NCHS AP English Language

Chapter 36 has been called the most important chapter in the novel, here we not only learn of Ahab's real purpose in presiding of the voyage, but we are also given a hint at the extradordinary lengths to which Ahab will go to dominate and hold control over the white whale (power).

Here I have analyzed four difficult passages in Chapter 36 and attempted to explain them to the best of my abilities:

"Hark ye yet again- the little lower layer. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks.."

In this long passage, Ahab hints at his desire to conquer the very structure of nature. Starbuck insists that the white whale is no more than a "brute," attacking Ahab merely out of instinct and no real desire to cause any undue harm tothe captain. Here Ahab insists that all living creatures are merely "masks," and beneath that mask lurks the power that Ahab thirsts to obtain. Here is the pivotal point in the book in which we learn that the mission of the Peqoud is not merely a, if you will, "routine" whale hunt but rather it is a chase conducted in order to satisfy Ahab's thirst for power. Considering the end of the novel (the sinking of the ship), perhaps the author strives to make a remark on the state of man: man strivesfor power, but power indeed corrupts.

"But in his joy at the enchanted, tacit acquiescence of the mate, Ahab did not hear his foreboding invocation. . . "
First, a few definitions:
acquiescence-> agreement or consent by silence
cordage-> fiber or wire ropes
After Starbuck's mutter "God keep me -keep us all!" there is is a foreboding wind after Starbuck silently, though not happily, agrees to follow Ahab in his hunt for Moby Dick. Ahab is too engrossed in Starbuck's agreement that he misses what the authorat first dubs as a "sign"-the wind blows coldly and fills the sails, a "subterranean laugh" roars from somewhere deep withinthe ship. The author then calls it not a sign, but a prediction. Then, not a prediction but a but a "verification of the going-ons." Here we see blatant foreshadowing-something undoubetdly is going to go wrong.

"Now, three to three, ye stand. Commend the murderous chalices. . ."
With a drop of his blood mixed in the drink of the crew, Ahab implores the crew to drink. Recall the "blood-sister pact" frequently featured in , etc. Ahab creates a sort of grave promise between him and the crew, and the mission isno longer simply his quest but his crews' as well. Ahab's madness runs through his veins. Think of the common saying "it's in his blood." By giving the crew a drink that is diluted with his blood, he is passing his madness and his thirst for power onto the rest of the crew. They will never be the same.

"Nantucket market! Hoot! But come closer, Starbuck; thou requirest a little lower layer. . ."
"By girdling it with guineas:" 252 pence = 21 shillings = 1 guinea. Starbuck is more concerned with the integrity of the ship, in fact, he appears to be the only one concerned with the profit the Pequod will wield.

-Rebecca Hall, Alex Wikoff & Corinne McConnell

www.wordsmith.org/board/printthread.php?Cat=0&Board=weeklythemes&main=160444&type=thread

education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/mobydick/56.html

www.redbirdstudio.com/E_Books/moby/chap_1.html