NCHS AP English Language

The CAStaway- Lindsay M and Emily R

In Chapter 93 "The Castaway", Pip becomes important to the story. While hunting whales, Pip is on teh harpoon boat and gets scared when they capture a whale. So, his collective unconscious causes him to instinctively jump intothe ocean, for one's natural instinct is to run away from what one fears. Furthermore, one links water to birth, the womb, materntal security. Moreover, this relates to colelctive unconscious because it is part of everyone's psyche to go to water for safety. Pip is saved but warned not to repeat the action or he will not be saved again. However, the same event occurs and Pip jumps into the water, causing Stubb to leave him there for awhile. When Pip is "drowning" he has a divine numinous experience in which he sees the "God omnipresent" and when he tries to later explain to the crew what he saw, they believe him insane, bringing Ishmael to say " man's insanity is heaven's sense". In a way, this links to the macrocosm of the world because man's highest mindset is in some way connected and almost parallel to the lowest of the divine mindset. However, this also breaches on the division between man's insanity and heaven's sanity. The insane to man is the sane to heaven and vice versa. Ishmael previously had a numinous experience as well when he felt that a hand was placed in his as his arm hung ver the counterpane.

posted by NCHS AP English Language III @ 2:05 PM