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Moby-Dick

Study Guide by Course Hero

ABOUT THE TITLE


What's Inside Captain Ahab engages in a mad quest to locate and kill the
white whale Moby Dick. The hyphen that appears in the title of
the American edition of Moby-Dick has long puzzled scholars,
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 because the whale is only referred to with a hyphen once in the
book. Scholars' solution is to use a hyphen in the book title but
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
not in the whale's name.
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2

h Characters ................................................................................................... 2

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5


d In Context
c Chapter Summaries ................................................................................ 9 Melville's Moby-Dick is informed by the booming whaling
industry, an emerging American identity, and the religious
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 34 values of 19th-century New England.

l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 36

m Themes ....................................................................................................... 37 Whaling and the American


e Suggested Reading ............................................................................. 38 Identity
The first European settlers in North America learned whaling
methods from Native Americans. Over time they expanded
j Book Basics these methods. Beginning in the 17th century, American
whaling ships traveled farther and farther offshore in pursuit of
AUTHOR their gigantic prey. By the 19th century, whaling had
Herman Melville progressed from near-shore whaling to deep-sea whaling, and
whalers would voyage for years at a time in an effort to bring
YEAR PUBLISHED home supplies of whale oil and other valuable whale products.
1851 Nantucket, Massachusetts, the American center of the whaling
industry, prospered as the industry grew. Whaling, however,
GENRE
was deadly work, as crews chased whales in small boats for
Adventure
miles over the open ocean. The Nantucket whaler Essex
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR famously and tragically sank due to an encounter with a whale.
The character Ishmael narrates Moby-Dick using both a first- Against this backdrop of adventure, danger, and profit, Herman
person and a third-person point of view. Melville grew into adulthood.

TENSE The whaling industry was a success story of American


Moby-Dick is told in the past tense. capitalism, and the values of the whalemen were American
Moby-Dick Study Guide Author Biography 2

values—strength; courage; and the triumph of human ingenuity year aboard the navy vessel United States.
over the forces of nature, adventure, and profit. The supreme
confidence of Ahab in the novel Moby-Dick reflects the way Melville's own adventures as well as the stories he heard other

that Americans at the time viewed the natural world: something sailors tell on his many travels provided characters and real-life

to be conquered. The whaling industry's success was detail for his writing, including his novel Moby-Dick, an

connected to another success story in America and other ambitious and complex novel loaded with symbolism. While

industrialized nations, the Industrial Revolution, which changed Melville's earlier writing had been fairly well received, Moby-

human societies drastically and permanently. Dick's reception was lukewarm, and in subsequent years
Melville's popularity declined.

Melville died in his native New York City on September 28,


Quakerism 1891, without seeing his novel rise from relative obscurity. In
the early 20th century, however, Moby-Dick experienced a
The Quaker movement began in England in the 17th century as revival, viewed as an important American novel with themes
part of the Protestant Reformation, and quickly spread to that address the American identity and experience. Today it is
North America where Quakers became an integral part of early considered a classic.
American society. They were part of a pacifist Christian
tradition that took root on Nantucket when Mary Coffin

h Characters
Starbuck, the first English woman to be married on Nantucket
and a wealthy citizen of the island, converted to Quakerism.
Quakers, like most Christians, believed that God had given
them dominion over the creatures of land and sea, so they had
no moral issue with whaling as a way of life. Thus, Quakerism Ishmael
and whaling grew side by side in Nantucket.
Ishmael is a young man who, in response to feelings of
restlessness and depression, decides to go to sea. He makes
a Author Biography his way from his home in Manhattan to Nantucket,
Massachusetts, making a friend in Queequeg along the way.

Born in New York City on August 1, 1819, Herman Melville grew The two ship out together on Pequod. Ishmael tells the story of

up at a time when the American whaling industry was Ahab's mad quest to kill Moby Dick from his own

flourishing. Whale oil was in demand as a fuel and lubricant; perspective—both as a young and relatively experienced

whalebone was used in dressmaking; and ambergris was used crewman on the Pequod and, looking back, as the sole survivor

in perfumes. Evidence of the whaling industry was everywhere, of the Pequod's encounter with Moby Dick.

and stories of danger encountered by sailors on whaling ships


engaged the American imagination. In 1820, when young
Melville was just a year old, the whaling vessel Essex was sunk Captain Ahab
by a sperm whale, and its crew resorted to cannibalism in
order to survive until their rescue. Captain Ahab is the protagonist and tragic hero—complete
with a fatal flaw—of the novel. Several days after the Pequod
Melville certainly knew this story, and it was likely in the back sets sail, Captain Ahab finally emerges from his cabin. His
of his mind as he signed on as a crewman aboard the whaling appearance—a leg made of whalebone, a long, ugly scar—as
ship Acushnet when he was 21 years old. After a year and a well as his intense demeanor—add to the mystery surrounding
half on board, he deserted and was soon taken captive by him. Ahab's arrogant quest for vengeance against the White
cannibals. Rescued by another whaling ship, the Lucy Ann, he Whale drives the events of the plot, as the fates of all aboard
was quickly involved in a mutiny against the ship's captain. the Pequod are tied to the outcome of Ahab's mad mission.
After a brief stint as a farm worker, Melville signed on to work
as a harpooner on yet another whaling ship, the Charles and
Henry. In 1843, he enlisted in the navy and served for about a

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Characters 3

Indeed, Flask's whole world is black and white; he is not able to


Moby Dick see nuances. This makes him an easy target for other crew
members who sometimes trick him with their words just for
Moby Dick is the "White Whale" that took Ahab's leg and upon fun.
whom Ahab wishes to take vengeance. Ahab believes Moby
Dick to be the physical form of evil and malice, yet symbolically
the White Whale represents the unknowable nature of God, the
absolute power of the natural world, and the inevitability of
fate.

Queequeg
Queequeg, despite his fearsome tattoos and his tendency to
perform everyday activities with his harpoon, becomes a friend
to Ishmael. He performs his duties on the ship without
complaint, even when they are dangerous, and he is
enthusiastic about harpooning. As a pagan and a cannibal, his
friendship with Ishmael helps develop ideas about spirituality
and culture.

Starbuck
As a Quaker and the only man aboard the Pequod with serious
moral reservations about Ahab's quest, Starbuck's growing
discomfort with Ahab's obsession with revenge causes him to
nearly kill his captain. He holds back based on moral
reservations and thoughts of his wife and child. Ultimately, his
hesitation to commit murder leads to tragedy.

Stubb
Although Stubb is humorous, his comic approach is grounded
in something more serious: he is a fatalist. He believes there is
little humans can do to change the course of events, so a
person might as well laugh about it all. This also explains his
relaxed approach, whether in pursuit of a whale or smoking his
pipe.

Flask
Flask is not a very complicated man. He lives to kills whales,
and he pursues that purpose with a zeal that can be unsettling.
He cannot see anything majestic about the giant creatures.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Characters 4

Character Map

Ishmael
Sailor on Pequod; narrator
of story

Friends

Flask
Queequeg
Mission-oriented crew Crewman
Pagan harpooner on Pequod
member on Pequod

Third Mate

Captain Ahab
Monomaniacal captain
of Pequod
Second
Enemies
Mate

Moby Dick
Stubb First Mate White whale Captain Ahab
Jolly crew member on Pequod
wants to kill

Starbuck
Quaker crew member
on Pequod

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Plot Summary 5

Full Character List Father


Father Mapple is the minister at the
Whaleman's Chapel in New Bedford. He
Mapple is a former whaleman and a powerful
preacher.
Character Description

Fedallah is Ahab's personal harpooner,


Ishmael Ishmael is the narrator of the story.
Fedallah whom Ahab smuggles on board along
with his personal whaleboat crew.
Captain Ahab is the mysterious and
Captain Ahab
obsessed captain of the Pequod.
Fleece Fleece is the cook aboard the Pequod.

Moby Dick is an old sperm whale


Gabriel is a member of the crew of the
Moby Dick and—according to Captain Ahab—the
whaleship Jeroboam, who prophesies
embodiment of evil. Gabriel
that harming Moby Dick, an incarnation
of God, will bring bad fortune.
Queequeg is Ishmael's friend and
Queequeg
Starbuck's harpooner.
Captain Peleg is a Quaker and retired
Captain Peleg whaling captain. He is one of the
Starbuck is the first mate of the owners of the Pequod.
Starbuck
Pequod.
Perth is the blacksmith aboard the
Perth
Stubb is the pipe-​smoking second mate Pequod.
Stubb of the Pequod. He is from Cape Cod
and is jolly and careless.
Pip is a young African American boy
who is abandoned at sea for a time. The
Pip
Flask is the third mate of the Pequod. experience leaves him both "an idiot"
He is from Martha's Vineyard and feels and a prophet.
Flask
that it is his personal mission to kill
whales.
Tashtego is a Native American
Tashtego
harpooner assigned to Stubb's boat.
Captain Bildad is a Quaker and retired
Captain
whaling captain. He is one of the
Bildad
owners of the Pequod.

Captain Boomer is the captain of the


k Plot Summary
Captain whaling ship Samuel Enderby. He has a
Boomer whalebone arm as a result of an Moby-Dick takes place in the 19th century and follows the
encounter with Moby Dick. journey of the Pequod, a whaling ship captained by the
monomaniacal Ahab. Ahab is obsessed with his quest for
Daggoo is an African harpooner vengeance against the white whale Moby Dick, a sperm whale
Daggoo
assigned to Flask's boat.
responsible for the loss of Ahab's leg.

Dough Boy is the steward aboard the The novel begins as Ishmael, the narrator, decides to sign on to
Dough Boy
Pequod. a whaling ship. He travels from Manhattan to New Bedford,
where he makes an unlikely friend—Queequeg, a cannibal from
Elijah is a mysterious man who a South Sea island who works as a harpooner. They decide to
confronts Ishmael and Queequeg in
Elijah ship out together. The odd pair travel to Nantucket, where they
Nantucket, warning them about Captain
Ahab. are able to secure positions on the Pequod, owned by Captain
Peleg and Captain Bildad. A mysterious stranger named Elijah
warns them about the captain of the Pequod—a man named
Ahab, whom they have yet to meet.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Plot Summary 6

On Christmas Day, the Pequod sets out from Nantucket loaded


with supplies for a three-year voyage of whale hunting.
Although Ahab remains in his cabin, Starbuck, Stubb, and
Flask, the first, second, and third mates, respectively, keep
things running smoothly. Eventually, Ahab emerges and
Ishmael gets his first glimpse of the mysterious figure—a
brooding man with one whalebone peg leg. After some time,
Ahab reveals his true mission: not to hunt sperm whales, but to
hunt one in particular—not for profit, but for revenge. Captain
Ahab nails a gold coin to the mast of the ship and tells the men
that whoever finds Moby Dick will earn it as a reward. All of the
men, save Starbuck, enthusiastically agree to this quest for
vengeance.

There are officially three mates on board, each of whom will be


in charge of one of the smaller whaleboats when they are
lowered to engage in closer hunting of a whale. And each of
these mates has an assigned harpooner—Queequeg,
Tashtego, and Daggoo. However, when a whale is actually
sighted, Ahab's own boat crew, led by the devilish Fedallah, is
revealed. Ahab has prepared his own whaleboat with
accommodations for his peg leg.

The Pequod sails on, from time to time encountering sperm


whales and killing them, and occasionally seeing other whaling
ships. Each time another ship is met, Ahab asks for news of the
White Whale. If the ship has no news, Ahab moves on without
ceremony. If there is news, he listens to it before leaving. Along
the way Queequeg becomes ill and, thinking he is likely to die,
has a coffin made for himself. He recovers, and the coffin is
converted into a life buoy. In addition, the tension between
Ahab and Starbuck (who believes that Ahab's quest is
blasphemous and foolish) intensifies, finally leading to a
confrontation between the two.

Eventually, they meet a ship that only recently had a run-in with
Moby Dick, and shortly thereafter Ahab sights the White
Whale. The boats are lowered and the chase ensues. For three
days the crew of the Pequod tries to kill Moby Dick, who
smashes the whaleboats and proves to be very difficult to kill.
On the final day of fighting, Moby Dick sinks the ship and kills
Ahab. Ishmael survives by floating on Queequeg's coffin. He is
rescued, and he alone lives to tell the story.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Plot Summary 7

Plot Diagram

Climax

7
Falling Action
6
Rising Action
5 8

4
9
3
Resolution
2
1

Introduction

7. Moby Dick kills Ahab and most of the crew.


Introduction

1. Ishmael goes to sea on a whaling ship.


Falling Action

8. Ishmael escapes death by floating on Queequeg's coffin.

Rising Action

2. The Pequod departs with Ahab locked in his cabin.


Resolution
3. Ahab tells the crew of his mission to kill Moby Dick.
9. Ishmael is rescued.
4. Ahab's crew, led by Fedallah, is intent on hunting a whale.

5. Ahab sights Moby Dick.

6. The crew of the Pequod tries to kill Moby Dick.

Climax

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Plot Summary 8

Timeline of Events

Saturday night, December

Ishmael arrives in New Bedford.

Sunday morning

Ishmael goes to chapel; Father Mapple preaches about


Jonah.

Monday evening

Ishmael and Queequeg arrive in Nantucket.

Christmas Day

The Pequod departs on its voyage.

Several days later

Ahab finally emerges from his cabin.

January

Ahab's secret stowaway crew comes out of hiding.

February

Ahab has a special harpoon made to kill Moby Dick.

Weeks later, first day

Ahab sees Moby Dick.

Second day

The crew of the Pequod tries to kill Moby Dick.

Third day

The Pequod is destroyed and Ahab and most of the crew


are killed. Ishmael survives.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 9

Ishmael considers how ominous that name sounds, but


c Chapter Summaries reassures himself that it is a common name. Of course, this
name foreshadows the conclusion of the novel.

