Moby-Dick · Chapter
LXXXVIII: Schools and Schoolmasters explained
This chapter details the social structures of sperm whales, describing two main types of schools: harems of females guarded by a single mature male (the 'schoolmaster') and bachelor schools of young, vigorous males.
What happens
This chapter details the social structures of sperm whales, describing two main types of schools: harems of females guarded by a single mature male (the 'schoolmaster') and bachelor schools of young, vigorous males. It anthropomorphizes their behavior, comparing the schoolmaster to an Ottoman sultan and the bachelor schools to reckless college students, and notes the differing social responses when a member of each group is harpooned.
Themes in this chapter
Man vs. Nature
The chapter systematically observes and categorizes whale behavior, attempting to understand and predict nature (for the purpose of hunting) by imposing human social and familial structures upon it.
Interpretation and Perception
The entire narrative is an exercise in interpreting natural phenomena through a human lens, using metaphors of Ottoman harems, collegians, and solitary hermits to perceive and explain whale society.
Key passages
“In cavalier attendance upon the school of females, you invariably see a male of full grown magnitude, but not old; who, upon any alarm, evinces his gallantry by falling in the rear and covering the flight of his ladies.”
A large, mature male whale protectively shepherds a school of females, positioning himself behind them to guard their retreat if threatened.
Describes the protective role of the 'schoolmaster' whale.
“Like a mob of young collegians, they are full of fight, fun, and wickedness, tumbling round the world at such a reckless, rollicking rate...”
Schools of young male whales behave like rowdy college students, rambunctious and dangerous in their playful energy.
Anthropomorphizes bachelor pods, highlighting their perceived recklessness.
“Say you strike a Forty-barrel-bull—poor devil! all his comrades quit him. But strike a member of the harem school, and her companions swim around her with every token of concern...”
If you harpoon a young male whale, his companions flee. If you harpoon a female, her pod-mates gather around her with apparent distress.
Contrasts the social cohesion of female schools with the self-preservation instinct of bachelor pods, a practical observation for whalers.