This blog, by the way, is brought to you by sleep deprivation and a brain wasted on a tidal wave of metaphors that continues to crash down upon my poor brain. See my brain is like a dinky boat, Melville's Novel is the ocean of metaphors I'm sailing through, Melville is my Ahab, finding some cohesive idea to walk away from this novel with is my White Whale, and Sparknotes is my dear Queequeg. I'm starting to think at this point that Melville didn't complete his research until he was almost done with the book, as carpenter and blacksmith's purpose on a whaling boat isn't that ambiguous, but their absence up to now cannot be explained. I also think at points that Melville may have gotten 2/3s of the way through writing this before thinking "Ooh, I want a crowd of wild men from the Phillipines on board now, better throw in a hint about them earlier so my audience isn't completely blind-sided by them."
Having said that, I am still enjoying the comparison and contrasting views of the already existing characters, particularly the practical nature of Stubb and Flask, plus the new spin on Pip's character and Starbuck's religious input on numerous topics. The novel hasn't worn out it's welcome completely, I just am reeling more and more at how many holes would be torn in me if I presented this to one of my creative writing teachers. Phew.
Hmm I just tried to post here, but I don't think it went through. And the comment I wrote was also erased, so I'll try to remember what I said...
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty odd how random characters are popping up on a ship 3/4ths of the way through its journey. I would have understood if they picked these characters up at one of the Pequod's stops, but apparently they were there all along? I get the feeling that Melvilled decided to add these characters, but neglected to go back to his earlier written chapters to give the characters some kind of introduction.
We could talk more about these characters tomorrow, Taylor. You and Andrew are right about how they pop up out of nowhere, but we could think of them as more examples of the humanity that Ahab is leaving behind (and that he depends upon, although he hates to admit it).
ReplyDeleteI love the arguments you were making here and your way of wording them made them enjoyable to read. It does seem quite strange when he adds new characters out of the blue. The boat must be massive.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It also helps that it ties into the article about the stages of writing. I have to agree that it seems the characters are haphazardly placed in parts of the book when Melville realizes their should be a nod to them.
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