Chapters 1–2
Chapters 3–5

Summary
Summary
As the novel begins, the narrator, Ishmael, introduces himself.
Ishmael enters the Spouter Inn. He is disappointed that there
He doesn't have much money and is feeling depressed, so he
are no empty beds available, so he will have to share one with a
decides to "sail about a little and see the watery part of the
harpooner who, the landlord tells him, is dark skinned and likes
world." The sea holds an attraction for him, as it does for many.
his steaks rare. After trying to sleep on a wooden bench,
Yet he will not travel as a passenger. Instead, he will work as a
Ishmael decides to give sharing a bed a try and goes to the
"simple sailor."
room. In the middle of the night, the harpooner finally comes in.
In Chapter 2, Ishmael packs his clothes in an old carpet-bag His face and torso are covered in tattoos; he looks foreign and
and sets out from Manhattan to New Bedford, where he hopes fierce. Ishmael is afraid, realizing the man is a South Seas
to catch a boat to Nantucket, a well-known center of the cannibal. When the harpooner gets into bed, he is surprised to
whaling industry. However, he misses the boat he expected find Ishmael already there and begins to wave a weapon
and must wait in New Bedford for a few nights. Not having around. Ishmael calls Peter Coffin (landlord of the Spouter Inn)
much money, he must seek out an economical inn to stay in who introduces the harpooner as Queequeg. Coffin explains
while he waits. He finds a run-down place called The Spouter the situation and everyone goes back to bed.
Inn, run by Peter Coffin.
In Chapter 4, Ishmael wakes up to find Queequeg's tattooed
arm thrown over him in a warm, loving gesture. He is

Analysis disconcerted at first, but his discomfort is replaced with a


sense of how comical the situation is. When he wakes
The opening line of this novel is one of the most famous in Queequeg up, the harpooner is similarly momentarily confused.
American literature. The wording of this line leaves some doubt Queequeg gets up and gets dressed, then shaves his face with
as to whether the narrator is named Ishmael or is simply his harpoon and leaves the room. In Chapter 5, Ishmael gets
inviting readers to call him this name—one that calls to mind dressed himself and goes downstairs for breakfast with the
the biblical Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar. other boarders. The others seem to be an interesting bunch,
but they are strangely silent at breakfast. Ishmael is puzzled by
These first chapters reveal Ishmael's problem—he's gloomy, their shyness and by Queequeg's way of eating using his
wants a change, and his solution is to go to sea. He eloquently harpoon. After breakfast Ishmael goes for a walk.
describes the beautiful, "ungraspable phantom" of the sea,
saying "[t]here is magic in it." He longs to experience the
remote, forbidden places in the world. Analysis
These chapters also introduce important themes, including These chapters introduce Queequeg and revolve around the
destiny. Ishmael describes the Fates as stage managers and tension Ishmael feels because this mysterious harpooner is
believes that "going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the nowhere to be seen. It doesn't help that Peter Coffin seems to
grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time be deliberately withholding details about the absent harpooner.
ago." Appropriate to this theme, Melville introduces the literary Ishmael is increasingly concerned about sharing a bed with the
technique of foreshadowing, which he will return to often in the man, but his desire for comfort gets the better of him. The
course of the novel: The Spouter Inn is run by Peter Coffin. tension escalates when Queequeg actually comes into the

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 10

room and, not realizing Ishmael is there, begins his bedtime that "if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in
rituals and tries to get into bed. Even the resulting this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying
confrontation is not enough to completely release the tension: God consists." Mapple uses his knowledge of ships and sailing
in the morning, the men are both under the counterpane (quilt to elaborate on the story of Jonah's attempt to run away from
or bedspread), and Ishmael recalls a frightening episode from the task God had set before him. Mapple commends Jonah's
his early childhood. Queequeg's presence, however, seems to repentance—which took place in the belly of the giant fish—to
soothe Ishmael. the congregation as a model for their own repentance. After
his impassioned sermon, he covers his face with his hands, and
Ishmael watches Queequeg complete a series of mundane the congregation quietly leaves.
morning activities like getting dressed, shaving, and eating
breakfast. The savage of the night before is now a comical
man with a dented hat and a tendency to use his harpoon for Analysis
everything. He shaves with it ("vigorous scraping, or rather
harpooning of his cheeks") and serves himself breakfast with it. Ishmael, who is himself about to go to sea on a whaling boat,
By the time breakfast is over, Ishmael's feeling toward takes notice of the many marble tablets that are displayed in
Queequeg is one of amusement rather than fear, which is an the chapel. He considers that their message to him is one of
important step in the development of their close friendship. warning: "there is death in this business of whaling." While he
doesn't seem too worried about this at the present time, this
episode (again) foreshadows later plot events in which the
Chapters 6–9 captain and crew of the ship he's on are all killed by a sperm
whale, save one.

Besides being about Jonah and a large fish or whale, a topic


Summary Ishmael will have a great deal to say about in later chapters,
Father Mapple's sermon, introduces several important themes
Out on the streets of New Bedford, Ishmael describes the
that will be developed over the course of the novel. Just like
variety of people who are out and about. He then assures the
Jonah, Ahab will try to follow his own plan rather than obeying
reader that there are not only "harpooners, cannibals, and
the mission of the Pequod's owners. He will attempt to kill a
bumpkins" in the town, but also many wealthy people who have
creature much larger and more powerful than himself, one that
made their living in the whaling industry. Because it is Sunday,
represents the unknowable mysteries, displaying an arrogance
Ishmael goes to a Whaleman's Chapel in Chapter 7, housing
certainly classified as sinful pride. And like Jonah, he will be
marble tablets inscribed with names of those lost or killed at
punished by a great whale acting as an agent of God (or fate,
sea. Ishmael takes a seat and is surprised to notice Queequeg
or nature, or all three). (It should be noted that the biblical story
is there, too. The marble tablets remind him that he is about to
of Jonah does not refer to a whale, but to a great fish. This
embark on a voyage that may end in his death, but this fact
detail will be taken up in a much later chapter by Ishmael.)
does not frighten him. He does not fear the destruction of his
body, for he feels his soul is indestructible. The presence of Queequeg in the chapel is a small detail that
hints at an issue Ishmael will explore on and off throughout the
A robust chaplain named Father Mapple enters the chapel in
book—the difference between "heathens" and Christians.
Chapter 8, takes off his wet jacket and hat, and ascends to the
Although the issues framed are religious in nature, they are
high pulpit by a rope ladder similar to one used to climb onto a
also racial issues. In the novel, whaling as an industry is
ship. Ishmael is surprised that Father Mapple pulls the rope
revealed to be one in which white men and those of other
ladder up after him when he is situated in the pulpit. The pulpit
races mingle and coexist. Even though there is still a racial
is shaped like the front of a ship, which Ishmael feels is
hierarchy, respect for one another is one aspect of the
appropriate. Father Mapple asks the congregation to sit closer
relationships on the ship.
in Chapter 9, then kneels, prays, and leads a hymn. He then
preaches a powerful sermon about the biblical book of Jonah.
His sermon centers on the topic of obedience to God, noting

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 11

party. Queequeg's story reveals one of the reasons Ishmael


Chapters 10–12 may find him a "bosom friend": he is, like the biblical Ishmael, a
sort of exile, not able to go back to his family. And like Melville's
Ishmael, who is somewhat disillusioned with "Christian
Summary kindness," Queequeg has found that both Christians and
pagans can be miserable, cruel people. Two young men, alone
Ishmael returns to the Spouter Inn, where Queequeg is sitting in the world, each find in the other a kindred spirit, and so they
by the fire. Ishmael decides to try to make friends with him, and decide to go to sea together.
they chat and smoke together. Back in their shared room,
Queequeg shares his money with Ishmael and invites him to
worship a small idol with him. As a Christian, Ishmael has Chapters 13–15
misgivings about this, but he decides God will not be angry if
he joins in. Afterward the two men talk in bed like good friends.
Around midnight in Chapter 11, Ishmael and Queequeg are still
cozy in the bed. They have been talking and napping on and
Summary
off, and now they smoke together as Queequeg tells Ishmael
The next morning, the two unlikely friends borrow a
about his native land.
wheelbarrow to transport their belongings to a small boat that

In Chapter 12, Ishmael relates Queequeg's story: Queequeg's will take them to Nantucket. Along the way, Queequeg tells

native island is called Kokovoko. He wanted to see the world, Ishmael stories that illustrate the way people make funny

so he canoed to a place where he knew a ship would pass, and mistakes when they are strangers in a new culture. They arrive

when it did he climbed aboard. The captain of the ship tried to at the boat, and it sails off toward Nantucket. Some of the

throw him off, but this proved difficult and the captain relented, "bumpkins" on board the small boat make fun of Queequeg,

allowing Queequeg to stay aboard and learn how to be a who throws one of them into the air. In the uproar that follows,

harpooner. Ishmael listens to this story, then asks him what his the man is swept overboard by the boom of the sailboat, and

plans are now. Queequeg says he plans to go back to sea as a Queequeg jumps in to save him from drowning.

harpooner, and Ishmael reveals that he is also planning to go to


The boat arrives in Nantucket in Chapter 14. Ishmael gives a bit
sea. They decide to go together.
of history of the island and elaborates on how the people of
Nantucket became the masters of the sea, perfectly at home
on it. Ishmael and Queequeg go ashore in Chapter 15 and find
Analysis a place to stay, the Try Pots, famous for its chowder. Though it
is dark out, they find their way to the inn and are rewarded with
With a head full of Father Mapple's rather emotional sermon,
bowls of delicious clam chowder served by a cantankerous
Ishmael comes back to the Spouter Inn to find his heathen
Mrs. Hussey. After eating, they go to bed.
acquaintance calmly whittling. As he watches Queequeg and
considers his good qualities, he says, "I felt a melting in me. No
more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned
against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed
Analysis
it." It is interesting that he uses a term Christians use to talk
These chapters continue to develop the friendship between
about Christ—redeemed—to describe his reaction to
Ishmael and Queequeg as well as the idea that even though he
Queequeg. He thus decides to "try a pagan friend ... since
is a pagan, Queequeg is more honorable than many Christians.
Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy." Later he
Ishmael and Queequeg combine their belongings into one
participates in Queequeg's worship of his little idol. All of these
wheelbarrow, which is a lovely symbolic action used to show
events suggest that Ishmael has a slightly different perspective
their unity in friendship. On the boat to Nantucket, the two are
on spiritual matters than Father Mapple, and they also show
harassed by other passengers, but after Queequeg dives in
the growing friendship between Queequeg and Ishmael.
after a man who falls overboard, the other men seem to come

The two then stay up talking all night like kids at a slumber around. Ishmael is going to great lengths to show just how

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 12

great a guy Queequeg is. Queequeg impresses the two men with his amazingly accurate
harpoon throw, and they hire him on the spot. Bildad advises
Mrs. Hussey appears in this chapter as a typical whaleman's him to leave his pagan ways for Christianity, but Peleg notes
wife, a no-nonsense woman who runs the affairs of home and that "pious harpooners never make good voyagers."
business with efficiency while her husband is away at sea. Her
inn is called the Try Pots, named after the large pots used to In Chapter 19, Ishmael and Queequeg have just left the Pequod
boil the whale oil out of the flesh, as described later in the and are walking down the street when they encounter a man.
novel. The man asks them if they have signed on to ship out with the
Pequod, and they answer yes. The man also asks them some
Foreshadowing again plays an important role in setting the odd questions, including whether they have seen "Old
tone of these chapters, despite their rather lighthearted Thunder" yet. When asked about this, the man tells them he
content. To Ishmael, the Try Pots sign looks like a gallows: "A means Captain Ahab, captain of the Pequod. He goes on to
Coffin my Innkeeper upon landing in my first whaling port; make cryptic comments about Ahab. This stranger's name
tombstones staring at me in the whalemen's chapel, and here a turns out to be Elijah. Elijah's comments and his name unsettle
gallows!" Careful readers will also take note that Ishmael gives Ishmael a little, but after they have walked on further, he
away part of the novel's ending in Chapter 13 as he compares decides to dismiss them.
Queequeg's dive to save a man with his "last long dive."

Analysis
Chapters 16–19
In this section, readers meet Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg,
two retired whalemen who now own their own ship, the
Summary Pequod. They are both Quakers. The two work well
together—they stage a comical "negotiation" between
Ishmael goes to see the boats that are available to decide themselves about how much pay they will offer Ishmael, which
which one he and Queequeg will try to sail on. There are three manages to convince Ishmael to accept the 300th lay, less pay
ships, and he investigates each one, finally deciding that the than he had expected.
ship Pequod—a "rare old craft"—is the best one. It is owned by
The name Pequod is significant. Ishmael explains that it is the
Captain Peleg who tells him the captain on the voyage will be
name of a tribe of Native Americans who once lived in
Captain Ahab, a man with only one leg, the result of an
Massachusetts. He notes that the tribe is "now extinct." Yet
encounter with a whale. As Ishmael is signing up for the
this seems to raise no red flags for him (as it might for the
voyage, he meets the other owner, Captain Bildad. They
reader) as he chooses the ship anyway.
negotiate Ishmael's wages, and Peleg describes Captain
Ahab—who Ishmael has not met—as "a grand, ungodly, god-like The contrast between Father Mapple's Christianity and
man." Ishmael's makes another appearance. When Bildad asks
Queequeg if he is a member of a church, Ishmael tells him
Back at the inn and locked in their room, Queequeg is
(quite eloquently) that Queequeg is a member of "the great
observing a religious fast in Chapter 17. However, Ishmael
and everlasting First Congregation of this whole worshipping
begins to worry that something is wrong because Queequeg is
world," as is "every mother's son and soul of us." Peleg
so quiet and will not answer his knock. When Ishmael bursts
responds that Ishmael would make a good preacher, as his
through the locked door, Queequeg is squatting, immobile, with
"sermon" was so good "Father Mapple himself couldn't beat it."
his little idol. Ishmael can get no response from him, but the
next morning Queequeg gets up, stretches, and seems fine. Most important, however, is that this section introduces the
They breakfast on chowder and set off for the Pequod to get character Captain Ahab. First, Peleg describes Ahab in
Queequeg signed up. contradictory terms—both "god-like" and "ungodly." If that's not
odd and unsettling enough, on the way back to the inn from the
Peleg and Bildad are suspicious of Queequeg at first in
ship, Ishmael and Queequeg run into a strange character with
Chapter 18, but Ishmael convinces them to give him a chance.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 13

the name of a biblical prophet. (In I Kings, the Bible says that
God sent a prophet named Elijah to prophecy King Ahab's
Analysis
destruction.) This prophet-like stranger makes several
This section reveals a comical difference between Captain
mysterious comments that seem, to Ishmael, "ambiguous, half-
Peleg and Captain Bildad, which was glimpsed before in the
hinting, half-revealing." Although Ahab himself will not appear in
interactions among the two captains and Queequeg. When
person for many chapters, already a great deal of myth and
Queequeg signed on to the ship, Bildad piously tried to
larger-than-life story has grown up around him. Ishmael is
encourage him to convert to Christianity. Here again, the
uneasy, and perhaps readers are as well.
reader can see that Bildad is the more religious of the two
business partners. Throughout the ordeal of setting out, Bildad
is "imperturbable" and sings religious songs, while Peleg shouts
Chapters 20–23 and kicks the sailors to get them to work faster. Clearly, Peleg
is the less religious, or perhaps the more practical, of the two
Quakers.
Summary
The suspense created by the missing Captain Ahab intensifies
A flurry of activity occurs to get the Pequod ready to sail. as the Pequod gets underway. All manner of excuses are made
Ropes and canvas are brought on board as well as bedding, for Ahab's absence—he's ill; he's recovering; he's expected
food supplies and equipment for eating, and spare parts of very soon; he's not really needed anyway. Captain Bildad and
every kind needed for a three-year voyage. During these Captain Peleg disembark, but still Ahab is nowhere to be seen.
preparations, Captain Ahab is nowhere to be seen. Bildad and Starbuck takes charge instead. As if that weren't enough, the
Peleg say that he is not well but is expected any time. Ishmael mysterious Elijah makes another appearance, this time to draw
finds this suspicious but knows he has already committed to the attention of Ishmael and Queequeg to the strange men
the voyage. who seem to board the ship and then vanish into thin air.

