Student+Notes-Narrative+Structure

1. How many narrators does the author use in //Moby Dick//? Try to identify each narrator.

Ishmael, Ahab, one of the mates.

2. What purpose does each //narrative voice// seem to have? (Identify the purpose of each)

Each narrative tells a different view on the situation at hand. It brings different information in light.

3. How many genres (drama, novel, travel narrative, diary, scientific journal, homily/sermon, etc.) of writing does the author use in writing //Moby Dick//? Identify them and determine the author's purpose in using each one.

Travel narrative- The author wanted to describe in detail the voyage that brought on the coming results.

Scientific journal- The author wanted to inform the reader of the art of whaling and the science behind it.

4. Who is the protagonist of the novel? Ishmael 5. Who's story is being told in //Moby Dick//? Why does the author spend so much time focusing on seemingly minor characters who do not move the main plot of the novel?

Many stories are told like Ismael, Ahab, and [|Queequeg]. The author went into the history of many small characters in order to bring in more information to the novel. To bring in other points of views and for the readers to see what made the charaters think the way they do and believe what they do.

6. What is a //frame story//? How does this structure help the author to develop the themes of his novel? Frame story A narrative structure containing or connecting a series of otherwise unrelated tales. It lets the readers know more about the event happening in the story. 7. What about the chapters on //cetology//? What purpose do they serve in the author's development of a central purpose? Cetology in the book gives the reader some general background about the whales. The central purpose is to help to understand how difficult to kill the whale. Also, to let the reader know what value it had at the time. 8. What seems to be the author's purpose in writing this book (**Remember:** we already have many stories that deal with the dangers of obsession and //monomania//; why would Melville take a theme that has been used again and again and apply it to a story that started out as a simple whaling adventure gone wrong?) They wrote the book to have readers realize how important the morals are to them. 9. As a whole, how does the author's use of narrative structure (the multiple narrators, the different genres, the ambiguous protagonist, the many digressions) help the author to achieve his purpose? They wrote the book to have readers realize how important the morals are to them.

Chapter 94:

While some were occupied with this latter duty, others were employed in dragging away the larger tubs, so soon as filled with the sperm; and when the proper time arrived, this same sperm was carefully manipulated ere going to the try-works, of which anon.

It was our business to squeeze these lumps back into fluid.

Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it;….

First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes. It is tough with congealed tendons - a wad of muscle - but still contains some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse is first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer.

Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of the whale's flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber, and often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness. It is a most refreshing, convivial, beautiful object to behold.

Spite of reason, it is hard to keep yourself from eating it.

It is called slobgollion; an appellation original with the whalemen, and even so is the nature of the substance. It is an ineffably oozy, stringy affair, most frequently found in the tubs of sperm, after a prolonged squeezing, and subsequent decanting.

Gurry, so called, is a term properly belonging to right whalemen, but sometimes incidentally used by the sperm fishermen. It designates the dark, glutinous substance which is scraped off the back of the Greenland or right whale, and much of which covers the decks of those inferior souls who hunt that ignoble Leviathan.

A whaleman's nipper is a short firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan's tail: it averages an inch in thickness, and for the rest, is about the size of the iron part of a hoe. Edgewise moved along the oily deck, it operates like a leathern squilgee; and by nameless blandishments, as of magic, allures along with it all impurities.

When the proper time arrives for cutting up its contents, this apartment is a scene of terror to all tyros, especially by night. On one side, lit by a dull lantern, a space has been left clear for the workmen.

Chapter 38 (Starbuck) My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but feel that I must help him to it.

The hated whale has the round watery world to swim in, as the small gold-fish has its glassy globe. His heaven-insulting purpose, God may wedge aside. I would up heart, were it not like lead. But my whole clock's run down; my heart the all-controlling weight, I have no key to lift again.

The hated whale has the round watery world to swim in, as the small gold-fish has its glassy globe. His heaven-insulting purpose, God may wedge aside. I would up heart, were it not like lead. But my whole clock's run down; my heart the all-controlling weight, I have no key to lift again.

Ch. 135 and epilogue Here's food for thought, had Ahab time to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels; that's tingling enough for mortal man! to think's audacity.

But at last, some three points off the weather bow, Ahab descried the spout again, and instantly from the three mast-heads three shrieks went up as if the tongues of fire had voiced it.

"Oh, my captain, my captain! - noble heart - go not - go not! - see, it's a brave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!" But Ahab heard nothing; for his own voice was high-lifted then; and the boat leaped on.

Yet the voice spake true; for scarce had he pushed from the ship, when numbers of sharks, seemingly rising from out the dark waters beneath the hull, maliciously snapped at the blades of the oars, every time they dipped in the water; and in this

A low rumbling sound was heard; a subterraneous hum; and then all held their breaths; as bedraggled with trailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise, but obliquely from the sea.

