Maria’s Reviews > Moby-Dick > Status Update

Electricity on a boat wasn’t a thing during this time, obviously, but I had never considered that sailors had to do so many things in the dark or in dim lighting. Hence why this whole chapter (this half-page) is all about the whalemen’s grand excess of oil and, therefore, light.

“…that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him… cannot be true—not true, or underdeveloped.”

“There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness.”

This chapter was all about the Try-Works of the ship and of course there was a lot tangents about fire and the sun and how even light can be deceiving.

Not much to note here other than Queequeg’s giant idol statue and the mincer’s form of ‘protective’ clothing….?

The beginning of this chapter wasn’t bad, if anything I could relate a lot to Ishmael’s feelings. He reached that perfect zone of being content while having his hands in the barrel of sperm. But then it just started getting gross after that- like him eating the “plum-pudding” and also the bit at the end about the blubber-room men… blegh

First off, finally made it to page 500! Second off, poor Pip, he was stuck in the middle of the ocean floating for at least an hour and it seemed to have permanently changed him- to be in complete isolation like that in the sea…

This chapter was all about the smell of whales and ambergris, whatever ambergris is….??? It’s a bit hard visualizing it but I think I get it…?

Lol this chapter made me laugh, especially with the way Stubb tricked the Rose-Bud and with the way he and the translator both just said what they wanted

This chapter annoyed me, though not in the usual “too-dense-and-headache-inducing” way but rather, in a “why does the King and Queen own every whale in their coast???” I felt so bad for those mariners, like the Duke could’ve at least paid them. ._.

Initially, the title “Fast-fish, Loose-fish” made me think of Dr. Seuss. The bit about the United States taking Mexico made me laugh cause that’s never gonna happen nor would I want it to…? But this chapter was fun to read, all about the intricacies of “dibs” basically. Which whales have dibs and which ones don’t.

This was a fun chapter, to learn about the two types of schools. It kind of reminds me of how humans could be, with their groups, in the past. Circles of women with a man to defend them, and gangs of men….