Insights on 'The Whale': Ch. 78-81

Chapter 78- Cistern and Buckets

"Only one sweeter end can readily be recalled- the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who seeking honey in the crotch of a hollow tree, found such exceeding store of it, that leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed. How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato's honey head, and sweetly perished there? "

The oil cavern in he head of a Sperm whale, while not veiwed as the brain or mind necessarily, represents the most valuable part of the whale. Perhaps Tashtego's near-death experience slipping into that 'honey-comb' is symbolic of how easily sailors are sucked into whaling. How easy that which you desire can overtake and destroy you. From Ishmael, who was saved from suicide by the sea, to Queequeg, who was drawn to the whaling ships since the first time he saw them, to Ahab, whose future is inextricibly twined with that of the White Whale, all men on board are captured in the vortex of the whaling industry. Of course, when you spend upwards of 3 years at sea at a time, how could you not be?

Chapter 79- The Prairie

"But how? Genius in the Sperm Whale? Has the Sperm Whale ever written a book, spoken a speech? No, his great genius is declared in his doing nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence. And this reminds me that had the great Sperm Whale been known to the young Orient World, he would have been deified by their child-magian thoughts."

Again, Ishmael nominates himself as the great whale expert. Like a priest, he interprets and dictates meaning, sometimes finding a greater truth, othertimes making a great fool of himself. As he discusses the nature of a whale's genius, the question is posed "What would we humans be without tongues?" Ishmael seems to argue that genius and communication, in its purest form, is found in the whale, although it has never written a book or spoken a speech. Is this how humna society determines 'genius'?

Chapter 80- The Nut

"It is plain, then, that phrenologically the head of this Leviathan, in the creature's living intact state, is an entire delusion. As for his true brain, you can then see no indications of it, nor feel any. The whale, like all things that are mighty, wears a false brow to the common world. "

Discussion of the Whale's skull seems to compliment the potential of high-intelligence in a whale, adding power to the malicious stories of Moby Dick. However, the whale has no immediatly apparent brain, also encouraging the idea that whale's are powered by a higher force. Moby Dick, powered by a darker force.

Chapter 81- The Pequod Meets the Virgin

"But still more curious was the fact of a lance-head of stone being found in him, not far from the buried iron, the flesh perfectly firm about it. Who had darted that stone lance? And when? It might have been darted by some Nor' West Indian long before America was discovered. "

The great whale harpooned in this chapter emphasizes the potential age of a whale. A stone harpoon found embedded in the skin implies the whale may have lived before the discovery of iron. It almost like he existed from the beginning of time. This inturn emphasizes the immortal nature of whales. How old could Moby Dick be? Or is he, and what he represents, ageless?