0 reactions
An interpretation of the whale anatomy chapters in Moby Dick. Idealism vs Realism.
In the foreword to my copy of the book the translator mentions he knows quite a few people who admit they skip over the whale anatomy chapters when reading Moby Dick, and it's a sentiment pretty common on the internet. After all, they are written is a pretty different style, come in quite intrusively right in the middle of the narrative and seems pretty implausible that Ishmael would be so scientifically educated (his point about the whale being a fish nonwithstanding) on whale anatomy. In fact skipping these chapter does manage to leave the plot pretty intact, but I figured I'd make the case why they do add an important dimension to the book and should not be skipped.
People often talk about the important of symbolism in Moby Dick, and there have been many arguments on what the white whale is supposed to represent. I'm not as interested in that right now as I am interested in the process of symbolisation in itself, and I'd like to sloppily introduce the philosophical dichotomy of idealism vs realism, namely is the physical world ontologically prior to our consciousness, or are our thoughts and consciousness prior to the world out there? I think the heavy contrast between the scientific style of the anatomy chapters and the heavy symbolism of the general narrative is a good example of this dichotomy.
It's pretty clear from Ahab's arguments with Starbuck that Moby Dick isn't just some wild animal that happened to bite his leg off. In fact Ahab seems quite aware of the kinds of meanings he himself puts into the animal. Moby Dick becomes something more than just Moby Dick. It's not at all some trivial fish which belongs to a certain family with certain habbits, it's symbolical significance dwarfs all the trivial anatomical facts. The reputation of Moby Dick and the important Ahab gives to it seems to also echo through the crew, hunting Moby Dick isn't hunting some ordinary animal, it's hunting something they've imbued with meaning.
The anatomical chapters stands in sharp contrast to this, since they themself seem to be completely devoid of this meaning given to the whales. In the anatomy chapters, the whale is simply a particular school of fish, which can be accurately dryly described and categorized in a way where human understanding of them seems to be total. This is how large they get, this is where they live, this is what they eat, this is how you capture them, this is how they respond, these are which useful materials one can make from their carcass, etc.
The contrast here I think highlights the dichotomy of how in one sense the conflict is trivial, they really are just hunting fish to flog their fat. On the other hand, it's also clearly not how most of the crewmembers see it, especially Ahab, and it seems in order to give themselves meaning the simply anatomical facts of whales are nowhere near enough, they need to be imbued with meaning in order to give the whalehunt purpose, and that this meaning is more important and truthful than the boring anatomical facts.
In the foreword to my copy of the book the translator mentions he knows quite a few people who admit they skip over the whale anatomy chapters when reading Moby Dick, and it's a sentiment pretty common on the internet. After all, they are written is a pretty different style, come in quite intrusively right in the middle of the narrative and seems pretty implausible that Ishmael would be so scientifically educated (his point about the whale being a fish nonwithstanding) on whale anatomy. In fact skipping these chapter does manage to leave the plot pretty intact, but I figured I'd make the case why they do add an important dimension to the book and should not be skipped.
People often talk about the important of symbolism in Moby Dick, and there have been many arguments on what the white whale is supposed to represent. I'm not as interested in that right now as I am interested in the process of symbolisation in itself, and I'd like to sloppily introduce the philosophical dichotomy of idealism vs realism, namely is the physical world ontologically prior to our consciousness, or are our thoughts and consciousness prior to the world out there? I think the heavy contrast between the scientific style of the anatomy chapters and the heavy symbolism of the general narrative is a good example of this dichotomy.
It's pretty clear from Ahab's arguments with Starbuck that Moby Dick isn't just some wild animal that happened to bite his leg off. In fact Ahab seems quite aware of the kinds of meanings he himself puts into the animal. Moby Dick becomes something more than just Moby Dick. It's not at all some trivial fish which belongs to a certain family with certain habbits, it's symbolical significance dwarfs all the trivial anatomical facts. The reputation of Moby Dick and the important Ahab gives to it seems to also echo through the crew, hunting Moby Dick isn't hunting some ordinary animal, it's hunting something they've imbued with meaning.
The anatomical chapters stands in sharp contrast to this, since they themself seem to be completely devoid of this meaning given to the whales. In the anatomy chapters, the whale is simply a particular school of fish, which can be accurately dryly described and categorized in a way where human understanding of them seems to be total. This is how large they get, this is where they live, this is what they eat, this is how you capture them, this is how they respond, these are which useful materials one can make from their carcass, etc.
The contrast here I think highlights the dichotomy of how in one sense the conflict is trivial, they really are just hunting fish to flog their fat. On the other hand, it's also clearly not how most of the crewmembers see it, especially Ahab, and it seems in order to give themselves meaning the simply anatomical facts of whales are nowhere near enough, they need to be imbued with meaning in order to give the whalehunt purpose, and that this meaning is more important and truthful than the boring anatomical facts.
| 0 mlx | |
| 22 | |
| 0 |