erinc09’s Blog

This set of chapters was very filled with new characters and really set the scene for the book. It seems as if many of these new people will be present in the rest of the chapters to come, so it was interesting to meet them all. The captains were very entertaining, and I thought it was funny how much one of them quizzed Ishmael when he told him that he wanted to sail on the Pequod. My impression was that not many people were willing to go on a whaling boat for years, so it seems like the captains would take anyone who wanted to go. However, he really wanted to get to know Ishmael to make sure he had the right intentions.

One of the quotes mentioned in this section that really sparked a thought in me was when one of the captains said, “It’s an all-fired outrage to tell any human creature that he’s bound to hell” (77). This reminded me so much of the article that we read called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. The whole thing was basically a lecture saying that you were bound to go to Hell unless you somehow proved to God that you were worthy of staying. It gave no hope to anyone that was not part of that religion, so it tried threatening readers into converting. The captain would definitely not have liked to read “Sinners” because I think he would have greatly disagreed.

There was also another quote that I really liked at the end. Ishmael is thinking this to himself. “But when a man suspects any wrong, it sometimes happens that if he be already involved in the matter, he insensibly tries to cover up his suspicions even from himself. And much this way it was with me.” (90). This seems as if it will prove to be a very bad decision for Ishmael. He already seemed to be having doubts about his whaling trip, and he should have taken ahold of these feelings and said no to the voyage. However, since he tries to ignore it he moves on. Little does he know that his instinct could have gotten him out of a lot of trouble.

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