I am all in a sea of wonders

We deserve a drop of sunshine now and again.

captain n his mates

“we need to talk more about pip” <- guy who doesnt have anything to say about pip but wishes so bad he did

oh my Lord, Pip! he breaks my heart and through his parallels with Ahab (he literally takes Ahab's seat in the captains cabin!) breaks my heart over Ahab even more!! 😭

I have this half-formed idea floating around in my head that Pip is an expression of the terror and cowardice that Ahab won't allow himself. Or Ahab sees himself in Pip, or idk. Pip was so afraid he couldn't stay his path - he couldn't stay in the whale boat. He couldn't hunt the whale. And Ahab has become more like a train than a man (he is always described as iron/metal - at some point he asks stubb if he is a cannonball) hurtling forward on a path he cannot veer from. Pip did something that Ahab cannot do - he fled.

Pip is a boy trapped in this scary dangerous job that Ahab himself grew up in. Ahab WAS Pip at some point in his life. Pip saw god at the treadle and Ahab has convinced himself he sees god's machinations too. They are both the "mad" characters.

When Ahab takes Pip's hand and leads him to his cabin, he is expressing tenderness towards himself and the boy he once was and ahhhhh it breaks my heart for the both of them. And Pip cries to Ahab from inside the cabin not to go on the third day of the chase!! Like an external manifestation of Ahab's own inner child crying out to himself. But Ahab was incapable of not going and thus destroyed them both.

LAW TIME!

this is so interesting to me bc it calls back to the fact that ahab doesn't actually own the pequod! he's captaining it and he does own a share in it, but the real owners are peleg and bildad, and on shore he's accountable to them. even though on the sea he is master of the ship, he still answers to the owners, and in derailing the voyage from "hunting whales and making money" to "hunting moby-dick specifically", he is usurping authority! he doesn't (well, in the sense of ownership, which will come up later) actually have the right to do this! and if the crew were to mutiny against him (say, if a certain mate who isn't keen on the quest and prioritizes the commercial interests of the voyage over ahab's goal convinced them), legally they'd be in the right to do it, and arguably it'd be their duty to do it. (nautical law side of tumblr do correct me if i'm wrong) (the idea of whether ahab actually has ultimate authority over the pequod comes up later and it's all very interesting!)

this is extra fun since ahab knows this and is genuinely nervous that the crew might rise up against him. right now starbuck stands alone, and even he gave way to peer pressure in the end! the entire crew is enthusiastic about the quest, but if that wanes and they start to consider it, ahab will be in genuine danger! he can't actually answer to the charge of usurpation, he undeniably did it (within the framework of ownership of the whaling industry ofc) which is something that isn't really obvious in pop culture perceptions of him, he's not just some dictator, he's pragmatic about things!

now this is a survivor narrative…. a lot of survivor narratives are very focused on the emptiness it leaves you with, the powerlessness and fear that paralyses you. there’s nothing wrong with those narratives, but this instead, this speaks to me. the fury, the refusal to be a noble survivor who bears your trauma and misfortune with dignity… no, instead ahab goes mad with his single-minded quest for revenge, his entire life is wrapped up in anger, it’s the only thing that matters.

i especially like the acknowledgment that every cause for anger, every indignity and unfairness and pain, all of it is heaped onto moby dick, no matter how unrelated. the hated object is so hated that it becomes a scapegoat for the entire world.

of course there’s a discussion to be had about who is allowed to have this survivor narrative, i think it’s very gendered, but i also think there’s something in the way ahab’s quest for vengeance is never presented as noble or glorious; from the beginning we know it’s a doomed, selfish cause that will just bring about more misfortune. men’s angry survivor narratives tend to lean into a “war mentality” of sacrifice and battle and death as something that will exalt you. but that is completely absent here, which exposes that mentality as dangerous and hollow.

#see thats why we need the boat#the pequod and the people on it#that melville has been carefully humanizing this whole time#they take the lonely heroic narrative of ahab and make it evidently absurd and horrific#because what have those men to do with ahab's revenge?#ahab dragging them with him is what makes it horrific#and it prompts the question. would it truly be alright if he was alone? is any man truly alone?#or arent we all on the same boat after all?#think of the empty graves in the church#think of the young wife and child ahab leaves at home#ahab takes on all of the pain of mankind and puts it on moby dick#but moby dick isnt caught. the weight remains on ahab#and it is too much for a single man. even for a ship full of men. (via @cattuladaily)

many of you probably already know this, but i didn’t find out until now and figured i’d point it out in case anyone else had also missed it.

i was reading up on the biblical king ahab for my studies, and came across this:

1 Kings 22:39 (NIV)

and i just…. king ahab adorned his palace with ivory?

captain ahab’s leg is made of ivory, and the pequod is also adorned with ivory. just like king ahab’s palace. and not for practical reasons, no, ivory, even though its hardness makes it a sturdy and durable material, has always been appreciated for its attractive appearance. and for captain ahab and the pequod, whose ivories are taken from sperm whales, the symbolism of clothing oneself in the remains of one’s enemies… well. many things to be said.

is captain ahab’s body comparable to a palace? is the pequod? there’s a lot to unpack here.