The Science and Culture of the Sea: An Analysis of Herman Melvilles Moby Dick - Book Report/Review Example

The Science and Culture of the Sea: An Analysis of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick Word Count 500 (6 pages) How does the book compare to our modern understanding of the sea? What science is accurate? Which is not? How is the sea and our relationship to it portrayed in this works of fiction? I. Introduction (150 words) Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is a classic which has stood the test of time, mainly because of its measured plot, solid cast of characters, and believable storyline. With the book Moby Dick, one can: make a comparison between itself and one’s modern understanding of the sea; make deductions about what is good, accurate science and what is not; and finally, divine how the relationship between the sea and human beings is portrayed in this work of fiction. Surely, Moby Dick will be around in the eras beyond our modern times, because of the exquisite nature of this book and the legacy that it seeks to capture, encapsulated forever between two covers. It should be noted that the many elements about the sea (and science) in Moby Dick are what make it an extraordinary piece of literature. That is why people have continued reading this classic piece for years and years. II. Moby Dick and the Modern Understanding of the Sea Compared (325 words) Nowadays, most people are not as afraid of seafaring as they might have been in the mid-19th century. Without the aid of deep underwater equipment and scuba diving, there was really no way—back then—to know exactly what the deep dark sea did consist of exactly. This scared many people away from the water. However, there were a certain brave few who weathered the elements because they were so curious as to how the sea operated, even though the sea was considered a strange animal. There were “strange forms in the water…[and] sea-ravens…therefore fit roosting-place for their homeless selves. And heaved and heaved still unrestingly heaved the black sea, as if its vast tides were a conscience; and the great mundane soul were in anguish and remorse for the long sin and suffering it had bred.”1 Additionally, over time—but especially in Melville’s book—a case has been made that there is something very sacred about the sea which—perhaps, he writes—lives within all of us. “Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. Consider all this; and then turn to this green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land, and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself?”2 Melville makes us attempt to draw a comparison between sea and land and our respective souls. Where is it dry? What does the stability of land provide, and what do we give up when we go out to sea? In exchange for a salty, untamed coexistence, the sea beckons even as it threatens to revolt against its seafarers. Yes, it is the sea, that most wild of all natural elements, that nurtures, destroys. It is this sea inside (the mind) which Melville seeks to draw out, as he continues to dazzle readers with his linguistically rich and metaphorical prose. III. Deductions About Accurate and Innacurate Science in Moby Dick (450 words) Of course, water cannot be like air, which is apparent to everyone except the speaker here, even if only in jest, when he says, “Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Methinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me.”3 These are not the only examples of historically scientific references—most of which were indeed accurate. Moby Dick was definitely right about the fact that the equator was hot, and that mercury was dangerous. He also referenced—it is being guessed—St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Thus, Melville makes some scientific historical facts well known. “Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. Like the great dome of St. Peter’s and like the great whale, retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own. But how easy and how hopeless to teach these fine things!”4 Ahab, in a speech, rambles about how he rails against the mighty whale. For him, it is a part of nature, but also obviously a part of himself that he has been missing. Our faces mask the true nature of the identity lying beneath—and the ‘old’ understanding of the sea was that it was an animal to be tamed and conquered. “All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event—in the living act, the undoubted deed— there, some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there’s naught beyond…That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him…I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”5 Of course, now in modern times, we realize that we cannot necessarily conquer the sea. However, it is the unbridled brazenness which keeps us returning to the figure of Ahab as we see him in the timeless quest to become immortal by doing something great in one’s lifetime. For Ahab, that quest is to find and kill Moby Dick. These observations notwithstanding, there are probably a plethora of errors that are scientific in nature in this book, which was published in the mid-19th century. However, that does not in any way diminish the overarching themes of the book notwithstanding. IV. The Relationship Between the Sea and Human Beings (450 words) The relationship between man and the sea is difficult to describe. Whatever the case, it obviously brings a man to his knees enough in humility to pray about the torrid times he is experiencing out on the waves. “Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences.”6 There is also something to be said about the kind of strong persona that a person develops while out at sea. One must have personality, strength—in order to survive the rough waves and the tough sea that jounces the boat about. “For I believe that much of a man’s character will be found betokened in his backbone.”7 The sea can be a scary place for humans because the sea has a great degree of depth, and is seemingly bottomless. In essence, it is like being in an inescapable hell, seeing as how there is no land. One wonders “how it is that…all the living so strive to hush all the dead; wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city…But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.”8 Ahab considers himself in high esteem, and with lots of bravado, he is proud, feeling like he has conquered the sea once he conquers the whale. “There is nothing like the perils of whaling to breed this free and easy sort of genial, desperado philosophy; and with it I now regard this whole voyage of the Pequod, and the great White Whale its object.”9 However, Ahab, as well as the rest of the crew, realize that their powers over the sea and Mother Nature in general are limited. This ability to overcome only goes so far, and that is when disaster strikes. “But in pursuit of those far mysteries we dream of, or in tormented chase of that demon phantom that, some time or other, swims before all human hearts; while chasing such over his round globe, they either lead us on in barren mazes or midway leave us whelmed.”10 Sea is, indeed, a metaphor for life in this book. Life, like the sea, can be unpredictable, dangerous, and on a totally whole other level—enjoyable. But it depends on one’s situation. “Are you not the precious image of each and all of us men in this whaling world? That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life; those sharks, your foes; those spades, your friends; and what between sharks and spades you are in a sad pickle and peril, poor lad.”11 Thus we see this is a complicated relationship. V. Conclusion (125 words) Melville used Moby Dick, not just in order to conjure up images of the sea intermingled with the science of the day. Melville made the sea a metaphor for life, and, proverbially speaking, he leads us to all examine ‘the sea inside’—what is really going on inside our minds. He mentions that the absolute mysteries of life are all contained within the unfathomable. That is a metaphor for the sea being the abyss, into which all things return and from which all things originated. As he says, “But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.”12 The sea’s mysteries unveiled mirror our lives. WORKS CITED Melville, Herman. Moby Dick: Or, the Whale. US: Signet Classics, 2001. Pp. 3, 35, 36, 52, 157, 219, 227, 230, 268, 299, 311, 312, 338. Read More