Classic Literature Review Series: Moby Dick

Riot’s Classic Literature Review: Moby Dick

One of the reasons I began this venture into classic literature was so that I could essentially catch up on all of the books that I likely missed because I didn’t pursue English for my undergrad program. That being said, my knowledge about Moby Dick and what was involved in the story was as limited as you might think; it’s a story about a man chasing/hunting a white whale. The book surprised me in two major ways. First, I was amazed by the sheer size of it: 450 pages, large page dimensions, single spaced, tiny font. Second, almost two weeks into reading it and over 400 pages in, the titular Moby Dick had nary made an appearance. So what was this tall tale actually about? For this review, a play-by-play recount of the events of the story would be a futile effort, in terms of trying to compress so much information and maintaining relevant continuity. This time around, focusing on writing style, themes, and general opinions of the work will likely suffice. There is quite a lot to say to be sure.

First published in 1851 and written from the perspective of a sailor named Ishmael (also a surprise as I expected the tale to be told by Captain Ahab), Moby Dick reads more like an encyclopedia that had a love child with Shakespearian poetry and the collective scripts of Pirates of the Caribbean. My only previous experience with Melville was reading Bartleby, the Scrivener during grad school and I admit, I vastly enjoyed Bartleby’s story over the oftentimes long-winded narrative of Ishmael. Easily over 50% of the book is a detailed description about the whaling industry and I mean detailed. It has everything you need to know about whalers: who they are, what they do, where they come from, the size/dimensions of their boat, what their harpoons are made of and how many they take, and I could go on. This was the main reason it took me 2 weeks to finally finish the damn thing. Generational gaps become a huge factor here, because if there was a time where the mysteries of whaling was something that people would want to know about, that time has inevitably passed (I’ll revisit this). These generational gaps play an important role in something simpler as well, namely how Melville writes and structures sentences. Every English class I have ever taken has pushed the idea that the extensive/expansive sentence risks not only losing the reader but also risks becoming a run-on. Melville being the master that he is, maintains all of the proper grammar and punctuation needed to ensure he wouldn’t get any red-penned corrections on his work, but he most certainly loses the reader by writing in such drawn out, often scatter-brained narration. Writing style wise, this is only problem number one.

Problem number two is most blatantly seen when Melville changes from prose to dialogue. To his credit, Melville’s band of sailors on the whaling ship Pequod is more diverse than maybe any setting that exists today. This causes a bit of a problem though when he begins dialoguing between them; they all speak very differently. From pirate slang, to broken English from his “savage” characters, and back to his overly knowledgeable narrator, I struggled often to follow along as it sometimes takes getting into the right headspace to really get on a roll while simultaneously retaining the information. When reading from a first-person point of view, it is a strange choice to have said character speak one way (almost like a pirate) and internally narrate in a completely different voice (like a scientist). To clarify my point, imagine trying to read an encyclopedia, then turning the page and abruptly coming to a conversation between Jack Sparrow and Will Turner. All this being said, it is impossible to say that Melville’s writing is anything short of masterful. I’ve always felt that I have a healthy grasp on vocabulary, but Melville’s descriptive prowess alone was enough to overwhelm me at times. It has been a while since I spent so much time looking up words so that I knew what he was talking about. Where I might argue his dialogue was often strange/confusing, I was stunned at his descriptive abilities, especially concerning the scenery. The prose often felt more like poetry than narration and was beautiful in its own way.

The themes of the book weren’t large in number, but there is a lot to say about them:

Limits of Information: The mystique surrounding whales themselves is likely what drew many people to reading the book when it was first released. This becomes much less of a draw in the digital age for obvious reasons. I don’t need to read 20 pages to understand/picture what a whale might look like, I can just Google an actual picture. We can Google anything. As a society, we should take time to remember just how convenient our lives are because of this. Melville, seeing a subject that people likely knew little about, saw the opportunity to educate people while simultaneously telling a fictional story. Unlike most fiction I’ve read growing up, this book wasn’t simply written for entertainment purposes.

Control vs. Fate: This is arguably the most important theme of Moby Dick. The book has a long string of allusions and foreshadowing that lets the reader know that the endeavor of the Pequod and its sailors is bound to end in tragedy. It is not subtle. Yet Melville strings in a number of events and crossroads at which the crew (mainly Ahab) are given full control over their destiny, where they could choose to simply walk away from the impending doom and cash in on a successful voyage. Hell, the final battle with Moby Dick takes place over the course of three days; quite literally playing out the three strikes rule. Melville speaks early on about the vast dangers that faced whalers, which makes it a little strange that so many people involved in his story are well into their old age. Simply put, the whaler wasn’t meant to live very long. It’s shocking then that the crew of the Pequod escapes death so many times leading up to their horrifying end. It should even be pointed out that the Pequod was named after a Native American nation that was wiped out by the arrival of white settlers. It is quite literally described as a sort of ghost ship, dark in color and draped in symbols of death. A story, seemingly bound to only end in one way, tells the reader that it doesn’t necessarily have to be so. Death comes for us all but it doesn’t mean we can’t delay the Reaper.

