doesn’t partake in the hunting...
Call me a female-"ish Male"...okay?
Moby Dick has harpoons sticking out
of her, showing that many men have tried to tame her, and have even penetrated
her skin, but none have ever been able to make her submit...
Call me
an Air Rabbi, or, Ahab, okay, Ishmael is by that you mean a female-ish Male...okay?
An
Orange Clockwork???
John Henry Bonham...
Moby Dick...
A Beginning, a Middle, and an End,
skip the middle: it’s just the hapless Earthy
Working Class Hero going down a gigantic sinkhole, in the middle of the Earth,
or Ocean, or a Lake, or Earth between an Ocean and a Lake, it doesn’t really
matter…
La Verga…
Moby Dick has harpoons sticking out
of her, showing that many men have tried to tame her, and have even penetrated
her skin, but none have ever been able to make her submit.
“When a male whale is struck by a
harpoon, he is abandoned by his friends. But when a female member of a harem is
struck, the surrounding female whales swim around her with concern, acting
illogically, but emotionally. Melville has Ishmael point out this behavior to
show that females care for others even if they become endangered as well. The
act of whaling can then be considered as a metaphor for male subjugation of
women. The harpoon, a phallic symbol, is the main tool used by the whalers in
hunting whales. The murder of a whale is the equivalent of a women succumbing
to male dominance and being forced into the ownership of the male. Whales in
general can also
be interpreted as a symbol for women. Melville created Moby Dick to be a
physical form of the social-political feminist movement in society. Moby Dick
is a symbol of a new kind of woman in society; one that is independent of men,
and has actively fought against any form of subjugation. Moby Dick has harpoons
sticking out of her, showing that many men have tried to tame her, and have
even penetrated her skin, but none have ever been able to make her submit.
Captain Ahab attempted to subdue Moby Dick, but failed and lost his leg to her.
Ahab is described as “a grand, un-godly, godlike man” and “a crowned king”
(Melville “The Ship” Paragraph 25). Ahab is clearly the most masculine man in
the novel, so the taking of his leg by Moby Dick signifies a loss of manhood by
a feminist figure. Ahab’s quest for revenge is a symbol for man’s attempt at
stopping a very powerful force from overpowering their dominance. In the end,
Ahab and his men fail, as Moby Dick easily destroys the Pequod. The decimation
of the Pequod is a symbol for men losing their absolute control over all women.
But Moby Dick doesn’t kill everyone on the Pequod, one whaler is spared.
Ishmael is commonly referred to as simply the narrator of the novel, but he can
also be considered a female symbol as well. If Moby Dick is a symbol of a new,
empowered generation of women, then Ishmael is a symbol of the young and
growing generation of feminists that Melville saw around him in the 1850s. On
the ship, Ishmael doesn’t specialize in any particular task, instead, he
assists in whatever unskilled labor that needs to be accomplished. This lack of
acceptance by the ship’s crew mirrors male society questioning a female’s
ability to function in a man’s world. Ishmael doesn’t partake in the hunting of
whales; he prefers to closely study the whales, analyzing their behavior and
anatomy. His fascination with whales symbolizes a suppressed female wanting to
become an empowered feminist. In chapter 102, “A Bower in the Arsacides,”
Ishmael forms a physical bond between himself and whales by tattooing their
physical dimensions onto his right arm. In Ishmael’s relationship with
Queequeg, Ishmael takes on the wife figure, following Queequeg around and
letting him lead the way. Ishmael’s entrance onto the Pequod symbolizes a woman
attempting to assimilate into a man’s job, and showing that they are just as
capable as a man when it comes to working. In the final chase of Moby Dick, the
Pequod is destroyed, with Moby Dick taking its crew down. Ishmael is the only
survivor, using Queequeg’s coffin to stay afloat. This can be viewed as Ishmael
still needing his husband to survive. Moby Dick’s sparing of Ishmael is the
woman’s failure to be accepted by the empowered feminist. Instead of killing
Ishmael, Moby Dick gives Ishmael another chance to become just as powerful and
independent as the feminist Leviathan.”
...
