this novel suggest about isolation and friendship, and how does this fit into the range of discussions we’ve had about this topic so far. Also, though this is a weighty tome, try to pay attention to its humor as well. There are funny parts to this novel, and some of my students have reported that they’ve actually found themselves laughing out loud as they read. In other words, don’t let the whale intimidate you. You know how to read, as you’ve already demonstrated in your very able work with the texts we’ve read so far. Dive into this text and see what you can make of it.