Revenge: The theme of revenge is inevitably what dooms the Pequod. Admittedly, I thought this theme was going to be a little more pervasive than it actually was. The book being written from the perspective of Ishmael, coupled with the fact that most of it is simply educational, makes this theme take a back seat to others. To be sure, it is 100% fact that Ahab’s thirst for revenge and subsequent madness is what doomed the crew. As stated before, when the crew finally does battle with Moby Dick, Ahab survives two separate attacks and is implored upon throughout the book by his first mate (Starbuck) to abandon his bloodthirsty quest. He simply doesn’t listen and it ends up costing the lives of almost his entire crew.

Whaling as an Industry: While this may not have been an intended theme originally, I saw an interesting narrative developing about the whaling industry that bled out in its extensive descriptions. It is mentioned a number of times by Ishmael that all the trouble of whaling is simply done so that people can keep oil in their lamps. I might have seen this commentary 7-10 times throughout. When you weigh the loss of sailors lives and the immense task that was whaling against the triviality of lighting a lamp, it definitely appears like Melville saw a bit of frivolity in it. Regarding Ahab’s unnatural commitment to revenge as well, it is even mentioned that he had no leg to stand on (joke intended….Moby Dick bit his leg off), since it was clear that whales only attacked people in self-defense. Moby Dick’s attack on Ahab therefore contained no malice and did not legitimize his determined commitment to murder the animal. Melville’s penchant for description deeply illuminates the savagery of chasing, killing, and dismembering a whale, showing the reader that it is in fact not worth its final use.

Friendship: There’s only one real reason I am including this theme and that is because of the relationship described between the main character Ishmael and a cannibal he befriends at the beginning of the book named Queequeg. Melville spends at least a good 100 pages outlining how the two meet, become friends, and enlist together on the whaling journey that would inevitably claim Queequeg’s life. Ishmael, while initially frightened by the “cannibal savage,” shows a depth of understanding and growth that might not even exist today. This theme loses a little steam as the book progresses though. So much so that when the Pequod is finally sunk by Moby Dick, killing the entire crew except for Ishmael, Melville doesn’t even spend any further time portraying a mourning man. The story merely ends.

Wrap-up: Simply put, I am glad that I didn’t have to read Moby Dick until now. This book requires some time man, of which I likely would not have had the patience to put in back in high school or undergrad. Based on the vocabulary alone I would say that this is not a book to pick up for casual reading. It is astoundingly beautiful literature but it is absolutely a tedious read. Ishmael as a narrator is not what you would expect of a sailor/whaler. When the story began, it seemed like it was being told in a linear, first-person format. It wasn’t until later I realized that Moby Dick was more of a recounting of events by an old, life-long-lived man. Ishmael was unbelievably well-versed in all kinds of legends, lore, sciences, natures, geographies, nations, the list goes on. It’s because of this that I imagine most readers today (including myself) will simply be lost by the references he uses. This is a book, as well-written as it was, that I think wasn’t going to translate generationally for a couple reasons. First, I’d argue that the mysticism behind whales/whaling has been dead for a while. People might still want to catch some pictures of them but certainly there aren’t many who want to know, in detail, how to murder and dismember them. Second, the collective knowledge of Ishmael and the references he consistently makes are also things that the general public is unlikely aware of. Casual name droppings of Greek or Egyptian lore (this is just two of many) are unlikely to land with people today. Again, if you have the time, you can look that stuff up to try and understand better. The legends of the bygone eras are simply not passed down the way that they used to be. At the very least, these archetypal stories have simply been retold and a more relevant reference would need to be used for people to quickly absorb or understand the point. At the end of the day, what I thought was going to be a compelling/thrilling tale about revenge was much more methodical and proper than could keep my undivided interest. I might even go so far to say that the last 50 pages of the book were more entertaining than the entire 400 that came before it.

So, what do I mean to say about Moby Dick?

1) It wasn’t what I expected.

2) You need time, a lot of time to properly absorb this book.

3) It wasn’t really my cup o’ tea.

Would I recommend this book to my friends and family? A couple of names do come to mind, but no I would not. In the era of Covid, if I knew someone who was desperately trying to kill some time, I might. Moby Dick is a bucket-list type of book. If it is on your own reading bucket list, understand ahead of time that you have a big task ahead. I think that’s the best way to describe it and I am grateful that I can finally check it off my list.

Riot’s Rating: 6.5/10

Next Classic Lit Review: Lord of The Flies by: William Golding