It is early morning when Ishmael and Queequeg arrive at the As the ship begins its voyage, Ishmael's meditation on life at
Pequod the day they are to depart in Chapter 21. As they hurry sea, prompted by the character Bulkington, may seem out of
toward the ship, Elijah again confronts them with questions. He place in a section of the text that contains so much action. But
asks them if they've seen some men going toward the ship. it is important to remember that Ahab's monomaniacal
When Ishmael replies yes, Elijah says, "See if you can find 'em obsession hinges on trying to master something God has
now." Then he leaves. When Ishmael and Queequeg board the deemed too powerful for humans to vanquish, or even
Pequod, Ishmael wonders where the men he saw have gone. comprehend. While the White Whale symbolizes this in a more
As the final preparations for the voyage are made, Ahab personal way, the sea—"indefinite as God"—does as well.
remains "invisibly enshrined" in his cabin.

As Chapter 22 begins, it is about noon and the Pequod is ready Chapters 24–25
to get underway. Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg, along with
Mr. Starbuck, the first mate, are overseeing things because
Captain Ahab is still holed up in his cabin. Ishmael continues to
find Ahab's absence disconcerting. Once the Pequod is well
Summary
underway, the two old captains depart onto another boat that
The Pequod is well underway, and Ishmael takes a few
will take them back to shore.
moments to explain the virtues of the whaling industry. He
In Chapter 23, Ishmael notices that the pilot of the ship is a notes that people think those in the whaling industry are
man named Bulkington, who has just returned from a four-year disreputable because they work in dirty conditions and are
voyage. Ishmael devotes this short chapter to Bulkington who uncouth; but as soldiers, whose job is at least as bloody and
lives his life on the seas, saying "in landlessness alone resides dirty as whaling, they come home to a hero's welcome. He also
highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God." explains that whaling is a very profitable business, and that
whale ships have aided in exploration of Earth to its most

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 14

remote parts. In increasing enthusiasm for whales and whaling, doesn't have much respect for the grandeur of the creatures.
he argues vehemently against several other beliefs about why
whales and whaling are unimportant or undignified. Chapter 25 Each of the mates—Starbuck, Stubb, and Flask—has a

provides an additional thought about this topic. In his role of harpooner who accompanies him on the whaleboat when they

advocate for whaling and whalemen, Ishmael points out that it are deployed in the hunt. They are Queequeg, Tashtego, and

is oil from whales that is used in the coronations of Britain's Daggoo, respectively.

kings.

Analysis
Analysis
Ishmael describes Starbuck at length, focusing on his great

This section introduces Ishmael as the advocate of whales and courage and steadfastness. This helps prepare readers for

whaling, a side of Ishmael that will emerge again and again events later in the novel when Starbuck's morality and courage

throughout the novel. He believes that whales and whalemen must face off against the absolute madness of Captain Ahab.

are misunderstood and disrespected, so he argues for a more


On a whaling ship, small boats are lowered and deployed when
respectful attitude toward them. This sometimes takes the
a whale is sighted. Each of these boats has a mate to
form of protesting against some misconception he thinks
command it, a harpooner who must be ready to kill the whale,
people have. At other times, it takes the form of elaborate
and a crew of other oarsmen to help row. The harpooner has a
descriptions of whales or whaling processes, meant to show
challenging job on the boat, as he must be both oarsman and
that the whales are noble and awe inspiring, and the whalemen
harpooner. The Pequod has three such teams.
are hardworking, courageous, and clean.
The hierarchy of the mates (the "knights") and their harpooners
(the "squires") introduces the idea that the Pequod is a
Chapters 26–27 microcosm of humanity. The knights Starbuck, Stubb, and
Flask are all Christians and white men. Their squires
Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo are all members of various
Summary non-European or American peoples—Tashtego is a Native
American, Daggoo is a black man, and Queequeg is the
Ishmael describes Starbuck, a Quaker and first mate of the "savage" cannibal.
Pequod, as a hardy, tight-skinned man whose life at sea has
made him a little superstitious. Stubb, the second mate, calls
Starbuck "careful," but Ishmael points out that this word may Chapters 28–30
have a different meaning among whale hunters than it does for
other people. Starbuck is brave yet practical, and Ishmael
implies that even in the events to come in his story, Starbuck Summary
will maintain his courage.
Captain Ahab is still nowhere to be seen, and Ishmael is more
Then beginning in Chapter 27, Ishmael describes Stubb, a
and more unnerved by his absence, recalling the odd things
native of Cape Cod, as a pleasant, imperturbable man. He
Elijah said about the man. One day, however, he sees Ahab
often hums while working, even when in the midst of a whale
standing grimly on the quarter-deck. He has a long, white scar
hunt. Stubb is never seen without a short, black pipe in his
that runs from his hairline straight down into his clothing, and a
mouth. He has several so he never has to be without one—one
false leg made from the jawbone of a whale. Ahab stares
is always filled and ready to go. Ishmael wonders if the smoke
forward, out to sea, for a while, then disappears back into his
acts as a disinfecting agent, because Stubb seems to always
cabin without a word.
be feeling fine. Next Ishmael describes Flask, the third mate,
who is from Martha's Vineyard. Flask takes his hunting Ahab walks about at night in Chapter 29 as if he can't sleep.
personally, as if he has a grudge against whales in general and His peg leg makes quite a noise, and Stubb suggests muffling

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 15

the sound so as not to disturb the crew. At this Ahab insults


Stubb, calling him a dog. Stubb becomes angry and talks back Chapter 31
to Ahab, but Ahab is so threatening in his look that Stubb
retreats. Stubb muses that Ahab seems to have something on
his mind and that he is "full of riddles." He also reveals that Summary
Ahab often goes alone into the hold of the ship, which he finds
odd. Stubb tells Flask about a dream he had: Captain Ahab kicked
him with his whalebone leg, and Stubb kicked back, but in
In Chapter 30 after Stubb leaves and goes back to his doing so, his own leg came off. In the dream, he realized that
hammock, Ahab sends a sailor to fetch his ivory stool and pipe. getting kicked with a whalebone leg is more like getting hit with
He sits and smokes, and Ishmael thinks he looks like a king on a cane, which is not as humiliating as getting kicked with a
his throne. Ahab, however, seems unsatisfied with smoking, living leg. As Stubb is relating his dream, Ahab shouts out,
noting that it should soothe him but it isn't working, so he "There are whales hereabouts! ... If ye see a white one, split
tosses the lit pipe overboard and paces instead. your lungs for him!" Stubb and Flask are not sure what to make
of this.

Analysis
Analysis
Ishmael's anxiety about the enigmatic Captain Ahab is almost
overwhelming when suddenly and at long last, Ahab appears. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio describes the
However, rather than satisfying curiosity and becoming more fairy Queen Mab as the "fairies' midwife," saying she visits men
human than myth, Ahab seems to embody the myth. He has and women in their sleep and that her presence gives birth to
holes put into the Pequod's deck, and he places his whalebone dreams. Mercutio's point is that Romeo's foreboding dreams
leg in them, standing resolutely and staring fearlessly out to are likely nothing more than the pranks of Queen Mab, not to
sea for long intervals. He has a long scar with mysterious be taken too seriously. As the title of this chapter, this
origins: a lightning strike "in an elemental strife at sea." He is reference may suggest that Stubb's dream, even though it is
grim and brooding. His incessant pacing on the deck of the about Captain Ahab, may just be a silly dream, not a prophetic
ship keeps the crew up at night because of the rhythmic one. However, it should be noted that Romeo's foreboding
thumping of his peg leg. It is no wonder that Stubb asks, "Is he dream does seem related to the tragic end of the play. In that
mad?" Others must think so, too. case, what is passed off as a silly dream might actually foretell
a tragic end.
The pipe that Ahab gives up smoking here (he throws it
overboard) is significant because it shows him beginning to
shed, one by one, the small pleasures and ordinary tasks
associated with being human. He does not want to be
Chapters 32–34
comforted, even by the small, calming pleasure of his pipe. He
is giving up any human pleasure that might interfere with his
single-minded commitment to his mission. The throwing Summary
overboard of the pipe is a symbolic act that marks his
wholehearted devotion to his task (which, as of yet, he has not Ishmael takes a break from the story to talk about cetology,
told the men about). the study of whales, explaining difficulties in classifying the
creatures and in studying them up close. He rejects the idea
This section also teases the reader with a brief mention of that a whale is not a fish, and defines a whale as "a spouting
Ahab's habit of going alone into the hold of the ship, creating fish with a horizontal tail." Then he explains in great detail his
suspense about what might be in it. own system for classifying whales. Next, in Chapter 33 he
explains the authority structure on a whaling ship. Unlike other
ships, whaling ships have an officer known as the specksnyder,
who is the chief harpooner. As Captain Ahab is the ultimate

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 16

authority on ship, he expects complete obedience.


Summary
Going back to the plot of the novel in Chapter 34, noon means
it is dinnertime on the ship, and Ahab and his mates go to eat. Ishmael is about to take his first turn at the masthead, looking
Ishmael remarks that the officers seem bold while on deck, but constantly at the sea for signs of whales. He considers how
at dinner they are more humble toward the captain, who sits at their masthead is different from a "crow's nest" and how
the head of the table and serves them, one by one, in silence. "young philosophers" might not do a diligent job of sighting the
After Ahab and his mates eat, the harpooners take their places whales. He admits that it is difficult to maintain your focus on
at the table and also have their dinner. watching for whales when you are thinking about other things.

Analysis Analysis
At times in the novel, Ishmael's narrative follows some This chapter includes a little humor in that Ishmael
scientific or technical tangent rather than the action of the plot. acknowledges it is hard to pay attention to your job when
It is important to look for the threads that tie these chapters to you're constantly getting caught up in philosophical thoughts.
the main events of the story. Sometimes they provide an Because Ishmael's own story is a fabric of tangential thoughts,
introduction to or additional information about plot events, or philosophies, and musings interwoven with plot, he seems to
they develop ideas and themes that appear again and again in be talking about himself here.
the novel. For example, in this section Ishmael uses a
discussion of cetology to introduce the idea that those who
work with whales up close are well equipped to have opinions Chapter 36
on them scientifically, and are thus a class of men set apart
from others. This idea that whalemen are special leads into a
discussion of how the hierarchy on whaling ships is different Summary
from that on other ships. Both Chapters 32 and 33 focus on
the exceptional quality of whalemen and how they differ from One morning after breakfast, Captain Ahab paces, lost in
those who observe or experience whales from afar. thought. The rest of the day, he shuts himself in his cabin at
intervals, pacing whenever he is on deck. Near the end of the
The discussion of the hierarchical nature of authority on
day, he calls for the entire ship's company to be assembled. He
board—and in particular, the captain's unquestioned
takes a Spanish gold piece and tells the men that whoever
authority—leads into a fascinating illustration of this: the noon
raises the White Whale will have it. Then the gold is nailed to
meal at which the relationship between Ahab and his officers is
the mast. The harpooners recognize this "White Whale" as
clearly displayed. The cook ritualistically announces the meal,
"Moby Dick," and Ahab is glad to hear that they already know
and Ahab ritualistically informs his first mate, who informs the
of him. Starbuck asks if it wasn't Moby Dick who took off
second mate, who informs the third mate. At dinner, gloomy
Ahab's leg, and Ahab confirms this to be true. Starbuck doesn't
Ahab presides over a silent table of obedient and humble
like the idea of hunting for vengeance—he wants to hunt
mates. It is only after these higher-ranked officers have
whales, not a particular whale. Ahab has the men drink grog
finished eating that the lower-ranked officers, the harpooners,
(rum mixed with water) in a ritualistic way, and has them swear,
are allowed to sit and eat.
"Death to Moby Dick!"

