Moby Dick Chapters 1-20
Chapters 1-20
The book begins with Ishmael expressing his desire to go to sea, a desire he has whenever he has had too much of the land and he begins to feel his temper worsen. He believes that his desire to go to sea is not unique to him alone, but something he shares with all men. He travels on the ships as a sailor, a difficult but rewarding job that requires one to obey orders. Ishmael likes being a sailor because he earns money, and gets to experience the fresh air that sailors alone breathe first on the foredeck even before the commodore on the quarter deck. This time around, Ishmael wishes to go whale hunting. His biggest motivations being the whale itself, and the wild nature of the seas in which the practice occurs. Ishmael loves the remote and so treasures the opportunity of sailing forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts. Processions of whales roll through his imagination, centered around a large whale shaped like a snow mountain.
Ishmael leaves Manhato with a few shirts stuffed into a carpet bag and makes for New Bedford. He arrives there on a Saturday night in December intending to take a ship to Nantucket and from there he plans to take a whaling ship. He discovers that the last ship for Nantucket had already set sail and the next one would only leave on Monday, and so he must stay in New Bedford till then. He doesn't have a lot of money and so must carefully choose his lodgings, he avoids the richer and brighter establishments and makes way towards the ocean. He discovers the sign of the Spouter-Inn of Petter Coffin from Nantucket and chooses to enter on account of the poverty-stricken creak of its sign.
The old-fashioned inn has an old and dilapidated painting of a ship in a hurricane being attacked by a whale on one of its walls, smoke and time have warped the colors of the canvas nearly out of recognition. The other wall has a collection of clubs and spears accompanied by broken harpoons and lances with storied pasts. Ishmael seeks out the owner and discovers that the inn has no bed to spare, but he is welcome to share a bed with a harpooner. Ishmael agrees on the condition of first meeting the harpooner with whom he is to share a bed. Ishmael reconsiders his choice of sharing a bed with another man and instead decides to sleep on a bench, but the wind keeps him up. He goes to the landlord and discovers that the harpooner still hasn't arrived since he is out trying to sell a head he's brought from New Zealand. The landlord feels that it is too late into the night and it's likely that the harpooner won't be arriving that night.
Ishmael enters the room of the harpooner but he has trouble falling asleep, just as he is about to nod off, he hears approaching footsteps. The harpooner turns out to be a bald man of a purplish yellow complexion with square tattoos all across his body. Ishmael is struck dumb by the bizarre appearance and finds himself unable to speak as he observes the harpooner prepare himself for bed, and pray to a small idol before stuffing it back inside his pocket. He watches him take a tomahawk into his mouth and pull on it until the tobacco is lit. He climbs into bed and Ishmael endeavors to speak, the harpooner is taken by shock and believes he is going to be attacked. He begins whirling his tomahawk as Ishmael screams for the landlord. The landlord appears, reveals that the harpooner is called Queequeg, and explains to him that Ishmael is to share the bed with him. Ishmael now sees Queequeg in a less threatening light, as he makes room for Ishmael on the bed and puts out his tobacco when Ishmael requests it.
Ishmael wakes to find Queequeg's arm draped across him in an extremely matrimonial manner, and it incites in him a particular feeling comparable to an experience he had as a child. His stepmother had once sent him to bed at 2 in the afternoon, and he had woken in the darkness to discover the feeling of a supernatural hand in his own but failed to detect its owner. Queequeg is difficult to rouse but after much moving and calling out his name, Queequeg wakes and offers to dress and leave first so that Ishmael may have privacy. Ishmael follows Queequeg down into the Bar-room and finds it full of whale-men, who are all surprisingly very quiet. Queequeg sits at the head of the table and uses his harpoon to get a steak from across the table, he eschews all other things but steaks done rarely. He finishes his meal and withdraws to the public room where he quietly sits down to smoke his tomahawk pipe.
Ishmael heads into the street and discovers it full of people from walks of life as well as from the far corners of the world. He makes his way to a Whaleman's church, a popular place to visit among whalemen. He discovers a gathering of silent and morose people, among them Queequeg, who happens to be the only one to notice Ishmael's entry. He looks to the marble tablets that line the walls, in commemoration of all the whalemen lost to the sea. He thinks about the plight of the relatives of the whalemen that couldn't be buried in the ground.