"Oh! Ahab," cried Starbuck, "not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"

"The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, now hug me close! Let not Starbuck die, if die he must, in a woman's fainting fit. Up helm, I say - ye fools, the jaw! the jaw! Is this the end of all my bursting prayers? all my life-long fidelities?

The unharming sharks, they glided by as if with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.

Chapter 38 (Starbuck) My soul is more than matched; she's overmanned; and by a madman! Insufferable sting, that sanity should ground arms on such a field! But he drilled deep down, and blasted all my reason out of me! I think I see his impious end; but feel that I must help him to it.

The hated whale has the round watery world to swim in, as the small gold-fish has its glassy globe. His heaven-insulting purpose, God may wedge aside. I would up heart, were it not like lead. But my whole clock's run down; my heart the all-controlling weight, I have no key to lift again.

Oh, life! 'tis now that I do feel the latent horror in thee! but 'tis not me! that horror's out of me! and with the soft feeling of the human in me, yet will I try to fight ye, ye grim, phantom futures! Stand by me, hold me, bind me, O ye blessed influences!

Chapter 9 The Sermon But what is this lesson that the book of Jonah teaches? Shipmates, it is a two- stranded lesson; a lesson to us all as sinful men, and a lesson to me as a pilot of the living God. As sinful men, it is a lesson to us all, because it is a story of the sin, hard-heartedness, suddenly awakened fears, the swift punishment, repentance, prayers, and finally the deliverance and joy of Jonah.

Jonah, on the mere suspicion of something wrong, had been arrested ere he touched a deck. How plainly he's a fugitive! no baggage, not a hat-box, valise, or carpet-bag, - no friends accompany him to the wharf with their adieux. At last, after much dodging search, he finds the Tarshish ship receiving the last items of her cargo; and as he steps on board to see its Captain in the cabin, all the sailors for the moment desist from hoisting in the goods, to mark the stranger's evil eye. Jonah sees this; but in vain he tries to look all ease and confidence; in vain essays his wretched smile.

But observe his prayer, and so many white bolts, upon his prison. Then Jonah prayed unto learn a weighty lesson. For sinful as he is, Jonah does not weep and wail for direct deliverance. He feels that his dreadful punishment is just. He leaves all his deliverance to God, contenting himself with this, that spite of all his pains and pangs, he will still look towards His holy temple. And how pleasing to God was this conduct in Jonah, is shown in the eventual deliverance of him from the sea and the whale. Shipmates, I do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him before you as a model for repentance. Sin not; but if you do, take heed to repent of it like Jonah.

As we have seen, God came upon him in the whale, and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, and with swift slantings tore him along"into the midst of the seas," where the eddying depths sucked him ten thousand fathoms down, and"the weeds were wrapped about his head," and all the watery world of woe bowled over him.

Then God spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and all the delights of air and earth; and"vomited out Jonah upon the dry land;" when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised and beaten - his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously murmuring of the ocean - Jonah did the Almighty's bidding.

summary Chapter 1-8

Ishmael expresses a yearning to lift his spirits with a sea voyage. He leaves his home in Manhattan and arrives in New Bedford, Massachusetts,. From there, he hopes to catch a small boat to the historical port of Nantucket of in order to sign on with a whaling ship. Unfortunately, there is no passage to Nantucket until Monday so he must find lodging that he can afford. He finally settles on the Spouter-Inn. After supper, finding no private beds available, Ishmael chooses to sleep on a bench, but that proves to be much too uncomfortable. Upon the urging of Mr. Coffin, the proprietor, Ishmael agrees to share a bed with a harpooner who is out attempting to sell an embalmed human head that the man obtained in the South Seas. As he is nodding off, he is startled by the return of Queequeg, the harpooner who seems to Ishmael to be a monstrous cannibal. Queequeg is also surprised to find someone in his bed. Fearing for his life, Ishmael desperately hollers for the landlord’s help. After breakfast, Ishmael walks about New Bedford, winding up at Whaleman’s Chapel where he notices numerous memorial tablets honoring men who died at sea. Ishmael thinks about death and immortality. He is a little surprised to see Queequeg in the congregation.Father Mapple, an elderly but vigorous man of God, ascends to the pulpit by climbing a rope ladder like one used to mount a ship from a boat at sea. Summary 10-37