Chapter 35 Analysis
This chapter is a turning point in the novel, as Captain Ahab's
true mission is finally revealed to the crew. Although he has
seemed moody and intense, the crew has not known the
source of his grim mood until this moment. Ahab describes the

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 17

hunt for Moby Dick as a vendetta against the whale, but he together. Sailors from many different nations are represented
also presents the mission as if he has been personally insulted in the crew, and they dance, talk, and argue. As the dancing
by God. He goes on to describe himself as a "prisoner" who winds down, the wind picks up, and soon they are coming into
must "reach outside the wall" of his limited perceptions. For a storm. As the storm gets worse, the crew have to begin tying
Ahab, Moby Dick is the "wall" that is blocking his understanding down the sails in order to weather it.
of God's grander plan. Ahab's description of himself as
"prisoner" of his limited understanding calls to mind Plato's
Allegory of the Cave, in which the prisoners inside the cave Analysis
must strive to break free of their chains in order to experience
the light of Truth. Chapters 37–40 give glimpses into the events following
Captain Ahab's big announcement. They depart from Ishmael's
Now that all is revealed, the men react in different ways. first-person narrative and are structured like sections of a play,
Starbuck is shocked and disturbed by the idea that the crew including stage directions. First readers get a peek into what
would prioritize the killing of one particular whale for Ahab, Starbuck, and Stubb are thinking, in their own words:
vengeance over the general mission to kill whales for profit. He Chapters 37–39 are each spoken in first person, first by Ahab,
also considers Ahab's personal vendetta against one then by Starbuck, then by Stubb. Chapter 40 focuses on the
whale—an animal, after all—to be mad. The harpooners and crew and their revels.
other crew members seem taken up in the passion of such a
hunt, and the idea of winning the gold coin is an extra incentive Ahab's words paint a picture of a man with an absurdly grand
that creates a frenzy of excitement among the men. sense of his own importance. He fancies that he is a king
wearing an iron crown, and that he has greater power, will, and
Ahab's ritual, in which he has the men drink grog out of the perception than ordinary men. Yet his importance and his
sockets of the harpoons while swearing to hunt and kill Moby mission—to "dismember my dismemberer"—are also
Dick, calls to mind the drinking of wine from a chalice during exhausting and consuming: "time was, when as the sunrise
the Christian sacrament of Eucharist (communion). It makes nobly spurred me, so the sunset soothed. No more. This lovely
the oath-taking seem more like taking religious vows than a light, it lights not me; all loveliness is anguish to me, since I can
simple act of obedience to the captain. ne'er enjoy." Despite Ahab's clear madness (not just your
average madness, as Starbuck may think, but "madness
maddened"), this look into the inner workings of his mania
Chapters 37–40 encourages readers to see his humanity.

When Starbuck speaks, he reveals how trapped he feels by the


situation—he's given his oath to obey a man who he now knows
Summary is a madman, and he has no choice but "to obey, rebelling; and
worse yet, to hate with touch of pity." He also expresses his
Captain Ahab in Chapter 37 says that "all loveliness is anguish
distaste for the crew's enthusiasm for Ahab's quest.
to me" and that he will do what he has decided to do even
though his men, especially Starbuck, may think him mad. He is The contrast between Ahab and Starbuck in these chapters
not mad, he says; rather, he is "madness maddened." He sets the stage for later confrontations and tension between
swears to "dismember my dismemberer." Starbuck in Chapter them.
38 is deeply disturbed by the reveling that is taking place in the
wake of Ahab's announcement and by the prospect of serving
under a madman like Ahab. Stubb's thoughts in Chapter 39 are
scattered. He does seem pleased about the fact that Starbuck
Chapters 41–42
had a run-in with Ahab. He thinks a little of home as well,
before Starbuck summons him.

Around midnight in Chapter 40, the crew are all "standing,


lounging, leaning, and lying in various attitudes," singing

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 18

Whale. Ishmael's tendency to use spiritual language seems


Summary very at home among the "superstitious" sailors. In keeping with
this spiritualizing of all things whale, Ishmael reveals that in the
Ishmael resumes telling the story. He says that he, as one of
early days of whaling, other types of whales were hunted, but
the crew, swore an oath to follow Captain Ahab on his
not sperm whales; many sailors believed that "although other
"quenchless feud." Then he gives some of the history of the
leviathans might be hopefully pursued, yet to chase and point
White Whale involving encounters with whaling ships, ending
lances at such an apparition as the Sperm Whale was not for
each time in some disaster for the ship and crew—minor
mortal man."
injuries, serious injuries, even fatalities. In fact, Moby Dick has
grown to have quite a reputation with sailors among whom the Ishmael's aversion to Moby Dick is not really rational, though
stories of the whale became ever more fantastical and filled he attempts to present it that way: he lists several positive
with superstition. Because of all these stories, many sailors associations of white—innocence, purity, joy, superiority. Yet
believe that killing the White Whale is impossible. then he says that white is also associated with frightening
things such as white sharks, death shrouds, corpses, ghosts,
Ishmael then describes the confrontation between Ahab and
troubled waters, and snowy, desolate landscapes. White is the
Moby Dick that resulted in the loss of Ahab's leg and the
absence of color as well as a mixture (scientifically) of all
development of Ahab's subsequent vindictiveness toward the
colors, so it makes people think of annihilation, he speculates.
White Whale as a "monomaniac incarnation of all those
malicious agencies which some deep men feel eating in them."
To Ahab, Moby Dick is his sworn enemy, though it's unclear
whether Ahab views the whale as representing God or Satan
Chapters 43–46
or both.

In Chapter 42, Ishmael explains his reaction to the tales of Summary


Moby Dick by saying, "It was the whiteness of the whale that
above all things appalled me." He notes that whiteness can be In the middle of the night Archy, one of the crew, hears a
both a positive and a negative symbol, giving examples. He strange noise like coughing or people turning over in their
then speculates about some other aspects of white that make sleep. He tells another man, Cabaco, that he suspects there
it frightening. might be someone in the after-hold not seen yet on deck.

The novel leaves Ishmael's first-person narrative again in


Analysis Chapter 44, as readers are given a glimpse into what Captain
Ahab does in his private cabin: he pulls out a roll of sea charts
This section rounds out the reader's understanding of the and some old log books and studies them intently, marking and
situation aboard the Pequod, as the final "main" erasing as he plans and revises his course. Ahab understands
character—Moby Dick—is introduced in depth. Ishmael may the food supplies of whales and their normal migratory
have taken more than 40 chapters to get to this point, but he patterns. He has heard others tell of sightings of the White
has finally arrived. He describes how, rumor by rumor and story Whale, and he uses all of this information as he plans an
by story, the whale's reputation grew. The ever-more-elaborate intersecting course with the likely path of Moby Dick. Ahab is
stories stem partly, he notes, from the superstitious nature of so obsessed with finding the whale that he sleeps with
sailors. But they are also due to real encounters with Moby clenched fists and often has exhausting, vivid dreams.
Dick and other sperm whales. Sometimes, it seems to him that hell has opened up below him,
and he suddenly springs from his hammock and runs out of his
It is also important to notice that Ishmael includes himself in his cabin.
description of the oath-taking and shouting. And even though
as an observer and narrator he is somewhat distanced from Ishmael informs readers in Chapter 45 that he is going to tell
the rest of the crew, he is still telling a story rich with omens, them some things that will help make the events of this story
prophecies, and symbolism, so he is not immune to the seem less preposterous. First, based on his own observations,
mythical nature of Captain Ahab's quest to kill the White at least on three occasions whales have been hit by harpoons,

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 19

then escaped, only to be hit again at a later time by the same nightmares, the text says that "crazy Ahab, the ... steadfast
hand and killed. Second, he says that sometimes individual hunter of the white whale" was not the one who jumped up out
whales become something like celebrities—being recognized of the hammock, but it was the "eternal, living principle or soul
by sailors and even given names. Sometimes these famous in him" that did this. Yet because Ahab has given "all his
whales are hunted specifically and killed. In addition, most thoughts and fancies to his one supreme purpose," it is this
people who live on land have very little idea of the dangers purpose that becomes "a kind of self-assumed, independent
whalemen encounter at sea, and they have a hard time being of its own." In effect, Ahab's soul has become his
envisioning just how large whales are. He insists that sperm purpose, or his purpose has become his soul. The omniscient
whales can, and have, sunk large ships, giving several narrator caps this fantastical description by concluding
examples to support this claim. ominously—"thy thoughts have created a creature in thee."

In Chapter 46, Ishmael describes the challenges Ahab faces in In Ishmael's "affidavit"—his sworn testimony—he cites various
keeping the men devoted to his mission. Starbuck is the most facts to provide evidence that his story, no matter how
likely to be trouble for Ahab, because the first mate has such a outrageous sounding, is real, or at least realistic. One of these
moral sensitivity. Ahab may have been a little impulsive in facts is the tragic story of the Essex, a real whaling ship
letting the crew know his "prime but private purpose" for the captained by George Pollard Jr. that was sunk by a whale in
voyage so soon. For these reasons and to keep up 1820. While a few crew members survived the incident, adrift
appearances, Ahab still encourages his men to hunt sperm on the small whaleboats, they engaged in cannibalism as a
whales, not just Moby Dick. means of survival. This incident was recorded in Narrative of
the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the
Whale-Ship Essex, written by Owen Chase, first mate of the
Analysis Essex. Scholars believe that this incident provided inspiration
for Melville's novel.
The story returns briefly to one of the remaining mysteries:
Who or what is in the "after-hold" of the ship? During the
"middle-watch"—the hours from midnight to 4 a.m.—the sailors Chapters 47–49
on duty are filling the "scuttle-butt" with freshwater. A "butt" is
a large container that holds liquid—in this case, drinking water.
As they pass pails of water "in the deepest silence" from the
freshwater butts to the scuttle-butt, Archy, a crewman who is
Summary
standing near the after hatches, hears the sounds of someone
It is a lazy afternoon, and Queequeg and Ishmael are making a
sleeping. No one else hears this, however. For the moment, the
sword-mat at a leisurely pace. Ishmael begins to imagine they
mystery remains.
are weaving on the "Loom of Time." A strange sound startles

The opening line of Chapter 44 signals that it is not written him from this daydream, which turns out to be Tashtego's cry,

from Ishmael's perspective: "Had you followed Captain Ahab saying, "There she blows!" Suddenly everyone springs into

down into his cabin after the squall that took place on the night action because whales have been sighted. As they rush about

succeeding that wild ratification of his purpose with his crew, getting the boats ready, they suddenly see that Captain Ahab

you would have seen him go to a locker." Of course, Ishmael is surrounded by five mysterious figures.

did not follow after Ahab to report his actions. Ahab is "in
In Chapter 47, these mysterious "phantoms" begin to ready
solitude" in his cabin. So this chapter is among those that
one of the spare boats for use. Ahab calls one Fedallah, who
depart from the first-person narrative. Instead, it is written in
seems to be the leader. Fedallah and his men get into the
third-person omniscient.
fourth boat as the other three boats are also deployed, with

The end of Chapter 44 contains an interesting twist on the Ishmael as an oarsman on Starbuck's boat. Stubb and

idea that a person's body and soul are intertwined yet Starbuck (and Archy) realize that the newcomers must be

separate, an idea that Ishmael first introduced in Chapter 7. stowaways Ahab brought along in secret. Clearly they are

When Ahab bursts from his room as a result of terrifying there to help Ahab on his quest. The four boats maneuver to

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 20

try to get near the whales, and in the midst of this vigorous
chase, Starbuck's boat is capsized. Hours later, the men are Chapters 50–51
rescued.

By Chapter 49 it has been a long, cold night for Ishmael as he Summary


awaits rescue with the other men on Starbuck's boat. He asks
Queequeg if this sort of thing often happens during whaling, Stubb and Flask disagree about whether a man with one leg
and finds out it is not uncommon. He asks Stubb if Starbuck is should be on a whaling boat. Ishmael considers whether the
really as cautious as people say, and Stubb confirms this. Pequod's owners would approve and decides they would
Because Ishmael was on Starbuck's boat and still was in grave probably not; this is why Captain Ahab brought his men on
danger, Ishmael decides to make a will. secretly. He also notes the crew were surprised at this turn of
events but quickly grew used to it, as Fedallah's men
integrated easily into the crew.
Analysis
Weeks pass in Chapter 51, and one night Fedallah sees a
Weaving reminds Ishmael of the Fates of Greek mythology "silvery jet" that indicates the presence of a whale. The crew
who spin, measure, and cut the thread of each person's life. He gets ready to deploy the whale boats and waits tensely for
identifies the warp of the loom—the long threads through confirmation. But although every sailor says they saw it one
which the weaver passes another thread to create an time, no one can confirm a second sighting. They begin to
interwoven fabric—as necessity. These threads are believe it is Moby Dick, "alluring" them on in order to finally turn
"unalterable"—the part of destiny a person cannot change. So, on them in some remote place. Throughout the days of this
says Ishmael, his own actions and choices are like moving the chase, Ahab silently and stoically watches.
shuttle that pulls the thread through the warp: "I ply my own
shuttle and weave my own destiny into these unalterable
threads." So, part of destiny is the unalterable necessity, and Analysis
part is a person's own actions.
Continuing to develop the theme of authority and obedience,
There's a third aspect of destiny, however, as Ishmael explains. Ishmael discusses the fact that Captain Bildad and Captain
This is symbolized in his extended metaphor by Queequeg's Peleg, the Pequod's owners, would probably not have
seemingly random strokes with his sword as he pushes the approved of Captain Ahab's going out on a whaleboat, and
threads together. Ishmael summarizes his metaphor, saying, they most certainly would not have approved of his
"The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its modifications to the fourth whaleboat or his hidden crew.
ultimate course ... free will still free to ply her shuttle between Therefore, Ahab has made all these arrangements secretly to
given threads; and chance" that "has the last featuring blow at avoid trouble with his employers.
events."
If Bildad and Peleg do not have authority over Ahab, then who
As if to provide an example of destiny—and the way necessity does? Ishmael implies that the devilish Fedallah, who is
and chance may force a course of events—the weaving and accompanied by his "subordinate phantoms," may have
philosophizing is interrupted by the sighting of a whale. And to influence, or even authority over Ahab: "he soon evinced
provide an illustration of how one man's free will can also himself to be linked with Ahab's peculiar fortunes; nay, so far
influence events, Captain Ahab's hand-picked crew, until now as to have some sort of a half-hinted influence; Heaven knows,
hidden in the after-hold, suddenly appears. The reactions to but it might have been even authority over him."
this appearance are diverse: Archy gets to say, "I told you so"
to his crewmate Cabaco, who hadn't believed Archy's Indeed, for the next stretch of ocean, Fedallah does seem to
insistence that there were men in the after-hold. Stubb says take a guiding role. His sighting of the Spirit-Spout results in
"the more the merrier," while Starbuck is convinced the whole the ship following it for several days into the troubled seas and
thing is "a sad business." windy conditions near the Cape of Good Hope.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 21