The famous Father Mapple walks into the chapel, drenched from the rain outside. He ascends the pulpit using a rope ladder very much the like of those used to board onto a ship. The wall behind the pulpit has a large painting of a proud ship battling choppy waves and dreary weather, but above the clouds, there is the face of an angel that looks down on the ship and bathes its deck with light.
The priest begins his sermon with a hymn and then directs everyone to turn to the last verse of the book of Jonah, and then goes over the story of Jonah. How Jonah had refused to bear the command of God and attempted to escape into modern-day Cadiz, where he assumed the influence of God would be limited. He boarded a ship, but when it set sail, the sea refused to bear the burden of Jonah's sins. There came a powerful storm, and so when the shipmates confronted Jonah, they discovered his sin. Jonah asked them to throw him into the ocean, the sailors were reluctant at first but gave in when the storm continued. Jonah fell into the ocean and was soon swallowed by a whale. In the stomach of the Whale, Jonah repented and was blessed by god. The chaplain explains that Jonah gained salvation not because he asked for deliverance from punishment but because he thought his punishment to be just. Father Mapple ends his sermon on his knees and remains there till all the churchgoers have left the church.
Queequeg leaves the church earlier than Ishmael, and so Ishmael finds him back at the Spouter-Inn, sitting close to the hearth all by himself, and counting the pages of a book. Ishmael sits down to watch the savage, and he finds himself growing fond of him. He approaches him and helps him understand the book, and Queequeg inquires whether they are to share a bed again that night. Ishmael informs him that it would indeed be the case and feels that Queequeg is pleased with the notion. They share a quiet social smoke, and afterward, Queequeg embraces Ishmael and calls him his bosom friend. They return to the room, where Queequeg shares half his silver with a reluctant Ishmael. And he joins Queequeg in his idol worship although he is hesitant due to his own religious beliefs. They go to bed together but before they doze away they chat and Ishmael comments on how there is no place better for disclosures between friends than a bed.
Ishmael and Queequeg nap and talk periodically throughout the night, their love for one another brings a familiarity that allows them to feel truly comfortable with one another. As they sit in bed and smoke Queequeg's pipe, he begins to tell Ishmael about his home. Queequeg comes from the island of Kokovoko, where his father reigned as Chief. He was a member of the royal family, his aunts had married unconquerable warriors and his uncle was the high priest. Queequeg wished to learn more about Christianity, and so set out on a vessel that had visited their island. Queequeg managed to gain passage due to his tenacity and a dauntless attitude. Aboard the vessel, he bunked with the sailors and they made him a harpooner. His understanding of the Christian world increased but he disliked what he came to learn and so returned to his pagan gods, and continued his idol worship. Upon finding out that Queequeg wishes to go back to sea, Ishmael tells him of his desire to go aboard a whaling ship. Queequeg tells Ishmael that he would accompany him to Nantucket and would also go to the same whaling ship as Ishmael. Ishmael is thrilled at this turn of events as Queequeg is a skilled harpooner while Ishmael is a novice at whaling even though he is an experienced sailor. They go to sleep happily soon after their discussion.
Ishamel settles the bill of the inn, although he does so with the money Queequeg had shared with him. They set off for the “the Moss”, a ship that is to carry them to Nantucket. They carry their belongings on a wheelbarrow, and Queequeg reveals the special bond he shares with his harpoon, and why he chooses to carry it even on land. The people in the streets stare as they pass by, their companionship seems strange to them. On the ship, the other sailors share the same sentiment, Queequeg catches one of the sailors imitating him behind his back and manhandles him to teach him a lesson. The captain of the ship finds out and just as he is berating Queequeg, the boom from the mainsail becomes free. It sweeps the deck back and forth, whips the sailor that had been imitating Queequeg right into the ocean. Queequeg crawls under the boom first and lassos it while the sailors of the ship watch and dives into the ocean to rescue the drowning sailor. The sailors and the captain are very thankful to Queequeg and are much more respectful of him.
Ismael describes how Nantucket was settled by Native Americans after an eagle carried off an infant and the parents set off in canoes to follow the eagle, they discovered the skeleton of the infant on the island. Ishmael describes it as an elbow of sand where weeds must be planted, and where every piece of wood is treated as the Romans held the pieces of the true cross. Ishmael calls the Nantucketers the emperors of the sea, for they spend so much time on the ocean that the land becomes an alien place to them.
