NCHS AP English Language

The Whiteness of the whale by jeff annis

In chapter 42, The Whiteness of the Whale, Ishmael talks about why Moby Dick frightens him. He says that it is the whiteness that scares him, and than proceeds to give different examples of the symbolic meaning of whiteness in several different ures. Different ures give different meaning to the quality of whiteness, like we associate whiteness with purity whereas the Koreans associate whiteness with mourning.
Whiteness is divided into three different categories: nature/religion, politics, and ure. For nature we see examples such as polar bears and white sharks. This shows the association of fear with the color white. For religion we read about Adam from the bible and examples from Greek mythology like the Great Jove turning int oa white bull. In both nature and religion Melville says that white represents the powerful and majestic qualities of Moby Dick.
For politics Melville mentions the grand kings of Pegu and their title "Lord of the White Elephants" as well as the Kings of Siam "unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard"; this talks about how people in positions of power are associated with the color white.
Whiteness in ures has different meanings as stated before. Some examples are the White Steed in the Western and Indian ure that had "the dignity of a thousand monarchs", the way the ancient Romans thought of white as a color of joyfullness, how Americans say white is the color of purity, and is almost always the color used with the Christian God. A negative example is the Albino man, who is in almost every way the same as normal people but has really white skin and somehow everyone finds it appalling. Thats most likely because that white also symbolizes the abscence of color that people take on when they die.
These are the categories into which chapter 42's allusions fall into.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 10:11 AM