Chapters 52–54 Chapters 55–57

Summary Summary
The Pequod is southeast of the Cape of Good Hope, entering In Chapters 55 and 56, Ishmael notes that most
the Indian Ocean, when it encounters the whaling ship Goney representations of whales with which land-dwelling folks are
on its way home. This ship is greeted by "Have you seen the familiar bear little resemblance to real whales when seen up
White Whale?" Because he receives no answer, Captain Ahab close. He gives a catalog of various ways whales are presented
fails in Chapter 53 to extend any of the courtesies one captain as monsters, and he attributes this to the fact that most people
often will grant another. This is unusual, and Ishmael explains only see beached whales, not the noble creatures they are
that the normal course of events when one whaling ship meets when at sea. Then he gives some sources for greater
another is to have a "gam," where the ships' captains, crews, depictions of whales. Finally, in Chapter 57 he discusses the
and mates mingle and share news together. sketches and engravings made in various materials, often by
sailors who had seen whales firsthand, noting that these are
Chapter 54 is told by Ishmael to friends at the Golden Inn in often much more accurate than other depictions.
Lima, Peru, after the novel's events take place, but it concerns
the events directly after the previous chapter. After meeting
the Goney, the Pequod encounters the Town-Ho, another Analysis
whaling ship. The Pequod and the Town-Ho have a gam, and
Ishmael learns about a conflict between Steelkilt, a respected In these chapters, Ishmael touches on ideas that come up
crew member of the Town-Ho, and Radney, a mate. Steelkilt repeatedly in the novel: the nobility of the whale as a creature,
had planned to murder Radney because of the conflict, but and the fact that whales and whalemen are generally
Moby Dick arrived and pulled Radney under the water, misunderstood. He promises to eventually "paint to you as well
preventing the murder. as one can without canvas, something like the true form of the
whale as he actually appears to the eye of the whaleman." But
first he will explain all of the ways most people get it all wrong
Analysis when it comes to whales. Because they only see beached
whales, they never see one in its natural environment, where, of
"Goney" is another name for an albatross, a bird that is course, it is much more majestic. This sight is reserved for
supposed to signal good fortune for sailors. It is not good whalemen, who operate in close quarters with whales. It stands
fortune in Captain Ahab's opinion unless he can get news of to reason, then, that people should trust whalemen's depictions
the White Whale, so he quickly continues on his way, coming of whales. And this is why readers should trust Ishmael on the
soon to another whaling ship, the Town-Ho. topic rather than believing other sources.

Part of the Town-Ho's story is told to Ahab, but another part is


kept secret—told to Tashtego in confidence and later divulged
by Tashtego while talking in his sleep. The secret part had to Chapters 58–59
do with the "visitation of one of those so called judgments of
God which at times are said to overtake some men." To save
Steelkilt from committing murder, "Heaven itself seemed to Summary
step in to take out of his hands into its own the damning thing
he would have done." So Moby Dick, as the agent of God, The Pequod is still on a northeasterly course and passes
avenges the wrongs done by Radney, saving Steelkilt from a through patches of brit, a food source for the "Right Whale,"
damning deed in the process. Ahab never hears this part of the which is not the type of whale they are seeking. Ishmael takes
story. this opportunity in Chapter 58 to poetically describe how
people should respect and fear the sea because it is full of

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 22

violence and wildness. lowered, the whale disappears, and the men in their boats wait
silently for him to reappear. When the whale reappears,
In Chapter 59, Daggoo thinks he sees Moby Dick, so he shouts. Stubb's boat goes after him, and Tashtego hurls his harpoon,
Captain Ahab gives the orders to lower the whale boats. But finally killing the animal. Ishmael then expresses his opinion in
the white creature Daggoo had seen turns out to be a squid, Chapter 62 that harpooners should not have to do anything
and Ahab and all of the boats return to the ship. Ishmael other than throw the harpoon—not shout and row with the rest.
reveals that sailors believe the squid is a food source for sperm He further explains in Chapter 63 that the crotch mentioned in
whales. the previous chapter is a notched stick used to hold the
harpoons (of which there are two—called the first and second
irons) ready for the harpooner. The two are connected with a
Analysis line and must be thrown in quick succession.

The contrasting images in Chapter 58 provide a look at the


beauty and danger of the sea. On the surface floats a
Analysis
"meadow" of brit, which the right whale (not the sperm whale)
eats. As it eats, it strains all of the brit out of the water, leaving The casual reader may consider Chapter 60 a rather dry
behind a streak of bright blue cutting through the vast yellow discussion of one of the dangers of whaling—the real
field described as "endless swaths of blue upon the yellow possibility that one would, in a small boat with several others
sea." Under the surface, however, lie "numberless unknown amid a flurry of activity, be caught in the line (rope) that is
worlds" that will "insult and murder" humans. It is dangerous: attached to the harpoon as it is thrown. But Ishmael tends to
"Like a savage tigress that tossing in the jungle overlays her see symbolic meaning in the most mundane objects, so he
own cubs, so the sea dashes even the mightiest whales extends his description to the whale line's symbolic meaning:
against the rocks." "All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters
round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift,
The giant squid again reveals Starbuck's misgivings and
sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle,
Captain Ahab's single-mindedness: Starbuck treats the
everpresent perils of life." The whale line, then, is like a noose
appearance of the giant squid as an omen, calling it a "white
that can be pulled tight at any moment; Ishmael reminds
ghost" and saying "few whaling ships ever beheld, and returned
readers that all people are in danger of dying at any
to their ports to tell of it." Yet Ahab, disappointed that it was
moment—not just whalemen.
not Moby Dick, returns to the ship without a word.

Ishmael's narrative style, and the way he weaves the more


technical chapters into the plot-heavy chapters, is very clever
Chapters 60–63 in this section. Chapter 60 calls the whale line "magical." The
next chapter refers back to Chapter 60 when the harpoon is
thrown, using this same adjective: "the same moment
Summary something went hot and hissing along every one of their wrists.
It was the magical line." And the line does seem to have a
Ishmael describes the whale line, which he calls "magical, magical quality here, as it emits a smoke created by friction
sometimes horrible." This line is thin but very strong, and it that mingles with the smoke from Stubb's pipe. Chapter 62
must be coiled smoothly or else it can be very dangerous. refers back, less subtly, to Chapter 61: "A word concerning an
Because the lines are attached to the harpoons when thrown, incident in the last chapter." And Chapter 63 refers back to a
men on the boats must take great care not to be caught in the word written in Chapter 62 that Ishmael feels he did not
line as it unwinds or be pulled overboard and killed. explain fully: crotch. These small connections help the story
flow and reveal how carefully Melville composed his novel.
In Chapter 61, the Pequod is sailing along a quiet stretch of
ocean, and Ishmael and the other crewmen are sleepily going
about their duties. Suddenly a sperm whale is seen, and
everyone once again springs into action. The boats are

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 23

Chapters 64–66 Chapters 67–72

Summary Summary
Three boats tow the dead whale back to the ship. Ishmael Ishmael notes that the cutting in—or removal of the blubber
notes that Captain Ahab seems a little restless, as if not quite from the whale—took place on the Sabbath, then describes the
satisfied, because the whale is not Moby Dick. Stubb, however, procedure in great detail. He explains in Chapter 68 that the
is full of the thrill of victory. He and some of the other sailors skin of a whale and its blubber are really part of the same thing,
eat the whale's flesh for dinner, as do some sharks. Stubb and that it is removed in long pieces called blanket pieces.
complains that his whale steak is overdone, and that the Then he notes that this blubber/skin layer does act like a
sharks outside are being too loud. Fleece, the cook, tells the blanket to keep the whale warm in cold water. Then he
sharks to be quiet. Then Stubb and Fleece have a religious describes in Chapter 69 the way that the crew, once they have
discussion. In the next chapter, Ishmael explains the history of stripped the whale of its profitable parts, lets the carcass go.
how and why whale flesh came to be consumed as food. Then
in Chapter 66, Queequeg and another seaman kill many of the In Chapter 70, Ishmael notes that before the carcass was let

sharks by striking them with whaling-spades, smaller spade- go the head was removed, which is a difficult task. Stubb is

shaped tools for cutting whale flesh. such an expert that he does it in 10 minutes. Captain Ahab
speaks reverently to the severed head but is interrupted by
shouting—another ship has just been sighted.
Analysis The ship is the Jeroboam, captained by Captain Mayhew, who
says there is a sickness aboard his ship in Chapter 71. A
Stubb's treatment of old Fleece does not reflect well on his
strange man aboard Jeroboam named Gabriel, who thinks
character, as he wakes the man from sleep to fix him a whale
himself a prophet, has claimed the sickness is his doing. When
steak, then sends him to quiet the sharks—an impossible task
Ahab asks about the White Whale, it turns out the Jeroboam
for the old man, of course—then makes fun of him, teasing him
had a run-in with Moby Dick. The mate on the Jeroboam,
about preaching a sermon to the sharks.
Macey, had harpooned the whale but not killed it, despite
However, Fleece's sermon is actually fairly good. He tells the Gabriel's warnings not to attack. Then Macey had been swept
sharks that their hunger is natural, but they should govern it: "if overboard and killed. Many of the sailors find this portentous.
you gobern de shark in you, why den you be angel." He also
In Chapter 72, Ishmael describes how, while the whale carcass
tells them not to take the blubber out of each other's mouths,
is being stripped of blubber, he and Queequeg are connected
but that the sharks with big mouths should actually tear off
by a "monkey-rope" tied to each of their belts. This gives a little
larger chunks and share them with the smaller sharks who
security to Queequeg, who is on the whale cutting while
can't compete as well: "de brigness ob de mout is not to
Ishmael is on deck. The technique makes Ishmael feel that they
swallar wid, but to bit off de blubber for de small fry ob sharks,
are like twin brothers with intertwined fates. Ishmael explains
dat can't get into de scrouge to help demselves." This sermon,
how Queequeg was given a drink of grog as a reward for being
on the importance of mastering the "shark" nature and sharing
the harpooner of the whale.
with others weaker than oneself, provides a comical yet
serious contrast to Father Mapple's famous sermon. In the end,
Fleece, who was born in the slave state of Virginia, concludes it
is foolish to expect charity of either people or sharks. This is
Analysis
yet another example of the novel's concern with religious
Captain Ahab's words to the severed head—which looks like
hypocrisy.
the Sphinx of Giza—are an entreaty: "speak, mighty head, and
tell us the secret thing that is in thee. Of all divers, thou hast
dived the deepest." However, he realizes that the secrets

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 24

known by the head will never be known: "O head! thou hast In Chapter 79, Ishmael attempts to analyze the sperm whale's
seen enough to split the planets ... and not one syllable is head in terms of physiognomy and phrenology, but he admits
thine!" This private moment is another glimpse into Ahab's that he is not really qualified to do so. In the next chapter, he
inner thoughts—mad and melancholy, yet beautiful. discusses what the whale's skull, brain, and spine say about
the creature. He concludes it has a very grand spine, which, of
If the whale's head is unable to speak, the same cannot be said course, surrounds the brain stem, and that its hump makes it
for Gabriel, another prophetic character with a biblical name. "indomitable."
Gabriel can't seem to stop talking, despite Captain Mayhew's
repeated attempts to get him to stop. This strange character
yells to Ahab: "Beware of the horrible tail!" when asked about Analysis
the White Whale. He believes Moby Dick to be God incarnate.
These chapters focus on the topic of whale heads. As he
The description of the monkey-rope is a revisiting of the idea
describes the sperm whale's head from a variety of different
that ropes and threads are related to fate and destiny. Ishmael
perspectives, Ishmael's tone—his attitude toward the
considers this rope "strongly and metaphysically." As he does
subject—is one of admiration. He says the sperm whale's head
this, he feels that his "individuality" merged with Queequeg's,
has "mathematical symmetry" as well as "character" and
and that his free will had been taken away by the fact that
"pervading dignity." Even the inside of the sperm whale's head
"another's mistake or misfortune might plunge" him into
is coated with a "silken pearl-colored membrane" in which is
"unmerited disaster and death."
stored the spermaceti oil—a "precious substance" prized by all.
In fact, when Tashtego almost dies inside the sperm whale's
head, Ishmael suggests that had he indeed died, it would have
Chapters 73–80 been "a very precious perishing; smothered in the very whitest
and daintiest of fragrant spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and
tombed in the secret inner chamber" of the whale. When
Summary expanding his description to the mind housed within the sperm
whale's head and spinal column, his admiration for the
As Chapter 73 begins, a sperm whale's head hangs at the side creature's intelligence is expressed by remarks such as that
of the ship. Unexpectedly, an order is given to kill a right the whale's "great genius is declared in his doing nothing
whale—not the type of whale they are supposed be hunting. It particular to prove it."
turns out this was Fedallah's suggestion. He has told Captain
Ahab that hanging a right whale across from the sperm whale Between Ishmael's comments on whale heads, a few other
would magically cause the ship to be unable to capsize. Stubb important developments are described. Captain Ahab
and Flask think Fedallah might be the devil and Ahab has sold continues to follow Fedallah's advice rather than the stated
his soul to him. Ishmael then describes the sperm whale's head mission of the Pequod's owners: to hunt whales for profit.
in Chapter 74, followed by the right whale's head in the Ahab's behavior is so far from what he "should" be doing,
following chapter. In Chapter 76, he explains how the head according to Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg, that Stubb and
shape and position of the sperm whale as it is swimming can Flask feel that the idea of Ahab making a deal with the devil
cause the whale to act like a battering ram, and in the next (who they think is likely Fedallah) is pretty reasonable. The end
chapter he describes the interior of the sperm whale's head, of Chapter 73 presents a chilling image of Ahab's and
which contains spermaceti oil—a valuable and unique Fedallah's shadows mingling together, suggesting that Ahab is
substance. somehow possessed by Fedallah.

