Moby-Dick · Chapter
LVII: Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars explained
Ishmael catalogs the myriad artistic and natural representations of whales, from the beggar's painted board in London to carvings on whale teeth, wooden sculptures, weathervanes, and even the shapes of whales perceived in mountain ranges an
What happens
Ishmael catalogs the myriad artistic and natural representations of whales, from the beggar's painted board in London to carvings on whale teeth, wooden sculptures, weathervanes, and even the shapes of whales perceived in mountain ranges and constellations. He reflects on the whaleman's 'savage' patience and artistry, and concludes with a poetic vision of chasing celestial whales across the night sky.
Themes in this chapter
Interpretation and Perception
The entire chapter explores how humans perceive and represent the whale in art and nature, from crude sketches to seeing whales in stars and mountains, highlighting the subjective and creative act of interpretation.
Isolation and Community
The art of 'skrimshander' is born from the 'long exile' and 'ocean leisure' of whalemen, a communal craft that binds them in a shared, 'savage' culture distinct from Christendom.
Characters to notice
- Ishmael
Acts as the narrator and observer, analyzing the cultural artifacts and natural phenomena that depict whales, and declaring his own 'savage' identity aligned with whalemen.
Key passages
“Long exile from Christendom and civilization inevitably restores a man to that condition in which God placed him, i.e. what is called savagery. Your true whale-hunter is as much a savage as an Iroquois.”
Ishmael argues that the isolated life of a whaler strips away civilization, returning him to a fundamental, 'savage' state.
This is a key philosophical claim about the transformative effect of the whaling life.
“Nor when expandingly lifted by your subject, can you fail to trace out great whales in the starry heavens... Thus at the North have I chased Leviathan round and round the Pole with the revolutions of the bright points that first defined him to me.”
When deeply immersed in thoughts of whales, one begins to see their shapes in the constellations, allowing Ishmael to imaginatively hunt them across the cosmos.
Shows how obsession (with whaling) shapes perception of the entire universe.