Moby-Dick discussion

I found chapter 48, "The First Lowering," one of the best. The writing was bracing, and the dialogue marvelous. Here's Stubb:

“Pull, pull, my fine hearts-alive; pull, my children; pull, my little ones,” drawlingly and soothingly sighed Stubb to his crew, some of whom still showed signs of uneasiness. “Why don’t you break your backbones, my boys? What is it you stare at? Those chaps in yonder boat? Tut! They are only five more hands come to help us never mind from where the more the merrier. Pull, then, do pull; never mind the brimstone devils are good fellows enough. So, so; there you are now; that’s the stroke for a thousand pounds; that’s the stroke to sweep the stakes! Hurrah for the gold cup of sperm oil, my heroes! Three cheers, men—all hearts alive! Easy, easy; don’t be in a hurry— don’t be in a hurry. Why don’t you snap your oars, you rascals? Bite something, you dogs! So, so, so, then:—softly, softly! That’s it—that’s it! long and strong. Give way there, give way! The devil fetch ye, ye ragamuffin rapscallions; ye are all asleep. Stop snoring, ye sleepers, and pull. Pull, will ye? pull, can’t ye? pull, won’t ye? Why in the name of gudgeons and ginger-cakes don’t ye pull?—pull and break something! pull, and start your eyes out! Here,” whipping out the sharp knife from his girdle; “every mother’s son of ye draw his knife, and pull with the blade between his teeth. That’s it—that’s it. Now ye do something; that looks like it, my steel-bits. Start her— start her, my silverspoons! Start her, marling-spikes!”

Stubb’s exordium to his crew is given here at large, because he had rather a peculiar way of talking to them in general, and especially in inculcating the religion of rowing.

You can have Stubb. I'll take the player to be named later...

Newengland wrote: "You can have Stubb. I'll take the player to be named later..."

That was who I was talking about when I stated there was one particular character I detested. Stubbs was callous in my opinion.

I couldn't even take refuge in that fact. It was too much a metaphor for waste and hubris to take cover under shark's tooth and bird's bill.

It was an insult to the whale to hunt it only for profit, and then not even eat it. Don't the Japanese and Inuit's of Alaska still eat whale? I am not too sure.

According to this article, whales are still hunted in Japan, Norway, and Iceland.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36731050/...

Thanks for the article. I can see the moratorium against useless slaughter of animals. I mean a whale is a large mammal, one would feed a hell of a lot of people. In the thousands is somewhat excessive. Something that surprised me was using Tuna in scientific experiments. I read that the other day. Now I find out they are using whales also. Hard to believe.

I believe the Russians are big players in the Whaling scene also! With the exception of man and other whales, Whales don't have any natural predators, except possibly Giant Squid. The irony here is squid are a large part of the Whales diet. The Giant Squid are probably the model for sea monsters of yore. They're a scary bunch too!

In Melville's time Whaling was an American dominated activity. I read somewhere that one of Melville's grandfathers had spent time as a whaler. He got out when he heard the "crying" of whale calves when they're mother was being butchered!

Sharks and other whales that hunt in packs will attack a full grown whale, or a sick whale, otherwise they are safe from everything except humans.

Kitty, Thanks for reminding me about the Sharks - the sick joke of a malignant God! I enjoyed the chapter where the Sharks were devouring the whale as it was secured against the side of the ship. Melville describes the ship lilting towards the side from the weight of the whale. The thought of the ship upending in the shark infested waters was truly frightening. I'm reading a book called, "The Slave Ship: A Human History" by Marcus Rediker. It's relevant with Melville because it spends a lot of time on the construction of ships during Melville's era. But the comment that knocked me out was the one that said many of the Ship Captains - and this was not limited to Slavers- actually fed the Sharks to purposefully keep them nearby as a terror provoking
object!

I enjoyed "The Sphinx" chapter about the beheaded whale. Melville's inimitable humor shines through this otherwise morbid chapter

NE said "According to this article, whales are still hunted in Japan, Norway, and Iceland.

If only the Japanese hunted whales only in Japan. The fact is that they come downunder to where whale-catching is easier - there have been some pretty violent stoushes between Japanese whalers and Greenpeace in my neck of the woods. Kitty, you said it is hard to beleieve that the Japanese use that many whales in scientific experiments....that is because they don't. It is a commercial operation and the meat is sold in Japanese restaurants.

I was being facetious. I didn't quite carry it off, did I?

Newengland wrote: "According to this article, whales are still hunted in Japan, Norway, and Iceland.


Perhaps hunted BY Japan, Norway, and Iceland would be more accurate but we need to add Russia to the list and also under very specific circumstances Canada and the U.S. Seems that the Innuit peoples exercise their right to hunt a small number of whales each year in traditional ways.

I recently finished The Yearling and there's a book that will vegetarians nightmares!

Personally, I think that humans have always been predators and will continue to be. I'm NOT against hunting per se but I am against waste. In some ways Stubbs eating of the whale is a redeeming act.

I still recall a nature program with Attenborough where they chronicle the pursuit of a grey whale and her calf by a pod of killer whales. After a chase of some 6 hours the pod killed the calf and ate only the tongue before letting it slip under the depths. Of course Attenborough pointed out that everything else would be consumed. First by hagfish and sleeper sharks and other deep sea predators. In a few years, even the bones would have been consumed by certain kinds of bacteria that feed on bone.