Getting back to the plot in Chapter 77, Tashtego balances on


top of the sperm whale's head, cuts into it, and bails out Chapters 81–83
buckets of the spermaceti oil. This is a dangerous task, and
after some time of bailing Tashtego falls into the head, which
then breaks loose from the ship and begins to sink. Queequeg
dives in to save Tashtego.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 25

Summary Chapter 84
The Pequod meets up with the Jungfrau, a German whaling
ship captained by Derick De Deer. Captain De Deer comes
aboard the Pequod to ask for some oil because his ship has
Summary
run out, not having caught a whale. He tells Captain Ahab he
Ishmael explains that the bottom of the whale boat is usually
has not seen the White Whale. As he goes back to his own
oiled so it moves faster in the water. Queequeg oils his boat,
ship, they suddenly come upon a pod of whales, and both ships
and soon they see some whales. Tashtego manages to
lower their boats. The three harpooners from the Pequod
harpoon one, which continues swimming away quickly. It
succeed in harpooning and killing one whale, which turns out to
becomes necessary to strike at the whale in a maneuver called
be extremely old. When they cut into the whale they find an old,
pitchpoling—throwing a long lance at him from a rocking and
corroded harpoon embedded in his flesh. Suddenly the whale
jerking boat as he is moving fast. Stubb manages to pitchpole
begins to sink and pull the Pequod over with it, so the crew
the whale and finally kills it.
must cut it loose. The Jungfrau begins to chase a fin-back
whale, which looks like a sperm whale but is "uncapturable."

Ishmael then explains in Chapter 82 that many heroes of old


Analysis
have been whalemen, including Perseus, St. George, Hercules,
This chapter describes the second time that Queequeg seems
and "Vishnoo" (Vishnu). In the next chapter, he evaluates the
to have foreknowledge of an imminent whale sighting. In
biblical story of Jonah. He discusses some discrepancies and
Chapter 61, Queequeg announced: "When you see him 'quid ...
difficulties presented in the biblical text when viewed from the
then you quick see him 'parm whale." So, indeed, sperm whales
perspective of a whaleman.
are sighted. Here again, Queequeg anticipates the sighting of
whales. He is busy oiling his boat and seems "to be working in

Analysis obedience to some particular presentiment."

Ishmael says near the beginning of Chapter 81, "At one time
the greatest whaling people in the world, the Dutch and Chapters 85–90
Germans are now among the least." The encounter with the
Jungfrau seems to support this assessment: they have not
been able to kill any whales, so they are out of whale oil (which Summary
they need for lamps and other uses). They fail to capture the
sperm whale in the contest with the Pequod's crew, and they Ishmael explains that a whale needs to spout water because it
foolishly chase after a fin-back whale, mistaking it for a sperm has lungs and can't breathe through its mouth when it is
whale. underwater. He is somewhat mystified by what exactly the
spout is—water or water vapor—but speculates as to its nature.
Ishmael continues on the topic suggested by the meeting with He concludes that it is made of mist.
the Jungfrau: the history of whaling. He reasons that whaling
has a honorable history going back to antiquity, and provides In Chapter 86, he "celebrates" the whale's tail, describing its
as examples several heroes of old who were, he believes, size, texture, and musculature. He calls it strong, beautiful, and
whalemen. It is an understatement to say that his logic is a bit charming, so much so that he has an "inability to express it."
of a stretch; he says that St. George's dragon was, in fact, a
whale, citing Ezekiel's phrase "dragon of the sea" as evidence. Ishmael takes a moment to describe the Pequod's position and
Before he leaves the topic of whaling history, Ishmael cycles some of the geography of the area in Chapter 87. The ship is
back to the story of Jonah—another reminder of Father moving out of the Indian Ocean. Pirates chase the ship but are
Mapple's sermon. easily outrun. Sperm whales are sighted and hunted, and one is
killed. He explains in Chapter 88 that whales travel in schools,
most often made up of one male and many females and young.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 26

As the males get old, they leave the school to live alone. "entire boats with all their oars and crews into the air" like a
juggler. This comment foreshadows the events of Chapter 134
In Chapter 89, he backtracks to something he mentioned in in which Moby Dick attacks the boats of Stubb and Flask with
Chapter 87 about waifs and waif-poles. Fast-fish are whales his tail and shatters them.
that are connected to the boat or ship, and they belong to
whoever has them fastened this way. They are also considered A few other images in this section bear consideration. In
"fast" if they have a "waif"—a little flag stuck in the whale's flesh Chapter 87, references to the color white demonstrate
showing ownership. Loose-fish are whales that can be claimed Ishmael's continued dislike of this color. The pirate ships
by anyone. He uses a story about a court case to show that chasing them look like "detached white vapors, rising and
these rules are sometimes hard to interpret. In Chapter 90, he falling something like the spouts of the whales." (Notice spout
notes that in Britain, any whale captured along the coast imagery again!) And as the whaleboat is dragged along by the
belongs to Britain—its head presented to the king and the tail harpooned whale, it "tore a white gash in the sea." White
to the queen. signifies danger.

Analysis Chapters 91–92


Just as Ishmael praised the sperm whale for its magnificent
head, he now gives some attention to the other parts of the
whale, again weaving the plot and descriptive and technical
Summary
chapters together using a combination of imagery and outright
In Chapter 91, the Pequod comes upon a French whaling ship,
references. He begins by describing two of the whale's
the Bouton de Rose, which is cutting up a dead, rotting whale.
parts—the spout and the tail—that will be important to
This ship also carries a sperm whale that very likely has
understanding the next events in the plot. So, after spending
ambergris inside—an expensive substance produced by
Chapter 85 giving an explanation for the whale's spout and
whales and used by perfumers. Stubb tricks the other whaling
speculating about its exact substance, he uses it as the
ship out of this valuable whale, and, indeed, they find ambergris
foundation of a striking image in Chapter 87 when a large
inside. In Chapter 92, the various uses and properties of
group of whales is seen in the distance like a "host of vapory
ambergris are described, and the misconception that whales
spouts, individually curling up into the air, and beheld through a
smell bad is dismissed.
blending atmosphere of bluish haze ... like the thousand
cheerful chimneys of some dense metropolis, descried of a
balmy autumnal morning, by some horseman on a height." The
Analysis
spout, once described and discussed, is then used to show
readers exactly what it was like to spot a group of whales.
These two chapters explain what ambergris is and why it is
valuable, all the while making the French whalemen seem
A similar pattern can be seen with regard to the tail. First,
ignorant and gullible. The French ship is easily conned out of
Ishmael describes the powerful tail of the sperm whale in
its ambergris-containing whale, and furthermore Ishmael notes
Chapter 86. Then in Chapter 87, whale tails play a prominent
that by having a smelly, rotting whale, the French perpetuate a
role in the action: Queequeg steers Starbuck's whaleboat away
belief that Ishmael says is untrue: that whales and whalemen
from a whale whose "colossal flukes were suspended
stink. He admits that the process of rending the oil from the
overhead." (The flukes are the two lobes of a whale's tail.) And
whale flesh can be smelly, but it only takes a short time.
one whale that comes a little too close for comfort "seemed
calmly cooling himself with his own fan-like extremity." This
section of the text concludes with the interesting fact that
when a whale is killed near Britain, the tail is presented to the Chapter 93
queen.

Ishmael also notes that the whale has been known to hurl

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 27

Summary Summary
Pip, a young member of the crew, must fill in as oarsman on The whale is cut up and emptied of its spermaceti. Some of the
Stubb's boat. In the midst of a hunt, Pip jumps out of his boat spermaceti has crystallized, and Ishmael and some of the other
and gets caught up in the rope, which then has to be cut, sailors have to squeeze the chunks to turn it back into a liquid.
saving Pip but letting the whale go. Stubb angrily tells him He finds the task very pleasant, and describes the amazing
never to do that again, but being young and afraid he jumps smell and feel of the oil. Occasionally, he squeezes the hands
again. Stubb refuses to rescue Pip, leaving him in the water as of others working at the same task and feels quite affectionate
he chases after another whale. Pip is finally rescued, but he is toward them. He also describes some of the other tasks of
never quite right after that. Whereas others see Pip as an sperm whale processing, including those that take place in the
"idiot," Ishmael believes that he seems mad because he has terrifying and dangerous blubber-room.
seen "God's foot upon the treadle of the loom."
Ishmael then describes in Chapter 95 how the outer layer of
the sperm whale's penis is stretched and worn like a cassock
Analysis by the mincer, a crewman who cuts up pieces of blubber so it
can be rendered of oil in a process that occurs in the try-
Stubb is once again seen treating the darker-skinned crew works, described in Chapter 96. That night as he is steering
members badly. Just as he seems unnecessarily harsh to the Pequod, Ishmael thinks dreamily upon the image of the fire
Fleece in Chapter 64, he is cruel toward Pip here. Yet in both of the try-works, and the ship almost capsizes. He realizes he
cases, Ishmael seems to portray the disrespected person in a should have been paying closer attention. The oil is stored in
complimentary, even admiring, light: Fleece's preaching was casks in the hold of the ship (Chapter 98). Then the ship is
nearer Ishmael's sense of true religion than was Father cleaned, and because whale oil is so good for cleaning, the
Mapple's, and little Pip is a nicer person than Stubb: "Pip, ship is pristine. One of the men in the three mastheads may
though over tender-hearted, was at bottom very bright, with then sight another whale, and if it is killed, the cycle will begin
that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his tribe; a again.
tribe, which ever enjoy all holidays and festivities with finer,
He interrupts this description of whale oil processing and uses
freer relish than any other race ... But Pip loved life, and all life's
to note in Chapter 97 that because whale oil is used in lamps,
peaceable securities."
the crew has as much lamp light as they desire. At night, the
At the end of the chapter, Ishmael again engages the idea of ship looks like an "illuminated shrine."
destiny using weaving imagery, saying that it is God who is the
weaver. Pip's near-death experience as he is terrified and
floating alone in the water before he is rescued seems to Analysis
imbue Pip with a kind of knowledge of God that only Captain
Ahab later understands. Indeed, Ahab has had his own near- While these chapters focus on the topic of whale oil and

death experience when he lost his leg to Moby Dick, and this spermaceti, the Pequod as an interconnected community is

episode presages their personal connection later in the novel. explored throughout as part of the theme of unity and division.

Ishmael can't seem to pass up an opportunity to foreshadow In the flurry of activity that comes after a whale is

the end of the narrative, as he compares Pip's experience with obtained—the various cutting, processing, and storage

the final outcome of his story: "in the sequel of the narrative, it tasks—each man has his job to do. Some have special roles

will then be seen what like abandonment befell myself." like the mincer, and some work together on more mundane
tasks such as squeezing oil. In this way, the Pequod is again
shown to be a microcosm of the world. Ishmael feels quite

Chapters 94–98 sentimental about his fellow oil-squeezers as well: "Such an


abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this
avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their
hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 28

to say,—Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer


cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or Chapters 100–101
envy!"

The interconnectedness is also explored from the opposite Summary


angle: When one man (Ishmael) doesn't do his job properly, the
whole crew is put in danger. The Pequod encounters a whaling ship from London, the
Samuel Enderby, and, of course, Captain Ahab asks if they
have seen the White Whale. Captain Boomer says they did see
Chapter 99 Moby Dick, and he holds up his arm made of whalebone to
attest to this fact. Ahab excitedly decides to go to the other
ship to discuss this, but it is tricky because the Samuel Enderby
Summary doesn't have places for him to put his whalebone leg. He is
lifted on board, and the two captains "shake bones"—one arm
One morning as Captain Ahab paces the deck, his gaze falls on and one leg. Boomer tells Ahab that they saw the White Whale
the gold coin that he'd fixed to the main mast of the ship. He near the equator, and describes the fight in which the whale
pauses and speaks directly to it. The coin shows the summits severed his arm. Ahab is so excited, he goes back to the
of three mountains of the Andes with a symbol over each peak: Pequod in haste. Boomer wonders if Ahab is crazy. In Chapter
a flame, a tower, and a crowing cock. Ahab contemplates the 101, Ishmael explores the history of British whaling, a few of the
symbolic significance of this picture, concluding that the differences between English and Nantucket whaling, and the
symbols it shows all relate to himself in some way. However, food typically found on British whaling ships.
when Starbuck looks closely at the coin, he concludes that the
three peaks are symbolic of the Holy Trinity, while Stubb thinks
it symbolizes the signs of the zodiac. Flask thinks it looks like Analysis
money, Queequeg thinks it looks like his tattoos, and Pip
prophesies that Ahab will be "nailed" by the White Whale as the At the beginning of Chapter 100, it seems that Captain Ahab
doubloon is nailed to the mast. has finally found a friend. Captain Boomer and Ahab have
important things in common—they both fought Moby Dick and
lost a limb as a result. They both have whalebone limbs. Ahab
Analysis is very excited and asks to hear the tale of Boomer's
encounter with the White Whale. However, the new friendship
In this chapter, several characters interpret the picture on the begins to go sour almost at once, as it becomes clear that
coin in a different way, and these interpretations reflect each Boomer and his crew do not harbor real ill will toward the
one's character. Monomaniacal Captain Ahab sees only himself whale. Instead, they just want to tell their story and laugh about
in each part of the picture. Moral Starbuck sees the Trinity. it in retrospect. In contrast, Ahab is only interested in the parts
Stubb, who tends to spiritualize everything (recall his idea that of the story that help him on his mission. He interrupts the
Fleece should "preach" to the sharks), sees "the life of man in storytelling with "What became of the White Whale?" and "How
one round chapter." Flask, ever practical, sees the doubloon as long since thou sawist him last?" and "Which way heading?"
money. Ahab rudely departs and refuses to look back as they leave the
other ship behind.
Pip's prophecy is that Ahab will be nailed by the White Whale
("old Ahab! the White Whale; he'll nail ye!") and that the ship will
sink with the doubloon still nailed to the mast ("How did it get Chapters 102–105
there? And so they'll say in the resurrection, when they come
to fish up this old mast, and find a doubloon lodged in it").

