Moby Dick: Herman Melville

                                                         Image Credit: Britannica

“Call me Ishmael” is considered one of the greatest openings among all of the books ever written in the English language. Thus begins an all time classic “Moby Dick”. One has to “experience” the classic, only then is one capable of discerning what a classic is and what isn’t.

I had read this book in my pre-teens, a very impressionable age most would agree. I was so impressed with this book that all I ever wanted to do was become a boy immediately and go “a-whaling” just like our narrator Ishmael. I picked this book to read again on a whim and I am glad I did.

The book begins simply with an ordinary man choosing to go work on a whaling ship so it serves his dual purpose of experiencing the clean air of the seas and making enough money to get by. However, his journey must begin in a port town called Nantucket. A kind of spookiness envelopes our narrator in Nantucket even before he boards a ship. And this spookiness exists throughout the book like a haunting invisible character which has the power to manipulate the events about to occur. Of course it is Herman Melville’s clever use of this sense of the “mysterious unknown” that endearingly appeals to all the readers of this young-adult classic.

Back to the story - our narrator then wins a position on the whaling ship Pequod. It is at this point that Melville’s amazing descriptions bring alive such unique characters as Queequeg – with his tomahawk hair style and his body full of purple tattoos including his face! Captain Ahab with his ivory leg and the ever present sour temper due to Moby Dick; Starbuck - responsible and dependable, Stubb - carefree and reckless... and so on. It is around these characters that Melville weaves an unforgettable tale of adventure, romance and mystery, a tale about the hunt for whales and of course the titular Moby Dick.

The book is replete with references to whales, whale tales and not so strangely death/ghosts/spookiness. (I guess and sea and death are two sides of the same coin for many.) Take Mr. Peter Coffin, Innkeeper of the “Spouter Inn” where our narrator resides at Nantucket before he sets sail on Pequod - whales spout and coffin, obviously death. Then there is that incident where the madman tries to dissuade both our narrator and Queequeg from NOT joining the crew of Pequod. The sighting of the “five ghost like people” boarding their ship on a misty morning and so on. There is no dearth of “Bad Sign” incidents which adds to this spookiness - Queequeg having a coffin made for himself when very ill on the Pequod being a striking one among them.

Similar to Homer’s The Illiad, another classic, this tale too has several smaller stories not directly related to Moby Dick. These tales, just likes The Illiad’s sub-tales, add to the environment of the main story or to drive home a point, or to illustrate to us readers the basis of certain beliefs the seamen have.

Any review of Moby Dick isn’t complete without a mention of the rich detailed descriptions of the whole whaling process – capturing the whale, collecting blubber (or whale oil), the special storing techniques for storing whale oil, whale meat etc. Did you know that Ambergris (a particular whale product) is used in our perfumes, everyday face creams etc? Did you also know that our famous coffee brand Starbucks was also named after the first mate Starbuck – Wikipedia states:

The company is named in part after Starbuck, Captain Ahab's first mate in the novel Moby-Dick, as well as a turn-of-the-century mining camp (Starbo or Storbo) on Mount Rainier.

It is in this sense that Moby Dick can be considered “educative” as well. The entire sea-faring experience, the lives these men lead for years on ships. This vibrant life way of life is taught to us humble folks via these books – a life we can never experience firsthand.

Are these odd mix of people successful in capturing “Moby Dick”? I shall let you read and find that out yourself. One thing I can assure you of, though, is even after you have closed the book “Thar she blows” continues to haunt you for days – that is, if you still have a child within you somewhere.

Verdict: Classic, need I say more?

Rating: ?!?!