We just had the MD post-reading discussion at the delicious Jazz: A Louisiana Kitchen. Strawberry Fist, Her Grace, Her Grace's husband (who will now be referred to as
His Grace), Her Grace's mom, Kelly, and I were all in attendance. In this post and the next one, I will finish my notes from this reading of Moby Dick.
From Chapter 89 - Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish:"A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it." "..What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish"I thought this was an interesting point of view. You've got to remember that in 1851, the US was acquiring territory and new states pretty regularly. I wonder if we will eventually incorporate Mexico, too.
From Chapter 90 - Heads or Tails:
"Ye tail is ye Queen's, that ye Queen's wardrobe may be supplied with ye whalebone". Now this was written at a time when the black limber bone of the Greenland or Right whale was largely used in ladies' bodices."The things women do for fashion. Imagine getting into one of these
things and having your chambermaid lace you up. In order to have the 'perfect' figure, you would be subject to anything from fainting fits to miscarriage.
From Chapter 93 - The Castaway:
"So, though in the clear air of day, suspended against a blue-veined neck, the pure-watered diamond drop will healthful glow; yet, when the cunning jeweller would show you the diamond in its most impressive lustre, he lays it against a gloomy ground, and then lights it up, not by the sun, but by some unnatural gases. Then come out those fiery effulgences, infernally superb; then the evil-blazing diamond, once the divinest symbol of the crystal skies, looks like some crown- jewel stolen from the King of Hell."This is still the case today. Diamonds do look more fiery in flourescent light, even those of poor quality. Melville has taught us budding jewelry-buyers something useful. Make sure you view your gems, diamonds in particular, in natural light before you buy it. Diamonds of lower color quality (like yellow) are often placed under slightly blue fluorescence to make them look whiter.
And fluorescing diamonds
do look very cool (like crown-jewels stolen from the King of Hell) under blacklights. Like a white shirt at a dance club.
From Chapter 96 - The Try-Works:"Wrapped, for that interval, in darkness myself, I but the better saw the redness, the madness, the ghastliness of others. The continual sight of the fiend shapes before me, capering half in smoke and half in fire, these at last begat kindred visions in my soul.."When I read this passage, I thought of Plato's
Allegory of the Cave. All of those shadows on the cave wall.. However frightening they are to you, if it's all you know, then there's some comfort in it. Not an exact parallel, I know, but a tangent.
From Chapter 109 - Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin:"Let the owners stand on Nantucket beach and outyell the Typhoons. What cares Ahab?"Haven't we all felt this way about the people in charge of us at times? I know I have. And what a good way to put it, Ahab.
From Chapter 113 - The Forge: "No, no - no water for that; I want it of the true death-temper. Ahoy, there! Tashtego, Queequeg, Daggoo! What say ye, pagans! Will ye give me as much blood as will cover this barb?" holding it high up. A cluster of dark nods replied, Yes. Three punctures were made in the heathen flesh, and the White Whale's barbs were then tempered. "Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!" deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood.
This is a wonderfully devilish scene. I'd like to use some of it for a d+d cutscene. There seem to be a lot of rituals to dark gods, and, since I've never actually seen one, it's nice to have good visual ideas to draw on. And, the translated latin:
I do not baptize you upon the name of the Father, but upon the name of the devil! Scary.
From Chapter 117 - The Whale-Watch: "Take another pledge, old man, said the Parsee, as his eyes lighted up like fire-flies in the gloom, - Hemp only can kill thee."How is it that Fedallah can give these sort of predictions? And how is it that he's actually right? Does he cast auguries or something? I love the sort of mysticism that Melville gives him. I'm sure it's a form of Orientalism, the idea of the
other, that was so prevalent during the time in Europe. Melville gives these attributes to Fedallah, and the awe of him to the rest of the crew.
Moby-Dick06 (technorati tag)
