Call me Ishmael. Years ago, finding myself poor and aimless on land, I decided to sail and view the watery world. This is my method for curing melancholy and regulating my blood. Whenever my mouth grows grim, or my soul feels like a damp, drizzly November, I know it is time to leave. The urge becomes undeniable when I pause before coffin before warehouses, trail behind funerals, or feel a manic impulse to knock hats off in the street. Going to sea is my alternative to suicide. While Cato died on his sword with a flourish, I quietly board a ship. This impulse is not unique; almost all men feel a magnetic pull toward the ocean.
Chapter 109: Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin
- Routine pumping reveals oil leak, Starbuck goes to cabin to find Ahab
- Ahab is bent over Japanese charts with his ivory leg braced
- Ahab dismisses Starbuck contemptuously
- Ahab reveals his soul is the true leaky vessel
- Starbuck appeals to the owners, Ahab erupts
- Starbuck shows respectful defiance, ventures a better man might overlook what he’d resent in a
Routine pumping revealed oil in the water—the casks had leaked. Starbuck descended to the cabin, finding Ahab bent over Japanese charts, ivory leg braced, tracing old courses.
Ahab dismissed him contemptuously. When Starbuck persisted, Ahab revealed the deeper wound: his own soul was the true leaky vessel. He refused to halt for oil. Starbuck appealed to the owners. Ahab erupted: let them outyell typhoons from Nantucket. The only real owner was the commander; his conscience rode in the ship’s keel.
Starbuck moved deeper with respectful defiance. A better man, he ventured, might overlook what he would resent in a younger one. “Nay, sir, not yet.” Ahab seized a musket and leveled it. One God over earth, one Captain over the Pequod. Starbuck mastered his fury and rose half-calm. His parting thrust: Ahab had outraged him, but the warning was to beware himself.
Left alone, Ahab murmured admiration. The warning lodged. He paced with the musket as staff, then returned it and went on deck. “Thou art but too good a fellow, Starbuck,” he said lowly, then ordered the hold broken out. Whether from honesty or prudence, he had yielded.
Let me analyze the two chapters:
Chapter 109: Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin
- Routine pumping reveals oil leak, Starbuck goes to cabin
- Finds Ahab bent over Japanese charts with ivory leg braced
- Ahab dismisses him contemptuously
- Ahab reveals his soul is the true leaky vessel
- Starbuck appeals to owners, Ahab erupts
- Starbuck shows respectful defiance
- Ahab seizes musket and levels it
- Starbuck masters his fury, warns Ahab to beware himself
- Ahab murmurs admiration, yields and orders hold broken out
Chapter 110: Queequeg in His Coffin
- Crew excavates lower tiers, ship becomes top-heavy
- Queequeg works in darkness, catches a chill that becomes mortal illness
- He lies wasted in his hammock, eyes growing fuller with strange softness
- Crew has given him up
- Queequeg requests a coffin shaped like Nantucket canoes
- Carpenter builds the coffin from dark lumber
- Queequeg arranges his effects inside,
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