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Moby Dick Dialectical Journal

597 Words3 Pages

In Moby Dick, the chapter that titles “the Cabin Tale,” discusses the division of life on the whale ship in connection to the popular dance, “the Harlem Shake,” in which there exists a clear separation in the way a group of individuals behaves towards a certain situation. In the beginning of the chapter, it describes the dinner habits of the ship’s officers in the cabin. During dinner, the atmosphere is solemn in which none of the men spoke nor helped themselves to anything on the table. No one seemed to enjoy the food because “they were as little children before Ahab,” (Melville 164) as they did not feel comfortable in the cabin as it was the lair of Ahab, who had specific rules on the ship. After the officers were done, the harpooners got to eat. In contrast with the officers, the dinner for the harpooners were lively and they ate heartily. Ishmael describes how their “barbaric” manners such …show more content…

The differences in behavior between the two groups on the vessels are quite divided as one group feels that they must act formal and serious while the other are care-free even though they both live under the same roof and have the same leader. This contrast shows a similarity to how people in society reacted towards the popular-crazed dance “the Harlem Shake.” “The Harlem Shake” starts with one person, who is usually masked, dancing to the song, while others around the individual go about their business as if nothing is happening. The bass then drops and then it’s mayhem; everyone has costumes on and are dancing outrageously. There are no set of rules to this dance, which made it easy for anyone to join in, nevertheless, this social phenomenon pointed out the division in society. Those who participated in the dance, can be interpreted as the harpooners, who did not care who were around them and behaved wildly as they

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497 Words | 2 Pages

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1473 Words | 6 Pages

At first glance, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick appears to be a novel about whaling. Moby Dick is a novel regarding whaling, yet Melville uses whaling aboard the Pequod as an allegory to illustrate larger themes regarding humanity. Melville’s Moby Dick features a cast of a variety of races and cultures, and Melville’s depiction of the cultures are central to the thematic purposes of the novel. Initially, Melville, through the sailor Ishmael, appears to view people of foreign cultures from a white American perspective by providing condescending attitudes, yet the attitudes toward foreigners and even Christianity begin to change. Melville reverses the traditional associations of foreign savages and white Christians in order to convey that morality,

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