I have a bit of a history with Herman Melville's classic whaling novel, Moby-Dick. I first encountered the story in my junior year of high school, when it was assigned in my literature class. As the novel is 655 pages, and me and my classmates were 16 at the time, our teacher didn't make us read the whole thing. She only assigned certain chapters that were important to the plot. As a reader just starting to develop an appreciation for the classics, I hated this decision. I really wanted to read the whole, entire thing. I tried to do so on my own, but I eventually couldn't keep up with all the extra pages and stuck to the assigned chapters. It was a bummer, but I still enjoyed the experience.
The next time I encountered Moby-Dick, I was in college. When my American literature professor gave us our course reading list, I was quite pleased to see that this title was part of it. Finally, I thought, I would get a chance to go back and complete my partial reading from high school. Imagine my dismay when my professor ended up doing the exact same thing my high school teacher did - he only assigned certain chapters. As I had several other literature courses going on that semester, I simply didn't have time to read what was left out on my own. So again, I had to satisfy myself with only reading part of the novel and wondering why none of the educators in my life thought it was important to assign the whole thing. I did enjoy it, but I still knew that I wanted to return to it one day and read it properly.
The next time I thought about Moby-Dick was about three and a half years ago, when I was putting together my Classics Club list. Now that I was in charge of deciding what classics I would be reading, I chose to include this novel right away. It wasn't even a question as I was browsing my shelves and selecting what I wanted. Of course Moby-Dick would be there. I had unfinished business with this book! It had become my very own white whale, popping into my life, upsetting my perfectionist sensibilities, and disappearing again. I would read it for a third time, and this time, I would do it right. Determined to complete the adventure, I picked it up this month.
The plot of the novel, of course, centers around a whaling expedition launching from New Bedford, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century. Our narrator, who famously asks the reader to call him Ishmael, kicks off the action of the story by signing onto the crew of the Pequod for a three year voyage to hunt sperm whales. On board the ship, he meets a colorful cast of characters, including the brooding Captain Ahab, the level-headed first mate Starbuck, and the tattooed harpooner Queequeg. Things proceed normally at first, but before long, he learns that his simple whaling trip has an ulterior purpose: revenge. Ahab, who recently lost a leg in a whaling accident, is determined to find and kill the white whale known as Moby-Dick that maimed him. He will stop at nothing to get his vengeance on this creature and it is clear that the entire economic enterprise of hunting whales is a distant second on his priority list.
At first, Captain Ahab's secret mission unsettles the crew. Not only is Moby-Dick legendary for being a dangerous killer, but spending time searching for him could greatly impact the amount they are able to earn for their commission. However, after a rousing speech and the promise of a cash prize to the first man to spot the white whale, Ahab manages to get everyone to go along with his plan. From that point on, the search begins in earnest. The Pequod travels all over the globe, looking for their deadly quarry and harvesting other sperm whales as they come across them. As they start hearing about sightings of Moby-Dick from other ships, Ahab's obsession deepens and it becomes increasingly difficult for him to maintain his cool exterior. He eats, sleeps, and breathes the white leviathan, and the crew becomes very wary of him. Eventually, the Pequod closes in on the beast and Ahab finally gets his chance to take down his great enemy. The showdown that ensues has grave consequences and is one of the most memorable clashes in all of American literature.
Okay. I have now officially completed the unfinished business I had with this novel and read all of Moby-Dick. I've finished every chapter, perused every page, and in so doing, I have slain my literary white whale. All that's left to do now is to decide whether it was worth it or not. Was it a good decision to read the whole thing? Did all those chapters my teachers made me skip add anything to my understanding of the story? Should I have put my precious, precious reading time into making my way through this tome?
No. On all three counts. No.
Let's back up and discuss.
Moby-Dick is one of those giants of classic literature that I don't feel qualified to say anything negative about. And much like when I read Melville's White Jacket earlier this year, my main criticism of it is the least sophisticated criticism imaginable. So, I know I'm going to sound horribly unrefined here, but I have to say it. This novel is boring. So, so boring. And I hate to admit it, but the reason that it's so boring are all those missing chapters my teachers tried to shield me from years ago.
Of course, I knew before I started that all those chapters I was so desperate to read contained information that was nonessential to the plot. I knew that several of them were about whaling and life aboard a whaling vessel. I expected them to be boring, but in that usual way that most classic novels are at times. In reality, the novel is almost ruined by informational chapters that do not advance the story at all. These chapters discuss various whaling procedures, biological information about whales, facts about the whaling industry, philosophical musings about the importance of whales, and anecdotal evidence to prove that the plot of the story is plausible. These chapters are so numerous that it is rare to read more than two chapters in a row that feature that actual characters and plot points, and Melville's verbose, dramatic prose means that these sections crawl by very slowly. A lot of them are nearly solid blocks of text. Melville didn't favor paragraphs, apparently.
To make matters worse, much of the information contained in the informational chapters is outdated and incorrect. Of course, this wasn't Melville's fault. I'm sure he was writing what was believed to be true at the time. At this point, however, we know that a lot of the information is wrong, racist, or a combination of the two. There is a whole chapter about how hunting sperm whales will never negatively impact their numbers in the wild. There is another chapter in which Melville insists that a whale is a type of fish, rather than a mammal. Taking the time to wade through these is ultimately unrewarding. I was consistently flipping ahead to check and see when the actual story was going to start up again. It takes a lot for me to call a reading experience awful, but these chapters were really pretty awful.
So why then, is Moby-Dick such a literary darling? It's because if you were to take all of the chapters that actually convey the story and put them together, you are left with a great adventure full of memorable characters and suspenseful action. The setting of the Pequod is romantic and interesting, the constant anticipation of finding Moby-Dick is engaging, and Ahab's descent into madness is fun to watch. Certain passages are full of beautiful language and compelling themes. This is exactly why people are advised to just read those parts and avoid the informational chapters, even at a college level, like I was.
So as it turned out, much like Ahab's foolish, arrogant quest to slay his white whale, my foolish, arrogant quest to assert my literary superiority by reading this whole novel was a bad idea. I didn't really enjoy the work as a whole, and as a result of my bad experiences with all those dead chapters, I now like it less than I used to. This is my second Melville read, and the second one that I am rating at two stars, for the exact same reasons. I think I may have to own up to the idea that Melville just isn't for me, which pains my English major heart. Sadly, what I truly learned from my mission to experience Moby-Dick in full was that I don't really like Moby-Dick.
Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#83 on my list): 72/100
Total Books Read in 2020: 35
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So, what do you think?