NCHS AP English Language

Part 10 "The Spirit Spout" Emily Rew

As they sail towards the tip of Cape Hope around Africa, one night a silvery spout of a whale is spotted by a crew member. The crew tries to follow this spout and sets full sail towards it, but as the hours grow long no sailor spots the spout again and the men retire. But night after the night the spout is spotted and but the crew continues to follow it in search of Moby Dick becaus they believe the spout is his. Ishamel also fears that the spout "were treacherously beckoning us on and on, in order that the monster might turn round upon us, and rend us at last in the remotest and most savage seas." Ishamel fears that the spout is just leading them into a trap. But the spout is also called the "spirit spout" because it gives especially Ahab and the men hope that they are going in the right direction. Ahab fears tha the may be misdirected though as the ghostly spirit spout seems a misdirecting thing to follow in light of the heroic aspirations he has for the voyage. The part of this voyage is also gloomy and emphasizes this wiht the quote explaiing how Ahab is split between hsi heroic ideas and the ghastly spirit spout: "While his one live leg made lively echoes along the deck, every stroke of his dead limb sounded like a coffin-tap. On life and death this old man walked."

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 10:01 AM