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 29

not "entirely trustworthy." And even though he is a madman


Summary and a monomaniac, he does the most practical thing—he tells
the carpenter to make him a new leg out of some of the newly
Ishmael notes that he has mostly described the outside of the
procured sperm whale bones. In Chapter 107, Ishmael
whale, so now he's going to describe its "innermost bones"—its
introduces the carpenter, describing his important repair
skeleton. He says that on a previous trip they caught a whale
function aboard the ship as well as some of the noncarpentry
cub, and he was able to examine its skeleton close up. He also
tasks he performs, like pulling teeth. In Chapter 108, the
claims that he visited a place where the people were using a
carpenter is hard at work on the new leg—and sneezing
whale skeleton as a temple. There he had taken the
repeatedly from all the dust his work generates—when Ahab
opportunity to measure its bones, recording them in a tattoo. In
approaches. The carpenter begins to measure the leg against
Chapter 103, he details what those measurements were. In
Ahab's body so it will be the correct length, and Ahab
Chapter 104, he turns to describing fossil whales, and this
comments on the blacksmith who is fashioning the metal parts
makes him reflect on the passage of time, which he points out
that will attach the leg. Ahab then tells the carpenter that he
"began with man" because humans invented the idea of time. In
still has the sensation of the old flesh-and-blood leg before
Chapter 105, he considers whether whales are truly getting
asking, impatiently, when the leg will be done. The carpenter
smaller over time, as the fossil evidence seems to show, or if,
promises it will be done in an hour.
like humans, they will actually grow larger with time. He
wonders about their continued survival in the face of so much
hunting, but concludes they will survive.
Analysis
This section centers on Captain Ahab's peg leg that was
Analysis damaged in his haste to return to the Pequod. He doesn't want
to meet Moby Dick in this condition, so he needs a new one in
Throughout the narrative, Ishmael is concerned with his
a hurry. After introducing the situation and the carpenter who
credibility. He anticipates that his audience may not believe
will make the new leg, Ishmael's narrative voice gives way to
what he has to say about whales and whaling, so he goes to
another point of view—the third-person, drama-like format
lengths to explain how he learned certain facts or why his
seen in Chapter 40. In this chapter, Ahab calls the blacksmith,
opinion is better than another's. In Chapter 102, he approaches
who is busy making the hardware needed to attach Ahab's peg
the topic of the skeleton of the whale by actually putting words
leg, Prometheus. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a Titan
in the reader's mouth: "But how now, Ishmael? How is it, that
who created the race of humans out of clay. Ahab then goes
you, a mere oarsman in the fishery, pretend to know aught
on to say the blacksmith is connected to Hell: "Prometheus ...
about the subterranean parts of the whale? ... Can you land a
should have been a blacksmith, and animated them with fire;
full-grown whale on your deck for examination, as a cook
for what's made in fire must properly belong to fire; and so
dishes a roast-pig? Surely not." He then says that while he
hell's probable." This is one of many references to Hell, the
didn't have a full-grown whale for his examination, he had a
devil, or demons in relation to Ahab.
small one. On the basis of this and a few other credentials,
including a visit to the imaginary "Tranque" temple, readers are
encouraged to take his views seriously.
Chapter 109
Chapters 106–108
Summary
Starbuck brings an oil leak to Captain Ahab's attention, but
Summary Ahab is uninterested—all he wants is to kill Moby Dick.
Starbuck gets angry because they worked hard to get that oil
When returning to the Pequod from the Samuel Enderby,
and Ahab doesn't care if it is wasted. Ahab points a musket at
Captain Ahab had damaged his peg leg, so now he feels it is
Starbuck and tells him he is the ultimate authority on the ship,

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 30

but Starbuck keeps his cool and leaves the cabin. Ahab,
reconsidering, thinks he probably should fix the oil leak so no Chapters 111–114
one thinks he's putting his own quest before the stated
mission. He orders repairs.
Summary
Analysis The Pequod enters the Pacific Ocean, and Ishmael describes
the sea's "serene" beauty as "a thousand leagues of blue." He
The action in this chapter begins to escalate the tension notes that Captain Ahab is unmoved by the sight and seems
between Captain Ahab and Starbuck. When Starbuck says, only to grow in his thirst for vengeance. In Chapter 112 the
"What we come twenty thousand miles to get is worth saving, blacksmith, Perth, is described. He is a patient old man whose
sir" Ahab agrees, but he's thinking of Moby Dick, while skills are in constant demand. Before becoming a sailor Perth
Starbuck is thinking of the leaking oil. When Starbuck says, had been a drunk, and his drinking had led to the loss of his
"What will the owners say?" Ahab replies, "What cares Ahab? wife, family, and home. With his life in ruins, he went to sea. In
Owners, owners? ... the only real owner of anything is its Chapter 113, Perth is busily hammering away when Ahab asks
commander." Then expanding on this theme of authority and him to make him a harpoon to kill Moby Dick. Ahab has some
obedience, Ahab says, "There is one God that is Lord over the special materials to help make the harpoon: nail stubs from
earth, and one Captain that is lord over the Pequod," firmly horseshoes and his own razors. (He says he will not shave until
placing himself in the same category as God. Moby Dick is dead.) After the harpoon is made, Ahab calls the
three harpooners to give blood to use to cool the hot metal, a
departure from the usual water. After the harpoon is finished,
Chapter 110 Pip is heard laughing. In Chapter 114, Ishmael again describes
the sea as beautiful but notes that it is a "velvet paw" that
"conceals a remorseless fang." Ahab, looking at the golden

Summary surface of the sea, likens men's souls to orphans, and asks,
"Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more?"
Starbuck looks at the sea and says reverently, "I look deep
Queequeg becomes very ill and asks for a canoe-shaped coffin
down and do believe." Stubb, looking down at the water,
to be made for him. He then asks to be laid in the coffin along
maintains that "he has always been jolly!"
with his harpoon and some other odds and ends. After a while,
satisfied that he fits into his coffin, Queequeg lies in his
hammock where he regains the will to live and so recovers. He
begins to use his coffin to store things in, and he carves a copy
Analysis
of his tattoos into the lid.
Although Perth the blacksmith was discussed in Chapter 108,
he is not introduced in person until this section gives his

Analysis backstory and in which presents a more extended interaction


between him and Captain Ahab. Previously, Ahab
characterized the blacksmith as a man who is like Prometheus
Queequeg's coffin is a paradox in the novel: It is symbolic of
in his ability to create men.
death, yet it saves a life. This chapter relates the origin of the
coffin, which gets special attention because Ishmael is telling
Here, he does not ask Perth to actually fashion a man out of
this story after it is all over. He knows the ending, but the
iron; he wants a very special harpoon. And in some ways, Ahab
making of the coffin also allows Ishmael to consider the role of
treats the new harpoon like a child. After seeing it created it
free will in a person's destiny again. This time, he seems to
out of special ingredients, he baptizes it in the blood of the
come down on the side of human will having the upper hand: "If
three pagan harpooners: Queequeg, Tashtego, and Daggoo.
a man made up his mind to live, mere sickness could not kill
As he performs this rite, Ahab proclaims, "Ego non baptizo te in
him."
nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!" (I baptize thee not in the
name of the Father but in the name of the devil). The harpoon

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 31

becomes an instrument of destiny or fate when Ahab finishes it pilot."


with a wooden pole and a length of rope: "pole, iron, and "Hemp only can kill thee."
rope—like the Three Fates—remained inseparable."
Captain Ahab misunderstands all three of these, thinking that it
Nearing his prey, Ahab continues to reject the remaining is unlikely that hearses are to be seen while at sea, that
aspects of his humanity: he cannot enjoy the beauty of the sea Fedallah will be his pilot no matter what, and that the only way
and he gives up shaving. All of his energy and effort is now to die by hemp (which is what ropes are often made of) is on
focused on Moby Dick. the gallows. Later, it becomes clear how this three-part
prophecy is fulfilled. For now, it serves to make Ahab even
In Chapter 114, several of the main characters look at the more confident.
surface of the sea, which is golden, just as they looked at the
golden coin—each seeing something different. Ahab looks and
sees the state of his own isolated soul. Starbuck looks and
sees his steadfast faith. Stubb refuses to be dramatic.
Chapters 118–123

Chapters 115–117 Summary


The Pequod enters the Sea of Japan, and Captain Ahab uses
his quadrant to find the ship's latitude. His intention is to
Summary continue south to the equator. Speaking to the quadrant he
says, "what after all canst thou do? ... Thou canst not tell where
Weeks after Captain Ahab's new harpoon is completed, the one drop of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow
Pequod encounters another whaling ship, the Bachelor, which noon." Deciding that the quadrant is useless because it cannot
is loaded down with whale oil and spermaceti after a predict the future, he crushes it. Soon after this event in
successful voyage. The crew of the Bachelor is celebrating Chapter 119, the ship sails into a violent typhoon that tears the
joyously. Ahab asks, as usual, "Hast seen the White Whale?" sails from their masts and damages Ahab's whaleboat.
They reply negatively, and Ahab gives the order to continue on Lightning strikes the bare masts and makes them look like
without stopping. The next day in Chapter 116, a group of glowing candles. Starbuck is ready to turn around and go
whales is sighted, and four of them are killed, including one by home. Ahab reveals that his long scar was the result of being
Ahab. The four whales die far apart in Chapter 117, and only struck by lightning, and he reaffirms his commitment to killing
three are able to be gathered to the ship by sundown, so Moby Dick. Starbuck suggests taking down a sail in Chapter
Ahab's boat stays with the remaining whale overnight to keep 120 but Ahab refuses, saying everything should just be lashed
an eye on it. During this watch, Fedallah tells Ahab of a down. Stubb and Flask argue in Chapter 121 about whether
prophetic dream he's had about Ahab's death—one he's had Ahab's mission puts them in more danger than a typical
before. Ahab thinks the prophecy means he will die by hanging, whaling voyage, with Stubb saying it does not. Meanwhile,
so he's safe while at sea. Tashtego lashes the sail in Chapter 122 and wishes for rum.
Later, when the weather goes from "foul" to "fair" in Chapter
123, Starbuck goes to Ahab's cabin to report this. Several
Analysis muskets are lined up in Ahab's cabin, and Starbuck briefly
considers killing Ahab while he sleeps. He decides not to and
There are three parts to Fedallah's prophecy:
leaves the cabin while Ahab is still sleeping, then tells Stubb to
go report on the weather instead.
First, two hearses must be seen: "But I said, old man, that
ere thou couldst die on this voyage, two hearses must verily
be seen by thee on the sea; the first not made by mortal
hands; and the visible wood of the last one must be grown in
America."
"Though it come to the last, I shall still go before thee thy

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 32

Analysis Analysis
This section clearly shows Captain Ahab's descent into If the previous episodes showed the crew the darker, more
complete irrationality, and some of the mates begin to really irrational side of Captain Ahab, these chapters restore the
worry about the outcome of this voyage. In a fit of temper, crew's faith in him. After the men witness Ahab's ability to
Ahab angrily destroys an important navigational tool because it create a compass out of what seems to be odds and ends,
cannot tell the future. Almost as if to condemn Ahab's folly, a they are amazed, and Ahab doesn't hide his satisfaction: "Look
storm providentially comes up and damages the ship badly. ye, for yourselves, if Ahab be not the lord of the level
Starbuck, appalled at the damage as well as at Ahab's obvious loadstone!" Ishmael, however, knowing the outcome of Ahab's
lack of good judgment, seems to realize that Ahab might need quest, inserts an observation: "In his fiery eyes of scorn and
to be removed from power if they are to survive. However, he triumph, you then saw Ahab in all his fatal pride." At this,
does not act; he only considers it. He almost justifies murdering echoes of the biblical "pride goeth before a fall" ring in the
Ahab, saying, "Is heaven a murderer when its lightning strikes a reader's ears.
would-be murderer in his bed?" But thinking of his wife and
child, he cannot follow through. Flask, too, shows However prideful Ahab is, Ishmael shows him to be a

uncharacteristic anxiety about the danger Ahab is putting them sympathetic character through his relationship with Pip. The

in. The tension escalates as these normally imperturbable two have a heartwarming interaction at the end of Chapter 125

sailors begin to realize the path they are on. and seem like two peas in a pod. The Manxman notes, "There
go two daft ones now ... One daft with strength, the other daft
The storm, as well as the fact that Ahab is already scarred with weakness." When Ahab takes Pip's hand and leads him
from a lightning strike, supports the characterization of Ahab toward his cabin, Ahab considers that it is actually Man and not
as being opposed to God—a devil or under the influence of the God that is the more charitable species. Pip immediately
devil. God's judgment, in the form of lightning from Heaven, has grasps Ahab's hand and seems to feel genuine affection for
fallen on Ahab before, and God continues to judge his actions. the monomaniacal captain.

Chapters 124–125 Chapters 126–127

Summary Summary
Captain Ahab realizes from the position of the sun that though The ship nears the equator where they expect to find Moby
all the compasses on board are pointing east, the ship is Dick. Just before dawn, the crew hears a "wild and unearthly"
traveling west and has been all night. He concludes that the cry, and some are afraid. It turns out the sound is just the cry of
storm has caused the compasses to malfunction. So Ahab seals. Just a short while later, a sailor climbs the masthead to
magnetizes a needle and suspends it by a thread to use as a watch for signs of the White Whale and falls into the ocean.
makeshift compass. The crew is impressed. When a life buoy is thrown, it is actually so old that it sinks and
the man drowns. To replace the life buoy, Queequeg suggests
Ahab continues to show his knowledge of low-tech navigation his own coffin, and the mates agree. The coffin is adjusted a
in Chapter 125 when he tells the crew to use the "log and line" little by the carpenter to make it float. As he does so in
method of measuring the ship's speed. As they do this, Pip Chapter 127, Captain Ahab teases him about it, then ponders
approaches and speaks strangely to them. Ahab, looking in the irony of the situation. Afterward, he decides to talk these
Pip's eyes, says, "Ahab's cabin shall be Pip's home henceforth, "philosophies" over with Pip.
while Ahab lives. Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou art
tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings."