After some conversation, they bond by sharing a pipe of Queequeg’s tobacco. Ishmael even joins him in a burnt offering to Yojo. The two roommates decide to be shipmates. On Monday morning, the two of them check out of the Spouter-Inn and carry their belongings in a wheelbarrow to the Moss, a small schooner that will take them to Nantucket where they hope to sign on with a whaler. Aboard the schooner, some people mock Queequeg; one of them is thrown overboard but then saved from drowning by Queequeg. After considering several vessels, the Ishmael selects the Pequod. That evening, Ishmael waits until after dark to return to the room because Queequeg is fasting until sunset. That day, Queequeg signs on with the Pequod. Shortly after leaving the ship, the two friends are approached by a raggedy prophet of doom named Elijah who speaks of serious problems with Ahab. Elijah suddenly appears close behind and asks whether they have seen anyone going aboard. Ishmael says he thinks he saw four or five men, and Elijah challenges him to find them on the ship. Ishmael cannot. Ishmael interrupts his narrative to speak as an advocate for the dignity of the whaling industry and whales. He argues that whaling is a clean and upright profession that brings considerable profit to the economy. Whalers have expanded our understanding of the globe through exploration. After the Pequod has been at sea for several days, Ahab finally makes his first appearance. Ishmael tries to convince himself that Ahab has simply waited until the ship, sailing south, reached warmer climes. In one of many considerations of cetology, Ishmael tells us of various types of leviathan, of which he values the sperm whale most highly. His attention then shifts to life aboard ship as he discusses the chain of command and some of the ways in which this hierarchy is demonstrated in daily life. The narrator considers the beauties and dangers of serving watch at the masthead. Ahab briefly discusses procedure for announcing the sighting of a whale and offers a Spanish ounce of gold to the first man to spot the White Whale. He enlists the crew’s support in a mission to kill Moby Dick; only Starbuck objects. Summary 39-93

Ishmael talks about how dangerous Moby Dick is and the incident of how Ahab lost a leg because of Moby Dick. Then he leads us into a discussion about the color white on the whale’s skin. The crew thought they saw a whale and Ahab tries to track down Moby Dick. The crew meets Fedallah for the first time. Ishmael confesses that he never went on a whaling voyage and he learned how dangerous it was to hunt down a whale. They meet Goney and Albatross on the way, but they don’t know where Moby Dick is. Ishmael tells a incident with Moby Dick and Steelkilt and Radney. Ishmael describes about the whales during the voyage. They think they saw a whale, but it was a giant squid, which was a bad omen. Stubb and Tashtego successfully capture a sperm whale. They capture sharks, which Queequeg got injured on one of them. They meet a ship called //Jeroboam// and the captain was talking to Ahab about Moby Dick. After exchanging conversation, they depart. Tashtego falls out of the ship, but get saved by Queequeg. Ishmael continues to talk about the characteristics of the whale, especially its skull. Pequod meets //Jungfrau// and they race to the whales they both find at the same time. After this, Ishmael starts thinking of what Father Maple have said about Jonah’s trip. The crew finds whales that are swimming in a circle and manages to capture one. Pequod meets //Bouton de Rose//. Stubb tricks the captain to get rid of the whales and keeps the whale for himself. Pip goes on the harpoon boast and jumps off. He is surrounded by whales and Stubb needed to free the whale in order to save Pip. Stubb tells Pip not to do it again, but he refuses to listen so he jumps off. Stubb leaves him in the middle of the ocean which teaches Pip a lesson.

Summary 95-Epilogue Ahab contemplates on the gold coin that will be the reward that is given to the crewman who first spots Moby Dick. On their journey they meet an English ship that has spotted Moby Dick and the captain of that ship tells him that he lost his arm in that encounter. After the encounter Ishmael begins to think about the history and future of whaling. He thinks about the times that he has spent studying whales. Queequeg catches a fever while he helps remove the casks from the hold. He gets very sick and seems as if he is going to die so he asks the ship’s carpenter to make him a coffin. Later in the voyage Ishmael realizes why the seamen find tranquility in the ocean, but he notices that it is very different with Ahab. As Ahab gets a very powerful harpoon his eagerness to catch Moby dick intensifies. A few weeks later the Pequod meets a Nantucket ship called the Bachelor. The Bachelor’s luck seems to have rubbed off on the Pequod because they catch four whales in one day. While Ahab is out to guard a whale Fedallah offers him a prophecy about his meeting with Moby Dick. Pip helps Ahab and the carpenter put together a log and line. As they are doing this Ahab becomes closer to Pip. The next day they meet a ship called the Rachel, that has seen Moby Dick. After they ask Ahab for there help in finding their lost whaleboat, Ahab refuses and heads in search of his prize. From the fear of losing Pip Ahab begins to distance himself from him. Ahab catches sight of Moby Dick and the chase begins. The whale sinks the whaleboat the first day and kills Fedallah and the second day. On the third day Fedallah’s prophecy comes true and the whale sinks the Pequod. Ahab in his last attempt to catch the whale gets tangled in his harpoon line and is thrown into the sea to his death., leaving only Ishmael hanging for dear life onto Queequeg’s coffin.