Reading Moby-Dick feels like it has been a real
adventure. Unlike after Blithedale
Romance or Behind a Mask, I feel
like I accomplished a great feat. A big part of that is probably its status as
being one of the greatest American novels ever written. It’s referenced in all
sorts of things I love (Futurma,
Starbucks coffee, The Simpsons,
etc.), so I had some knowledge of the story before reading it, but I didn’t
understand the subtleties. I knew the line, “Call me Ishmael,” but I didn’t
fully grasp the significance.
Now that I’ve read
it, I can actually analyze the characters. I can talk about why Ahab was so
interested in getting a white whale? (His losing of a limb at the hands
jaws of this whale caused him to develop a case of the revenge monomania.) I
can inquire as to what the nature of the relationship was between Ishmael and
Queequeg, and further inquire as to whether or not it parallels with the
relationship between Hawthorne and Melville. (Queequeg and Ishmael were totally
lovers, even if homosexuality wasn’t yet an identifier.)
In
a way, I have slain the leviathan that is Moby Dick. No, I didn’t kill a whale,
but I read through the densely packed 135 chapters of the novel. Some of it was
very interesting. I found the parts showing Ahab’s descent to madness to be
especially entertaining. Some of it, however, was a pain to get through. Take
the whales being compared to folios chapter. Ugh! I actually fell asleep
reading that one. No kidding. I woke up with my face in the book. Sure, one
could blame it on the pinot noir I was drinking at the time, but I also fell
asleep during the measuring of the whale skeleton chapter while drinking
coffee.
That’s
not to say that book was overall boring. I’m glad I read Moby-Dick. It has given me many great ideas with my own writing.
(As a creative writing major, I could always use more ideas!) For example, the
way Melville plays with point of view. I have always chosen one narrator
(usually an omniscient one), and stuck with him/her. After having read Moby-Dick, I’m interested in playing
around with the narrator. Maybe I’ll have a story where the narrator hides in
the background for a while. Maybe he’ll be a person who at times tells it from
an aged POV looking back, whereas at other times he’ll be telling it from the
perspective of his young self, experiencing it all.
Moby-Dick was a challenge to read, but I
feel as though I’ll be a better writer now that I’ve read it.
I thought your reflection on point of view was interesting, as this was a huge part of the essay I read in the back of the book; Moby-Dick: A Work of Art, by Walter E. Benzanson. The essay starts on page 641, but the part I think you might be interested in is in Part II on page 644. Here Benzanson reflects on 'the two Ishmaels', as you said, the young Ishmael living within the story, and the aged Ishmael telling the story. He also writes about how many think the driving force, the two dynamics of the story, are Moby-Dick and Ahab, but in actuality they are the two Ishmaels. I found it to be insightful, and I recommend you read it as well. I hope you find it as helpful and insightful as I did.
ReplyDelete"I have slain the leviathan that is Moby-Dick"--exactly!
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