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Chapter Summaries 33

encountered in this section is captained by a man with two


Analysis sons. Captain Ahab not only refuses to help find the missing
son but also rejects the affection of Pip, the closest thing to a
The portentous unearthly noises, which seem to be yet another
son he has. The Rachel also plays an important role in the
eerie omen, are quickly explained away by Captain Ahab as
resolution of the novel's plot, and the symbolic nature of its
nothing but the cries of seals. In addition, once a sailor falls to
name will again resonate as she "search[es] after her missing
his death from the masthead, it seems to the crew as if
children" (see Jeremiah 31:15 for resonance) and finds the lone
whatever might have been foretold by the cries of the seals
survivor of the Pequod—Ishmael.
has already been fulfilled—nothing to worry about now.
Something odd happens when the Pequod reaches the
The story revisits Queequeg's coffin, which is now converted
location where Ahab had his encounter with the White
into a life buoy to replace the one that was lost. The symbol of
Whale—a bird swoops down, steals his hat, and drops it into
death transformed to a lifesaving object is interesting
the sea. Ahab, however, is immune to bad omens—storms,
philosophically, as Ahab points out. But it also plays a role in
lightning, seal cries, and various prophecies. None of it has any
the story's plot, which becomes apparent as events progress
effect on him.
to their resolution.

Chapters 128–130 Chapters 131–132

Summary Summary
The Pequod encounters another whaling ship, the Delight,
The Pequod encounters another whaling ship, the Rachel,
which has a shattered whaleboat on board. Captain Ahab asks,
captained by Captain Gardiner. When asked, "Hast seen the
"Hast seen the White Whale?" The captain gestures to the
White Whale?" Gardiner replies yes, they saw the whale
broken whaleboat, meaning yes. Ahab asks if he killed the
yesterday. They'd sent a boat after him and had believed the
whale, and the captain suggests it is impossible. Ahab shows
White Whale had pulled the boat far from the ship. The boat
him his special harpoon, saying, "in this hand I hold his death!"
has not yet been located, and Gardiner's young son is on it. He
entreats Captain Ahab to help them search for the missing As the crew of the Delight prepares to have a funeral for a
boat. Ahab refuses. Later, back in his cabin in Chapter 129, crewmate lost in the fight with Moby Dick, Ahab steers the
Ahab talks to Pip, who asks if he can go with Ahab as he walks Pequod quickly away. Queequeg's coffin dangles ominously
on deck. Ahab tells Pip he must stay in the cabin. Pip is from the side of the ship, prompting one of the Delight's
persistent, and Ahab finally threatens him and leaves him crewmen to yell, "In vain, oh, ye strangers, ye fly our sad burial;
locked in the cabin. Fedallah, however, does go everywhere ye but turn us your taffrail to show us your coffin!"
with Ahab in Chapter 130, and the two stand watch each night,
knowing that Moby Dick could appear at any moment. In an
effort to see better, Ahab has a basket attached to a rope and Analysis
pulley, and Starbuck pulls him up so he can scan the water.
While Ahab is in the strange contraption, a bird steals his hat All of Captain Ahab's faults—his arrogance, his obsession with
and drops it in the sea. vengeance, his abandonment of human rituals and
pleasures—are on full display in Chapter 131 as the
confrontation with Moby Dick approaches. He refuses to even
Analysis pause for a moment to honor a fallen fellow sailor.

In Moby-Dick, names are carefully chosen and have meaning. In contrast, Chapter 132 shows the human side of Ahab and
In the Old Testament, Rachel is one of Jacob's two wives, and makes it seem as if he is not past the point of no return.
the mother of two sons. Appropriately, the whaleboat Rachel Addressing Starbuck, he says, "forty years of privation, and

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Quotes 34

peril, and storm-time! forty years on the pitiless sea! ... Aye and
yes, Starbuck, out of those forty years I have not spent three
Analysis
ashore ... whole oceans away, from that young girl-wife I
Finally, the climax of the story comes as Captain Ahab and
wedded ... Aye, I widowed that poor girl when I married her,
Moby Dick have their confrontation. Ahab is worked up into a
Starbuck ... aye, aye! what a forty years' fool—fool—old fool,
frenzy of revenge, but Moby Dick counters this with his own
has old Ahab been! Why this strife of the chase? ... how the
frenzy—circling, diving, surfacing, battering into the ship,
richer or better is Ahab now?" Starbuck (as well as the reader)
crushing the boats. Nothing goes according to Ahab's plan. All
holds out hope that Ahab will give up the chase. Yet it is not to
his careful preparations come to nothing; in fact, the months of
be. Ahab seems resigned to his chosen course, as he says,
planning are all undone in just a few short days.
"against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing."
All of the foreboding prophecies have now come to a head.
Elijah's enigmatic statement that God should pity the sailors on
Chapters 133–Epilogue the Pequod, Gabriel's warning that those who harm Moby Dick
will suffer, Pip's statement that the gold coin will stay nailed to
the mast until the resurrection—are all fulfilled. And Fedallah's
Summary three-part prophecy is eerily fulfilled: The first hearse is Moby
Dick, who carries the dead body of Fedallah. The second
Captain Ahab is the one who first sights the White Whale. hearse is the Pequod, made of American wood. Fedallah does
Ahab's boat, Stubb's boat, and Flask's boat are lowered, and go before Ahab, and he does "return" to show Ahab the "way."
the hunt begins. Moby Dick goes underwater, then comes up The hemp of the line that catches Ahab and pulls him into the
right beneath Ahab's boat. As Ahab readies his special sea, not the hemp of a gallows rope, is what kills him. Nature, in
harpoon, Moby Dick opens his mouth and closes it on Ahab's the form of the whale, has won the battle.
boat, tipping Ahab into the sea. Ahab is rescued and the pieces
Ishmael, who survives as Job's servant did in the Bible through
of his boat are brought on board the ship, which continues to
terrible violence, believes he was destined by fate to be the
follow Moby Dick. The next day, the whale is again sighted and
sole survivor of the voyage and to share its story.
the boats are lowered. He shatters the whaleboats of Stubb
and Flask with his powerful tail and breaks Ahab's whalebone
leg off. The special harpoon is lost, as is Fedallah. On the third
day, the boats are lowered to battle Moby Dick, and the dead g Quotes
body of Fedallah is seen lashed to the side of the great White
Whale by the tangled ropes. Moby Dick targets the Pequod,
battering it with his great head. Ahab throws a harpoon, but it "Call me Ishmael."
gets caught in the line and is pulled overboard. The damaged
Pequod sinks, and "The great shroud of the sea rolled on as it — Ishmael, Chapter 1
rolled five thousand years ago."

The Epilogue begins with a quote from one of Job's servants in The famous opening line of the novel reveals that the narrator
the biblical book by that name: "And I only am escaped alone to wishes to be called by the name of an exiled son of Abraham in
tell thee." In it, Ishmael describes how Queequeg's coffin life the Hebrew Bible. The sentence implies that this is not the
buoy floats to the surface and Ishmael grabs hold of it. Later, character's real name and that he identifies with a biblical
as the only survivor, he is rescued by the Rachel: "In her wanderer.
retracing search after her missing children, [she] only found
another orphan."
"Methinks my body is but the lees
of my better being. In fact take my
body who will, take it I say, it is not

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Quotes 35

me. And therefore three cheers for "And this is what ye have shipped
Nantucket; and come a stove boat for, men! to chase that white
and stove body when they will, for whale on both sides of land, and
stave my soul, Jove himself over all sides of earth, till he
cannot." spouts black blood and rolls fin
out. What say ye, men, will ye
— Ishmael, Chapter 7
splice hands on it, now? I think ye
Ishmael introduces his belief that his soul is separate from and do look brave."
better than his body.
— Captain Ahab, Chapter 36

"Names down on the papers? Well, Ahab reveals his true mission to the crew of the Pequod,
well, what's signed, is signed; and winning them over to his cause with his exciting and flattering
words.
what's to be, will be; and then
again, perhaps it won't be. Any
"I am game for his crooked jaw,
how, it's all fixed and arranged
and for the jaws of Death too,
already."
Captain Ahab, if it fairly comes in
— Elijah, Chapter 19 the way of the business we follow;
but I came here to hunt whales,
A mysterious man named Elijah warns Queequeg and Ishmael
about Ahab and the Pequod. When they say they've already not my commander's vengeance.
signed on to the ship, he comments on the influence of fate
and destiny on the future. However, he seems to contradict
How many barrels will thy
himself. vengeance yield thee even if thou
gettest it, Captain Ahab? it will not
"For what are the comprehensible fetch thee much in our Nantucket
terrors of man compared with the market."
interlinked terrors and wonders of
— Starbuck, Chapter 36
God!"
Starbuck reminds Ahab of the official mission of the Pequod
— Ishmael, Chapter 24 and does not agree with the captain's quest for vengeance.

Ishmael, in comparing soldiers in war to whalemen hunting,


notes that many brave soldiers would be terrified if they faced "What I've dared, I've willed; and
a whale.

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Symbols 36

— Captain Ahab, Chapter 134


what I've willed, I'll do! They think
me mad—Starbuck does; but I'm At the end of his life, Ahab still believes he had no choice but to
demoniac, I am madness hunt the White Whale, contending that he acted in accordance
with destiny or fate. This suggests that he cannot be entirely
maddened! That wild madness held responsible for his actions.
that's only calm to comprehend
itself! The prophecy was that I "No coffin and no hearse can be
should be dismembered; mine:—and hemp only can kill me!
and—Aye! I lost this leg. I now Ha! ha!"
prophesy that I will dismember my
— Captain Ahab, Chapter 135
dismemberer."

— Captain Ahab, Chapter 37 Ahab clings to Fedallah's prophecy as evidence that he will not
be killed; but in the end, Fedallah's prophecy comes true and
he is killed.
Ahab is completely aware of his madness, which suggests that
he is not completely insane, and he is unashamed. He is
absolutely devoted to his quest for revenge.

l Symbols
"Out of the trunk, the branches
grow; out of them, the twigs. So, in The White Whale
productive subjects, grow the
chapters."
Ahab's nemesis, Moby Dick (or the White Whale), symbolizes
forces beyond human control, including nature, God, and fate.
— Ishmael, Chapter 63 As Ahab's antagonist, it represents impossible goals and works
against the free exercise of human will. In Father Mapple's
Ishmael helps readers understand the structure of the novel by sermon, the whale—or great fish—is an agent of God's wrath
comparing it to a tree with a trunk, branches, and twigs. and a call to repentance, and so this, too, is a symbolic
interpretation of the White Whale. In Ahab's madness, however,
the White Whale symbolizes evil personified.

"Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This


whole act's immutably decreed.
The Ship
'Twas rehearsed by thee and me a
billion years before this ocean
The Pequod is a microcosm of the world and so symbolically
rolled. Fool! I am the Fates'
represents Earth populated by humanity's diversity. The
lieutenant; I act under orders." different men aboard the ship, the dangers it encounters, and

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Themes 37

the struggles those on board must face all mirror the of Virginia, "preaches" to the sharks and recognizes that man
differences, dangers, and struggles of human life and society. will reject God's commandment to love one another.
As a small society separated by distance from the rest of Unrepentant Ahab pays the ultimate price for his "fatal pride"
humanity, it also represents both isolation and community. at the hands of the same instrument God uses with Jonah.

Queequeg's Coffin Destiny and Fate

Queequeg's coffin, made while Queequeg is deathly ill, Prophesies, fate, and superstition overshadow the events of
symbolizes at the same time both life and death. Its symbolism the novel from the beginning. Ishmael notices warnings of
of death is obvious, yet within the story it provides life in two death before he even boards the Pequod—in the innkeeper's
cases. Its construction seems to bring comfort to Queequeg, name and in the memorial stones at the Whaleman's Chapel.
after which he completely recovers, and Ishmael is saved from Then a prophetic man named Elijah speaks confusing yet
drowning by its ability to float. ominous words to Ishmael about the upcoming voyage. On
board the ship, Ahab's and Ishmael's thoughts turn to the
working of fate quite often. Ahab believes his fate is wrapped
up in the hunt for Moby Dick, and Ishmael ponders the three
m Themes intertwined elements of a man's destiny—free will, chance, and
necessity. Pip, Fedallah, and Gabriel all make prophetic
statements that eventually come true. And even at the end,
after Ahab has apparently followed his own will rather than the
Authority and Obedience will of fate or God, he says he is an agent of fate who must
obey orders. Conflicts and tensions among necessity, free will,
and chance as they apply to events of the story are not
The Pequod is owned by Captain Bildad and Captain Peleg. But resolved by the novel, leaving plenty of room for debate.
it is Captain Ahab who is the ultimate authority on board the
ship when it is at sea. Ahab expects total obedience, and
among the crew there are higher-ranking and lower-ranking
positions. Hierarchy is important aboard the ship, as is Unity and Division
obedience, and so this theme is inherent in the setting of the
novel. The relationship between master and slave is also
historically relevant at the time of the novel's publication, 10 From Ishmael and Queequeg's unexpected friendship to the
years before the beginning of the Civil War. Yet the novel asks ethnic and religious diversity among the crew of the Pequod,
bigger, spiritual questions about authority and obedience: the novel explores the many ways people are separated by
race, nationality, rank, intelligence, and various other
Does a man have the authority to take vengeance on nature
categories. These divisions are not downplayed. Ishmael
for an injury?
makes fun of the French and German whalemen, while
Do humans have the authority to dominate forces God has
elevating American ones. Stubb treats the darker-skinned crew
decreed to be beyond human comprehension?
with disrespect. White men hold all the highest ranks on board.
What will happen to a man who arrogantly sets himself
This is set in time against the backdrop of slavery in the United
above the noblest and most powerful of God's creatures?
States, which was being hotly debated at the time of the
Father Mapple preaches that Jonah tried to disobey God and novel's publication.
ended up repenting from the belly of a giant fish—God's
Yet the Pequod is a community, and all men must work
instrument. Old Fleece, who was born in the slave-owning state
together to stay alive. An extra layer of unity is provided when

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Moby-Dick Study Guide Suggested Reading 38

most of the crew enthusiastically embraces Ahab's insane


mission.

e Suggested Reading
Becker, John. "The Inscrutable Sublime and the Whiteness of
Moby-Dick." Ed. Harold Bloom and Blake Hobby. New York:
Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. Print. Bloom's Literary Themes

Bryant, John, Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, and Timothy Marr.


Ungraspable Phantom: Essays on Moby-Dick. Kent: Kent State
UP, 2006. Print.

Kelley, Wyn. Herman Melville: An Introduction. Malden: Wiley,


2008. Print.

King, Gilbert. "The True-Life Horror That Inspired Moby-Dick."


Smithsonian. 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.

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