erinc09’s Blog

At first I really thought Captain Ahab’s idea of sailing the world’s oceans just to find Moby Dick was very unrealistic. How could a person believe that they would come across one specific whale out of the ENTIRE ocean? However, chapter 4 explains to us that it is actually quite possible to somewhat map out where a whale will be during a certain time of the year. By calculating the driftings of its food and figuring out where it migrated during what seasons you can estimate where the whale will be. Although it may be hard to be spot on it still gave me a little more hope that Captain Ahab’s wish/intention to hunt down Moby Dick was a little more realistic. It is actually pretty cool to see how all of Ahab’s whaling experience has allowed him to be able to calculate something like that. It seems like a task that only very good whalers would be able to accomplish. Judging by what I know of the story it seems like Ahab’s calculations will actually turn out to be right.

On page 172 I came across a quote that I really enjoyed. It is Ishmael speaking/thinking and he says, “For God’s sake, be economical with your lamps and candles! not a gallon you burn, but at least one drop of a man’s blood was spilled for it.” He is very right when he is implying that we should not take for granted the luxuries that we have. Often, the public does not know what was sacrificed in order for them to enjoy the things that they use on a daily basis. This is especially prevelant in our world today. Americans are using up so many resources and not realizing what the effect is having on the earth. For example, oil or paper. We use so much of it but don’t realize that trees are being killed or that oil is a non-renewable resource. I like that Ishmael decided to throw in a lesson of common sense into the chapter.

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