Moby-Dick

"There is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men." (420)

We begin with Moby-Dick, Melville’s epic tale that put him on the charts as not only a great American novelist, but one of the greatest writers from the nineteenth century (if not of all time). This 1851 novel follows the story of young Ishmael, who boards the Pequod whaling ship expecting a traditional whale-hunting voyage, only to discover that the ship’s captain has other plans: he yearns to spear one particular whale and will not stop until the task is completed. The whale in question is Moby-Dick, popularly known and recognized as the “White Whale.” While Melville offers many comments in this story that can be perceived as ecocritical, the most prominent are his comments about humankind’s treatment of whales and the whaling industry in general. These produce arguments for animal rights and species preservation that are in line with common environmental activity today.

How are Animal Rights and Environmental Issues Related?

The key word is preservation. The ultimate goal for environmental activists is to preserve this blue and green planet that we all call home. From resources such as oil and water to the physical layout of the planet itself, keeping Earth safe and healthy is the ideal for anyone with a green mind. Among these interests of preservation are, of course, the species that make up planet Earth. Critic Susan Kalter describes how Melville represents

the “so-called ‘deep’ ecology of the twentieth century” by arguing for the embrace of a bicentric view of the world (Kalter 4). A “bicentric” viewpoint is one that sees human and animal life as equally important to the success of Earth – the opposite of which is “anthropocentric” (seeing humans as most important) or “biocentric” (seeing animal life as most important). Environmental writers and sociobiologists such as as Lawrence Buell and E.O. Wilson see this as a necessary mentality to adhere to when examining the world from an ecocritical lens. As Wilson puts it, “no vice is more crippling than defiantly self-indulgent anthropocentrism” (Buell 5). Almost as an echo to this, Melville states that “there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men” (Moby-Dick 420). By arguing for fair treatment of whales and consideration of the harmful actions of humans, Melville is asserting a bicentric viewpoint and thus on par with the pro-environmental arguments of today.

Appeal to Emotion

One of the most compelling ways in which Melville fights for the rights of whales in his story is through appealing to the emotion of the reader. To do this effectively, Melville elaborates on the cruel treatment of whales throughout the book and finds ways to trigger human empathy for the creatures and anger at the methods utilized by the whaling industry. Melville scholar Elizabeth Schultz notes this, describing this technique as his “evolv(ing) an environmental vision with a conscience,” by making whales “appeal to his nineteenth- (and…twentieth-) century readers’ feelings, and consequently that reader is forced to consider human beings as agents for the whales’ suffering and destruction” (Schultz 100). Melville does this through gruesomely illustrating scenes of dying whales, relating whales to humans, and commenting on the horrifying tendencies in the whaling industry.

The Death of a Whale

In Chapter 81, “The Pequod Meets the Virgin,” Melville describes the slow death of an old lonely whale that was caught and strapped to the side of the boat while having its skin ripped off and spermaceti-laden blubber funneled out by saying:

So I have seen a bird with clipped wing, making affrighted broken circles in the air, vainly striving to escape the piratical hawks. But the bird has a voice, and with plaintive cries will make known her fear; but the fear of this vast dumb brute of the sea, was chained up and enchanted in him; he had no voice, save that choking respiration through his spiracle, and this made the sight of him unspeakably pitiable; while still, in his amazing bulk, portcullis jaw, and omnipotent tail, there was enough to appal the stoutest man who was so pitied. (Moby-Dick 388)

Susan Kalter analyzes this passage and describes how his laborious description of the whale’s death makes “the pathos of the whale’s slow murder unavoidable” (Kalter 12). In other words, it is unavoidable for the reader not to have an emotional response to Melville’s descriptions. They feel for the poor, pitiable, voiceless whale as they read about him choking and dying. It is not just this scene, either. Melville uses many analogies to describe the fleeing actions of whales when whaling ships attack their pod. He compares these terrified, scattering creatures to “the disarray of elephants in battle with Alexander, to herds of sheep alarmed by wolves, to buffaloes fleeing before a horseman” (Schultz 101). Melville even goes far enough to compare scattering whales to humans themselves, “rushing helter-skelter for the outlets, crowding, trampling, jamming, and remorselessly dashing each other to death” at the call of fire in a crowded theater (Moby-Dick 420). By humanizing whales, Melville is able to implement their panicked emotions into the reader.

A wolf attacking a heard of sheep and humans running for the exit are common images of panic in the human mind. By relating these images to the effect of whalers on a pod, readers are able to fully appreciate the panic and fear that whales go through as they scatter from the hunters’ boats.

The Whaling Industry

The whaling industry saw the ocean as the equivalent of a farmland: a place where farmers could go simply to reap the resources of the crops that resided there. Whales were the crops, their blubber-oil the resource, and the whalers the farmers. Yet these “farmers” were not always the most resourceful with the crops that they poached. Melville often notes how seemingly wasteful a whale’s murder can be – how such a large animal is killed for such a small benefit. He speaks about the same whale referenced above in Chapter 81, “The Pequod Meets the Virgin,” and how killing it for his blubber is not only wasteful but also somewhat ironic:

For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that preach unconditional inoffensiveness by all to all. (Moby-Dick 391)

The blubber of the whale goes to light lamps in American cities. Melville points out the irony of how some of these places (such as churches) preach fair treatment and “inoffensiveness” yet turn a blind eye to the source from which its light comes. All of these arguments contribute to the reader’s emotional reaction to understanding the brutal treatment of whales, and even levels their vision to force them to see whales as equal beings by comparing them to humans.

Images in order from top to bottom:

- 2001 Northwestern Press Edition of Moby-Dick (cited here)

http://www.amazon.com/Moby-Dick-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-Edition/dp/0142000086

- Common "Save the Whales" animal rights campaign sticker http://kelseykrogen.weebly.com/whales/save-the-whales

- Sperm whale being killed by the spears whalers

http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/sperm-whale.html

- 19th-century lamp that runs on spermacetti-oil

http://www.ramshornstudio.com/early_lighting_6.htm

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