Moby-Dick Big Read - Chat discussion

Moby-Dick Big Read
Chapter 31 - Read by Maureen Burgess
Artist: Suzanne Treister
http://www.mobydickbigread.com/chapte...

http://ahistoryofnewyork.com/2012/10/...
Here's a little bit of info: 5 bits of advice for new Moby-Dick readers. (http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/...)
http://ahistoryofnewyork.com/2012/10/...
And what do you make of today's image?

So now I've caught up with the big read again. I found today's narrator a bit slow and measured for my taste but managed to stay with her despite an urge to surge ahead.

Stubb's dream is interesting and it seems as though we're about to encounter our white whale.

I'm not sure about the tie-in with the image other than the Six of Swords, if I remember, is all about strife. So we are signaling strife and war ahead, I guess.

Oh no, I really enjoyed today's reader. It ws a weird chapter and I thought she did a good job. Don't know what to think about the pyramid, however. Perhaps it simply symbolizes something very large and immovable. Back to the "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" explanation in other words. Ahab's will is as heavy and solid as a pyramid.

As the two year ago reader Hayes indicated, I too wondered about the continual reference back to the pyramid. At this point in history, I think the Pyramids had captured the imagination of all reading and non-reading folks; they were a mystery to be unravelled as well as proof of another society's immovable gods. Was Melville dogmatic and singular towards his faith? I think not, and this chapter sort it f finalized it for me: first, he recognized Quequeg's humanity thru his "rituals", then he is recognizing the power of pyramids in one of his character's dreams. beyond this, I am still annoyed with the loss of perspective. Where did Ishmael go?

Ah ha! Check out who Queen Mab is...and hence the title of this chapter.