NCHS AP English Language

QUESTION 3 NUMINOUS

Question # 3 Numinous

Numinous is described as something is "spiritual or supernatural" or "surpassing comprehension or understanding." Ishmael has a flashback to his childhood of a time when he was sent to his room by his mother and woke up feeling as if something was touching his hand when, in reality, nothing was there. He was so afraid to move because he thought that this "presence" would harm him. The whole reason that Ishmael has this flashback is because he wakes up one morning and Queequegs arm is draped around Ishmael. He is frightened by the feeling that he gets from this “numinous presence.” He is uncomfortable and feels as if something is there and is afraid to move for fear or being harmed or disturbed. When he realizes that it is just Queequegs arm draped around him, he feels more at ease, though not fully comfortable because Queequeg is still a “savage.” The difference between the young and old numinous experience is that when he was young he did not know what the presence was and it has haunted him and stuck in his mind all of his life but when he had the experience when he was older he actually found out what was causing him to have these feelings of this “presence.” The numinous experience from his past remains a mystery. The implications that one could make from this is that Ishmael is not comfortable with the unknown. He likes to be in control and does not like the feeling of a presence in which the cause or source is unknown. In some ways he is comforted by the protection of Queequeg and his “presence” but he can not explain the experience of the numinous when he was a child, therefore he is not comforted, only unnerved.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 9:52 AM