NCHS AP English Language

The Coffin, an obvious symbol of Queequeg (C Fitzer, D Lewis, C Samson, and J Huff)

Ishmael was trapped at sea, the lone survivor of the Peqoud's destruction. The sinking of this ship after Moby Dick's attack caused a large vortex in the middle of the sea. Ishmael who was thrown from the boat early on in the battle started to be pulled toward the center of this whirlpool. Like Ixion, who was imprisoned by being chained to a place to fly aroung in circles for eternity, Ishmael began to swirl around the vertex of the vortex. Symbolically, the whirlpool is the karmic punishment for the sailors aboard. Like Ixion being punished for being the first human to murder a divine, Ahad and the whalers are persecuted for their attempt to kill Moby Dick. Ishmael's only crime is that of accompaniment and for that reason he is able to survive the Peqoud's destruction and resulting whirlpool. The vortex, a symbol of danger, is also depicted in another epic, the Odyssey. Oysseus on his voyage home to Ithica, he must avoid the whirlpool Charybdis. Fortunately the whirlpool stopped spinning when Ishmael was near eminent doom, and from the center of the now ended vortex arose the Peqoud's life buoy, formerly Queequeg's coffin. This obvious is a shining refernce to the protective nature of Queequeg shown throughout the book. In laymen's terms, Queequeg even in death is a guardian to Ishmael which he vowed to be when they became acquainted. Queequeg is a numinous for Ishmael, in that through divine intervention Queequeg becomes Ishmael's personal protector. In other instances in the book, Queequeg personally and physically saves Ishmael, but in the epilogue the absense of Queequeg requires for some symbol or icon of Queequeg to save Ishmael from possibly death. That icon is his coffin which saves Ishmael from drowning and allows him to float along until some one is able to find him stranded at sea. This coffin not only provides a safe floatation device, but through its symolism of Queequeg, it also protects him from harm. The normally agressive sharks appear to be passively ignoring Ishmael, because he is guarded by the numinous of Queequeg.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 11:50 AM