NCHS AP English Language

Ahab and Starbuck Speech- Emily R and Lindsey M

3)What is the purpose of Ahab's long speech to Starbuck(he talks about his past)?

Chapter 132 "The Symphony" starts with Ahab leaning over the rail of the ship on calm and sunny day. He is reflecting over his past life and he actually drops a tear into the ocean which is described as so great that "nor did all the Pacific contain such wealth as that one wee drop. " When Starbuck confronts him Ahab begins to rant about his past life and how he has not been on land in forty years where his "widow" of a wife and children live.He tells of how he feels so very old but questions why he is this old, because he has not had enough joy in life to wear him out. As I read this chapter I relaized that this was the second time Ahab had shown some true regret and deep emotion other than the time the RAchel ship had approached Ahab seeking the captain's son. This monologue between Starbuck and AHab gives some insight into the life that Captain AHab lived before he began the whaling business, and it shows the true regrets that Ahab has about hunting for Moby Dick and pursuing the depths. Ahab even calls himself a , expressing to STarbuck that which he expressed in his soliloquy at teh beginning of the book. Ahab asks to look into Starbucks eyes so that he can have a piece of home and the land but Ahab refuses to return to NAntucket. This chapter expresses the struggle between the two personalities fo AHab, the one that wishes to give up the chase and go home, and the obsessive compulsive side that is continually on the hunt for Moby Dick. Ahab trys to figure out what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands (him)." At one point he even points to God as a power that drives him because his thoughts and his heart are controlled by an invisible power which must be God. By using this monologue the reader begins to feel sympathy for AHab and the fact that he cannot control his free will, but is doomed to a fate of chasing Moby Dick. The chapter ends with Ahab leaning over ship and staring at the two eyes of Fedallah who is leaning over the same rail Ahab was at the start. THis connects to the fact that FEdllah and Ahab seem like parallels.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 9:41 AM