Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Meeting Mrs. Hussey and Clam Chowder Service

The narrator spots a freckled woman with yellow hair wearing a yellow gown standing in the porch under a dull red lamp resembling an injured eye. She is actively scolding a man in a purple woollen shirt, ordering him to leave or face combing. The narrator identifies her as Mrs. Hussey, and learns that Mr. Hosea Hussey is away, leaving his wife fully competent to manage affairs. Upon their request for supper and lodging, she ushers them into a small room with the remains of a recently finished meal and asks “Clam or Cod?” The narrator, confused, asks if she means a cold clam for supper, but she repeats the question impatiently. Without waiting for a proper answer, she hurries to the kitchen, bawling “clam for two,” and disappears.

Cod Chowder Experiment and Inn’s Fishy Character

A savory steam from the kitchen contradicts the narrator’s cheerless expectations, and the chowder that arrives is superb—made from small juicy clams barely bigger than hazelnuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuits and salted pork flakes, enriched with butter and seasoned with pepper and salt. The hungry pair devour it eagerly, especially Queequeg with his fishing background. Curious about Mrs. Hussey’s earlier announcement, the narrator steps to the kitchen door and shouts “cod” with emphasis, then returns to his seat. A cod chowder with a different flavor soon arrives, proving the kitchen responds instantly to the cry. The narrator wonders about the saying regarding “chowder-headed” people and whether the dish affects the head. The Try Pots earns its name as the fishiest of fishy places, with pots always boiling chowder for breakfast, dinner, and supper—so much so that diners begin expecting fish-bones to emerge through their clothes. The area is paved with clam shells, Mrs. Hussey wears a necklace of codfish vertebrae, and Mr. Hussey’s account books rest in shark skin. The milk tastes fishy because the cow feeds on fish scraps among the fishermen’s boats.