The Book Report: ‘Moby Dick’
- Kate Norrish
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Kate Norrish
Staff Writer
If you’re thinking, “Isn’t that the absolute chunk of a book that’s mostly how whaling ships work for dummies?” Then, yes, that is accurate, but hear me out. “Moby Dick,” published in 1851, is a surprisingly fun romp featuring an exasperated crew of sailors who didn’t realize they signed up to be stuck on the high seas taking orders from a lunatic until it was too late.
After being coaxed into signing a totally not sketchy contract by local eccentric businessmen, Bildad and Peleg, Ishmeal, along with his friend Queenpeg, and soon to be friends Starbuck, Flask, Pip, and more, end up spending many a month trying to convince the iconic Captain Ahab to shut up about the whale who ate his leg and help them collect that nice expensive spermaceti.
Speaking of which, it should be clarified that between the characters eating a dish called “whale balls,” “squeeze squeeze” squeezing out the spermaceti, and many, many other examples, Melville makes it clear that he knew exactly what he was doing by naming a book about a sperm whale “Moby Dick.”
For those wondering why on Earth someone would write that stuff in a respected book, I don’t know for certain. In fact, there is a lot in this book that is uncertain. I’ve heard people question whether or not Ishmeal is narrating the story as a ghost, and, to tackle the sex jokes, there is an interpretation that it is because Ahab’s whale attack also made him a eunuch.
In general, the themes of this book, and how they’re given to us, are weird. “Moby Dick” is possibly better known as a cosmic horror book. Beneath the chaos of the characters losing their minds over this one stinking whale and some symbolism for stuff, this book has many moments that will make you fall silent from your giggling.
The characters constantly question the undue harm they may be causing to the natural world, which leads to a crisis of faith amongst both the Christian and Muslim characters, and as the book goes on, they all fall into the brain scrambling headspace that Ahab has been choosing to live in for years. In fact, some theorize that the whale is literally God, punishing the characters for their treatment of the natural world.
To put it short, this book has aged depressingly well in the age of climate change.
Starbuck was a highlight of this story to me. Starting out as a wide eyed, optimistic first mate, we watch the light slowly drain from his eyes as he realizes that this is not a normal whaling trip. This was never going to be a normal whaling trip, not with Ahab.
Ahab himself is done in such a way that I did not expect, and yet he is, in most ways, exactly the same as the stock character that he has become in the public consciousness. At times, I actually found his obsession with this one whale to be kind of goofy.
Perhaps I was affected by the book’s constant phallic imagery, but the other characters find him annoying more than anything. And yet, there are moments that peek out, especially in the last scene of this book, that make you understand exactly what he meant, and he becomes as funny as a murder scene.
However, my favorite characters, who absolutely stole the show, were Bildad and Peleg. Because they are both aged, former captains, they can’t join in on the “fun” of sailing with Ahab. Instead, they spend their time making sure the other characters won’t break their expensive stuff, reassuring them that Ahab is totally professional and trustworthy, and giving them cheese and pickles.
They are also sure to let one of the crew members know - not anyone else, just him - that he is, under no circumstances, allowed to do a certain adult activity during the voyage. It was a sad day when I saw that they were not going to join the rest of the characters on the boat, and that their time in the book was done.
If you want some thought provoking environmental horror, or you want a spooky tale of the high seas that invites you to laugh at AMAB anatomy, “Moby Dick” may be chunky, but if you feel its length, it will be because you don’t want it to end.