Upon reaching Nantucket, Queequeg and Ishmael make for “Try Pots”, an inn that Peter Coffin had recommended on account of his cousin being the owner and their chowder being delicious. They get lost on their way but finally make it to the inn, and are ushered in by Mrs. Hussey, the wife of the owner. Both Queequeg and Ishmael immensely enjoy the clam and cod chowders that the establishment offers. Before they go to their rooms, Mrs. Hussey takes away Queequeg's harpoon, as she allows no such weapons in the rooms since one of her previous customers had been found dead on the first floor, the courtesy of a harpoon he had carried to his room.
Queequeg's little black idol is called Yojo, and Queequeg listens to the idol in all things. Queequeg informs Ishamel that Yojo has already picked out a ship for them, and if Ishmael should set out and search for a whaling ship, he would certainly select the same ship. But he must do so alone, although Ishmael is taken aback at this, he listens to his friend and sets out to find a ship. He discovers “the Pequod” a ship named after an extinct tribe of native Americans. The ship is old but adorned with many modern parts, many of which are shaped of whaled bones. Aboard the ship he discovers, Captain Peleg, and Captain Dibald. Captain Peleg questions him about his desire to go whaling and warns him of the dangers and the monotony of such a voyage. He tells him about Captain Ahab, who is the true captain of the ship, while the other two captains are part owners and responsible for putting the ship in condition to sail again. Captain Ahab has an ill name and Peleg tells Ishmael to avoid bringing up its origins to the captain. He informs Ishmael of Ahab's recent injury at the hands of a whale that chewed up his leg, but Peleg swears that although Ahab may have an unpleasant mood, he is still a good captain. Ishmael informs them of Queequeg and his intention to accompany Ishmael, and Captain Peleg asks Ishmael to bring him along the next day.
Queequeg had remained in the room to carry out a fast that Ishmael believed to be some sort of Ramadan ritual, and so Ishmael didn't immediately go up to the room but waited until the evening. He tries to enter the room but finds it locked and no amount of knocking seems to incite a response. He looks into the room through the keyhole and sees the end of Queequeg's harpoon, the one the landlady had earlier confiscated. Now certain that Queequeg is within the room, Ishmael begins to fear that his friend may have had a seizure while the landlady seems to believe that another one of her patrons has committed suicide. Ishmael breaks into the door and discovers Queequeg sitting inside the room with Yojo balanced on his head. He tries to engage with Queequeg but he remains in the same position until the sunrise of the next day.
Captain Peleg and Bildad are surprised to discover that Queequeg is a savage and insist that they only allow one such as him on their crew after having a look at the papers that confirmed conversion to Christianity. Ishmael speaks on behalf of Queequeg and his response impresses Peleg so much so that he forgoes the formality of checking the cannibal's papers and even offers him the 19th part of the ship's profit upon witnessing his prowess with the harpoon.
Ishmael and Queequeg disembark from the ship and are accosted by a raggedly dressed sailor called Elijah. He talks about Captain Ahab, whom he calls Old Thunder, and keeps questioning them whether they had signed on to the Pequod. He speaks in fragments, that confuse Ishmael, who becomes convinced that Elijah is some kind of a madman or a humbug.
Ishmael and Queequeg continued to visit the ship every day as it is prepared for the three-year-long voyage by Captain Bildad, Peleg, and the other hands of the ship. Every day Ishmael goes to the ship and asks about Captain Ahab, and he is always told that Ahab is getting better and is expected aboard any day.
Analysis
The novel opens with the odd command 'Call me Ishmael' from the author. The biblical name refers to an outcast from the book of genesis and is a marker of a religious tone that accompanies the reader throughout the book. There is an odd difference between the Ishmael that narrates the book and the penniless sailor who has a non-essential job aboard a whaling vessel. This leads us to conclude that a much older and more experienced Ishmael is narrating the story of his past.
The relationship that Ishmael shares with Queequeg is also important since the subject of relations between races is something that is continually examined in the book. Queequeg is an amalgamation of many different characteristics from disparate cultures, for instance, he prays to an idol shaped like an African baby, is described to be practicing a Ramadan-like ritual, and carries a native American weapon.
Ahab, the captain, also has a biblical name that belonged to a king who displeased God with his idol worship. In the bible, Elijah foretold the destruction of Ahab, similarly, a sailor named Elijah tells Ishmael that the Pequod is doomed.
