(There are some spoilers here regarding the ultimate meaning of the book as a whole.)
Moby Dick is “not the book people think. It is not even the KIND of book people think. It is the most important and the least understood document in the human archive.” ~ Jed McKenna
Moby Dick is a delightful, smashingly entertaining yarn about… well, let me just start by saying that it is very well-written, has a good deal of humor, is more than adequately stocked with symbolism and metaphor, has plenty of philosophical sidebars and meanderings, is encyclopedic in its knowledge about and insights into the science and workings of the whaling industry, has its share of intrigue and bewilderment, is at times heart wrenching, has numerous religious and classical connotations and references, is awash with excitement and adventure, has a plethora of very well formed characters and… it is considered a literary masterpiece. What more could one ask for in a book? So what is it about?
“Truth has no confines.”
Moby Dick is an ornery and cantankerous giant sperm whale, a leviathan, which has, over the years, left a substantial trail of injuries, maimings, miseries, sufferings and, dare I say, annihilation in its wake – a horrendous rap sheet at best. The Pequod is a commercial whaling ship that is hired to sail the seven seas in search of high quality, large quantity whale oil to be sold once the ship successfully returns to port – it is a purely business venture for everyone involved or, rather, with the exception of…. Captain Ahab is the, also ornery and cantankerous, man hired to be sole commander and head honcho of the Pequod in this many years long pecuniary pursuit. Sounds rather straight forward, right? What could go wrong?
"It is not down in any map; true places never are."
Moby Dick is generally believed to be about the gradual decent into madness of Captain Ahab, thus resulting in his eventual monomaniacal quest for the aforesaid great leviathan, Moby Dick. Ahab’s crusade incorporates the entire crew of the Pequod who are, along with Ahab himself, ultimately sent to Davy Jones’ Locker or are they? That is the nearly universal consensus of the meaning of the book Moby Dick. But… is that really what is going on here? Does this interpretation even make sense?
“Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. 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.”
If Ahab is, in fact, just a crackpot out for revenge then this book, at least to me, would be kind of silly – crazy man convinces ship owners to hire him, coaxes crew into blindly following him to kill one particular whale for the sole purpose of revenge, all are ultimately destroyed… end of story. If this is the case, then who is the orphan who lives at the end of the book and who is Ishmael? There must be something more to this than meets the eye. Melville must have had a deeper, perhaps even more profound, purpose in mind for writing this very intense and precisely written novel.
“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!”
Moby Dick, in my opinion, goes way beyond the literal goings-on of this book to a much broader, deeper, more profoundly transcendental and mystical interpretation and understanding. If we look at Ahab as not crazy but sane, radically sane, then many of his otherwise baffling rantings and ravings start to make sense.
“Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way!”
His is a quest, a quest for truth and freedom, a monomaniacal quest and Moby Dick represents the delusion standing in the way of his goal.
“All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it”.
Moby Dick, the whale, is a veil of delusion to be pierced – the white backdrop upon which everything that is not truth is projected - the mask behind which freedom is to be found. Ahab is locked in a prison of his own making and strives to break out, in fact, that’s his whole reason for being.
“If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall?”
This is the quest for ultimate truth and for finding this truth regardless of the cost and regardless of the outcome. This truth is spiritual enlightenment, the return to oneness, the transcendence of consciousness from the illusory confines of the ego and Ahab is powerless in its wake.
“But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I.”
Ahab is on a one directional voyage to finally pierce through the veil of illusion to get to the other side. He risks all for this. He incinerates all attachments and beliefs to return to absolute wholeness. In the end, he completely eviscerates his ego, annihilates himself and is Captain Ahab no more.
“The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth? --Because one did survive the wreck.”
Moby Dick is tale of the spiritual journey of a man who ultimately gets the job done. Does Ahab die? Does it say anywhere in the book that he dies? Did he fail? No, Ahab does not die and he does not fail. He succeeds absolutely and the fact that he lives is proof of his accomplishment – but… he is no longer Ahab the man. He is… he has transcended the veil of illusions and is “in this world but not of it”. He has gone beyond and is one with the all and everything. He is a god unto himself. He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He is…
“Call me Ishmael.”
Moby Dick is a wonderful book and I recommend it to everyone, because it has something for everyone. Don’t worry that you don’t understand all of the references and allusions, how could you, just read it and trust that your soul will understand all that it needs to and is ready to at the time of your reading it. Let it serve not as a toss away book , one to be read once and marked off your list, but as a book to return to as many times in your life as need be. Let it serve for you as a distant shore toward which you head throughout your life, a shore that represents peace and freedom, truth and beauty, shore that can be reached once the ocean of the universe has been completely traversed and the white whale of delusion has been seen through and destroyed. At that time, you can proudly say that the book Moby Dick has been understood in its entirety – but then, there won’t be anyone, be any ego, left to claim the victory because…
“It’s not about fictional Ahab and Ishmael but about the real man who make the real journey… Seen correctly, it’s the American Mahabharata.” ~ Jed McKenna
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Print is small, paper is dark. Low quality item but good enough for plain trip or vacation.
First of all. .please see the picture of the edition I am reviewing as I noticed that there are so many different edition being sold over time under the same product page that it was confusing for me when I was buying and reading reviews.So for clarification: I am reviewing the book that has a fish tail and a moon over the ocean scene on it.The Size - the size is decant, good for travel or bedtime read as it is small and easy to handle. Not super super small but your typical smaller size book somewhat like half of the printer page of paper 8.5 x 11.The weight - the paper is light so the book is also light despite having a lot of pages.Thickness - about two inches or so.Paper quality - cheapest imaginable. I would assume this is somewhat of a newspaper print but also very dark and from my experience those type of papers get darker in time as they usually have high acid content and that is what make them yellowing or darkening as they age. I am not happy with this paper at all. Even if I don't intend to keep this book for decades, I was hoping it will have relatively light color paper so I will be able to read easily but that dark paper makes it low contrast situation against not to dark print and in anything less then super good light conditions combined with good glasses if you need one making reading a chore.Smell - it had little smell to it like someone's home. Maybe a return? Book otherwise looked unread and the pages looked never wide opened and the spine was pristine.Condition - it came new and looking new but that smell per above, not sure why. It did not deem it unusable but was bit off putting considering I wanted a new new book.I bought it for a gift for school that had it on a gift list needed books so for the purpose it was probably suitable but if you need a book for a gift or for your collection I would buy something with reallymuch better print and paper quality. This one feels more of a disposable goods item after a plain trip or vacation.
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Jessé Levy Trindade
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