Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Archy Suspects Unseen After-Hold Person

Despite Cabaco’s ridicule, Archy reveals his deeper suspicion: that someone unseen currently resides in the after-hold. He recalls overhearing Stubb tell Flask during morning watch that “there was something of that sort in the wind,” suggesting Captain Ahab (“our old Mogul”) may know more about the matter.

第四十四章 The Chart.

This chapter reveals Captain Ahab’s methodical approach to hunting Moby Dick. After a wild squall, Ahab retreats to his cabin where he spreads out large wrinkled sea charts and begins plotting courses across the oceans. He studies these charts almost every night, tracing pencil lines over spaces that were previously blank, consulting piles of old log-books that record where sperm whales were captured or seen on previous voyages. The chapter explores the science of whale migration, Ahab’s obsessive vengeance, and the psychological toll of his monomaniacal pursuit.

Ahab’s Cabin

Following a violent squall on the night after Ahab secured his crew’s ratification to hunt the white whale, the captain descends into his cabin. The heavy pewter lamp suspended above his screwed-down table rocks with the ship’s motion, casting shifting gleams and shadows across Ahab’s deeply lined brow. This setting establishes the cabin as Ahab’s private domain where he conducts his obsessive preparations away from the crew.

The Wrinkled Charts

Ahab retrieves a large wrinkled roll of yellowish sea charts from a locker in the transom. He spreads these charts before him on his table, examining the various lines and shadings with intense concentration. The charts appear aged and weathered, bearing the marks of extensive use and study.