Today I read a portion of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. In pages 36-45 Ishmael decides to take a stroll through the streets of New Bedford. As he wanders about he is dumbfounded as he observes the town and its people. Due to the maritime industry, Ishmael noticed that the men there came from many different parts of the globe. Closely regarding the town, Ishmael notices that there are many cannibals roaming about. As he thinks to himself, Ishmael reveals his philosophy on the prosperity of the town, “Yet, in spite of this, nowhere in all America will you find more patrician-like houses; parks and gardens more opulent, than in New Bedford. Whence came they? How planted upon this one scraggy scoria of a country? Go and gaze upon the iron emblematical
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He notices many women were present and praying. As he analyzed the chapel, Queequeg had found him and they stood together. Ishmael saw plaques dedicated to the men that lost their lives at sea and he grew enraged inside, “Oh! Ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among flowers can say-here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes…”. Ishmael goes on mentally rebuking these women for foolishly forcing grief upon themselves. He is astonished at how contradictory the situation was, that if heaven is a better place, why would people be so inconsolably mournful. Soon, the preacher of the chapel, Father Mapple, arrives and approaches the man ropes next to the ladder that reaches the stage. Father Mapple grasps the ropes and pulls himself upward in a genuinely sailor-like manner. Exceedingly confused, Ishmael tried to interpret the purpose for which Father Mapple, a very respected and sincere individual, would be using stage tricks. As the chapter ends, Ishmael continues to ponder the event and realizes it, “What could be more full of meaning?- for the pulpit is ever the earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world.” Father Mapple is like the captain of the ship and the members in the chapel are the
He notices many women were present and praying. As he analyzed the chapel, Queequeg had found him and they stood together. Ishmael saw plaques dedicated to the men that lost their lives at sea and he grew enraged inside, “Oh! Ye whose dead lie buried beneath the green grass; who standing among flowers can say-here, here lies my beloved; ye know not the desolation that broods in bosoms like these. What bitter blanks in those black-bordered marbles which cover no ashes…”. Ishmael goes on mentally rebuking these women for foolishly forcing grief upon themselves. He is astonished at how contradictory the situation was, that if heaven is a better place, why would people be so inconsolably mournful. Soon, the preacher of the chapel, Father Mapple, arrives and approaches the man ropes next to the ladder that reaches the stage. Father Mapple grasps the ropes and pulls himself upward in a genuinely sailor-like manner. Exceedingly confused, Ishmael tried to interpret the purpose for which Father Mapple, a very respected and sincere individual, would be using stage tricks. As the chapter ends, Ishmael continues to ponder the event and realizes it, “What could be more full of meaning?- for the pulpit is ever the earth’s foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world.” Father Mapple is like the captain of the ship and the members in the chapel are the