Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Ahab’s Nocturnal Deck Habits and Aversion to His Cabin

Aligned with the common pattern of older sea commanders who avoid their berths at night to distance themselves from thoughts of death, Ahab spends almost all his time on deck rather than in his cabin, which he morbidly describes as a tomb and his “grave-dug berth.” Every night when the off-watch crew is asleep, he emerges from the cabin scuttle, gripping the iron banister to steady his crippled walk, and usually avoids patrolling the quarter-deck to prevent his heavy, ivory-heeled step from disturbing the sleeping sailors below.

Ahab’s Confrontation with Stubb and Stubb’s Puzzled Reaction

When Ahab’s mood is too dark to spare consideration for the resting crew, he paces the full length of the ship from taffrail to mainmast, and encounters Stubb coming up from below. Stubb speaks with hesitant, deprecating humor to suggest muffling the noise of Ahab’s step by wrapping tow around his ivory heel, a suggestion that enrages Ahab. Ahab hurls insults at Stubb, first calling him a dog, then a series of donkeys and asses, and advances on him with such fierce, intimidating intensity that Stubb retreats without retaliating. Deeply shaken, Stubb descends to his hammock bewildered, unable to decide if he should strike Ahab in anger or pray for him, and obsessing over the captain’s strange, restless behavior and secret nightly trips to the ship’s after hold as reported by the steward Dough-Boy.

第三十章 The Pipe.

This chapter centers on Captain Ahab smoking his pipe on the deck of the Pequod. After his interaction with Stubb has ended, Ahab calls for his ivory stool and pipe, lights the pipe at the binnacle lamp, and settles on the weather side of the deck to smoke. The brief chapter captures a moment of private ritual for the captain as he sits alone on the vessel, providing a glimpse into his habitual behaviors and the solitary nature of his command.