Moby Dick Chapters 101-120
Chapters 101-120
Ishmael believes the skeleton of the whale is an interesting subject of study, one that he has attempted to conduct himself. He can provide a detailed account of the skeleton as he has dissected a baby sperm whale aboard a ship, and has seen the venerated skeleton of a whale that had washed onto the shore of a beach in one of the island nations.
He then discusses the question of the number and size of the whales in the present time, since there is an argument raised by some that the hunting of the whale so aggressively may lead to its extinction. Ishmael compares the sizes of the fossils of whales discovered with the skeleton of the present-day whale to conclude that the whale is larger now than it was in the past. As for the numbers, he believes the hunting is not quite as aggressive as the hunting of the buffalo in America, and since the whale can retreat to the poles where the ice prevents whale hunting, the whales' numbers remain high.
In disembarking from the English Whaler, Ahab had damaged his ivory leg. This damage was worsened aboard the Pequod when Ahab made a quick turn in irritation. Although the leg still keeps him upright, Ahab calls to the carpenter for he is certain that it needs to be replaced. He asks the carpenter to furnish him with a new leg that very night and instructs the crew to provide the man with all he requires.
The carpenter is a skilled man that can complete a plethora of tasks aboard the Pequod. Ishmael however feels that the man's skill does not stem from any intelligence but rather the wide application of skills that had been drilled into the man. Ahab visits the carpenter as he works on the ivory leg. Ahab is congenial with him and the blacksmith who works on the forge close by and names him Prometheus, the titan that shaped man out of clay in a fire. Ahab reveals to the carpenter that he continues to feel his leg even though it no longer existed in the physical realm.
Starbuck discovers an oil leak in the hold where the casks are stored and goes to Ahab to draw his attention to the mishap. Ahab is sitting in his cabin with his new ivory leg, examining the charts of Japan. Starbuck suggests that they open the hold and pull out the casks to stem the leak but Ahab wishes to press on the trail of Moby Dick. Starbuck attempts to be insistent but Ahab pulls a musket, points it at him, and commands him to be obedient. Starbuck is severely taken aback by Ahab's behavior and warns Ahab to be wary of himself before leaving the cabin. This parting thought affects Ahab greatly and he goes onto the deck and orders the opening of the hold for the detection of the oil leak.
The crew goes deeper and deeper into the hold to identify the leak. Queequeg is among the sailors that venture into the deeper parts of the hold, where he contracts some kind of illness that causes him to lay very near to death. Thinking himself on the verge of death, Queequeg asks the crew to make him a coffin of dark wood like the ones the sailors of Nantucket used, much like Queequeg's own people. However, once the carpenter has made the coffin and Queequeg has examined it to his satisfaction, his health begins to recover. Queequeg declares that he has remembered a deed he has left undone on the shore, and so has decided not to die. He uses the coffin now as a sea chest and carves onto its lid the many tattoos of his own body.
The Pequod enters the southern seas and heads towards the Japanese cruising grounds. The blacksmith, Perth, is an old and tired man bent by years of sorrow. Once he had been a cheerful man with a young wife, a beautiful home, and wonderful children. He lost them all to the fiend of the bottle, and now remains a sullen old man that works without complaint. Ahab brings to Perth steel stubs of racing horses, the very finest steel used by any blacksmith. And with Ahab's command and help, Perth makes of those stubs a piercing harpoon of wicked steel. Ahab gives him his razors to fashion the barbs and quench's the harpoon in the blood of the 'heathen' harpooners who willingly give blood for it. Once the iron is fixed in wood and tied with rope, Ahab retires to his cabin silently. The Pequod crosses paths with another Nantucketer whaling ship, The Bachelor. The other whaling ship is chock full of whale oil and is heading home with a positive festival playing out on its deck. The sailors on the mastheads wear hats with streamers, the crew play drums, and other instruments, while sailors dance with girls on deck. The happy captain of the Bachelor invites Ahab aboard for a glass, but Ahab only wishes to inquire of Moby Dick. The crew has seen nothing of the white whale, and the two ships continue on their way, one bound homewards and the other outwards. They soon come upon whales and the crew can kill four whales, one of which is killed by Ahab.
Ahab and his crew remain with their killed whale for the crew are unable to bring it to her side, they sleep on their boat as night descends. Ahab awakens to find Fedallah awake. Fedallah shares with Ahab the prophecy of his death, how Ahab will see two hearses, one of which will not be made by living hands while the other will be made of American wood. And that Fedallah was to die before Ahab, who would die only of hemp rope. Ahab takes this prophecy to mean that he will not die at sea but will certainly return to shore.
Ahab sits on the deck of the ship and uses his quadrant to plot his coordinates, he stares at the sun and wonders whether it knows where Moby Dick is at that very moment. In a moment of passion then he throws down the quadrant and smashes it with his foot, angry at it for not being able to tell where to go next. He then gives orders to the crew to change the direction of the ship.
The Pequod sails into a terrible typhoon, Starbuck and Stubbs stand on the deck and look towards the dark sky of the typhoon. Starbuck wants to turn in the opposite direction, for that is the most direct way to Nantucket, and their current heading leads them to Moby Dick. He believes this to be a sign that God is against the mission and draws the attention of Stubbs towards the now broken boat of Ahab that the Storm had taken in its fury and smashed it at the place where Ahab generally stood on the deck. Ahab makes his way to the deck as well, the lightning strikes and the tips of the masts catch fire, a dangerous situation for the masts absorb oil from the casks in the hold and so burn like candles. Ahab grabs a hold of the rigging and stands on Fedallah's back and makes an odd prayer to the flames, he hails the flames as a good omen for their enterprise. They continue to burn, and Starbuck attempts to reason with Ahab, points to him his broken boat in which lies the newly made harpoon now burning from another lightning strike. The crew panic at Starbuck's words and attempt to turn around the ship, but Ahab grabs a hold of the burning harpoon and commands the crew to remember their oath of killing the white whale, then he extinguishes the flame of his harpoon with a deep breath, and the crew is cowed before him.
Analysis
The chapters in this section alternate settings of deep reflection among the crew and tension-filled interactions, much like a drama. This serves to remind the reader that the tale of Moby Dick is a fictional one and Ahab concocts the drama aboard the ship.
Tattoos were viewed with a much deeper meaning in the 19th century, they symbolized the separation of the individual from the rest of society. In this manner, Ishmael's tattoo of the measurements of the whale and his intention to tattoo a much larger document onto his body is a mark of his experience that separates him from white society. In Queequeg, we see his culture's use of tattoos to pass on the learned knowledge of the universe and the truth. Since he has no access to other members of his tribe, Queequeg attempts to share the knowledge embedded in his skin by copying the tattoos onto the lid of the coffin, which is the only thing that survives the sinking of the ship.
Ahab's hubris leads him to misinterpret the prophecy told by Fedallah, he uses his own logic to conclude that the prophecy's contents do not foretell his death at sea. This is surprising because Ahab lives aboard a ship that is covered with ropes, and yet he only interprets a possible death from hemp as death by hanging.
In these chapters Ahab gains more power and control over the ship and its crew, this is signified by the loss of navigation tools such as the log, the compass, and the quadrant. Instead of relying on logic and science, the navigation of the ship now occurs in line with the desires of Captain Ahab.
