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Day 4 have some pencil sketches of Ishmael and Queequeg very much in the honeymoon phase. Hug thumbnail with the harpoon I might turn into a full drawing, idk. I like the composition and flow it has 🥹

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page 408. I’m nearly finished rereading it, and yet my mind remains there. That we are no different than those frightened animals who freeze in the face of danger… certainly no better… let’s just say that the second read is hitting different

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We start the voyage

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inspired by that one post

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Marley was dead: to begin with.

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Infodump about my Moby Dick theory about Queequeg and how it all ties back to the Essex

I often see Queequeg depicted as vaguely Māori (which I’m sure he does share some aspects as he’s kind of a grab bag of polynesian traits) but I’ve come to believe that a lot more of the textual and historical evidence points to him being from somewhere in French Polynesia, specifically the Marquesas Islands and/or the Society Islands (which includes Tahiti).

One of the most telling points for me is how his tattoos are described. The Māori Tā Moko lends itself to intricate geometric swirling/spiral/rounded imagery where Queequeg’s tattoos, in contrast, are described as “black squares” on both his face and body with the book stating:

“But at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black squares on his cheeks.”

“As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark squares.”

While this description gives way to more intricate swirling patterns on his arms and legs in later chapters, overall the descriptions of his tattoo align far more with the striking and geometric Marquesan style, where large square/rectangle patches are filled in with black on both the body and the face (especially for men).

See here:

There are some other aspects of his description that make me lean more towards him being Marquesan as well, such as his hair style (similar to old depictions of people indigenous to the Marqueses), his filed teeth (while this is more of practice seen with Indonesian people groups, both Hawaii and the Marquesas practice a sort of tooth modification called ablation) as well as Yojo and his woodcarving skills, specifically how the designs reflect his tattoos (ornamental, figurine, and tiki carving with shared tattooed motifs are another thing the Marquesas are known for).

some carving examples:

Besides the textual evidence I also believe there to be plenty of historical evidence for this connection too.

Firstly (and honestly least importantly) the Marquesas and Society Islands were a frequent stop for whaling voyages in the 19th century.

Secondly, Melville himself actually spent some time on the Marquesas islands, specifically Nuku Hiva (anywhere between 3 weeks to a couple of months though his book claims it was 4 months). During that time he stayed with the native population and his experience led to the writing of his first novel “Typee” (his most successful novel in his lifetime) which was part adventure fiction, part memoir, and part proto-ethnography where he takes a far more empathetic approach to his interactions with the native Marquesans than what would be expected of his time (don’t get me wrong it still has its issues, but it really could’ve been worse. he’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit). What Melville lacked in his own experiences and understandings he made up for with (uncredited yet accurate) research to fill in the gaps (like the travelogues of Langsdorff). After his time on the Marquesas he eventually made his way to Tahiti (where he then participated in a mutiny and was imprisoned) which led to his follow-up novel “Omoo.” He (at least in the book) had less interactions with the indigenous Tahitians there though and spoke of the oppression of their cultural practices such as tattooing. After that he escaped and made it to the island of Moʻorea and eventually joined yet another whaling ship to make it to Hawaii (somewhere either on Tahiti or Mo’orea he also spent about a month as a beach comber). All to say, he had some more intimate knowledge of that area of the world and the people that lived there, thus it makes more sense that he’d write what he knew rather than butcher a description from a secondary source (there’s an argument on the wikipedia page that Queequeg is based on the Māori Chief Te Pēhi Kupe because of an encounter he had with a book in 1850 and while there may be some inspiration there character-wise, I just don’t think the descriptions line up). Again I lean more towards Marquesan influence since that’s where Melville (allegedly) spent the most time, but there’s likely a degree of overlap. All to say, I think Melville was more likely to write what he knew and what he’d seen.

Finally, and I think the biggest reason I even bring all this up, is that a good deal of Moby Dick goes back to the Essex. For those who may not know the tragedy of the Essex is essentially the true story Moby Dick was based on, in which a whaling vessel gets attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in November of 1820. Unlike Moby Dick though, the Essex had a good deal of survivors (3 whale boats full). Stuck in the middle of the sea, the survivors had to make a decision, they could either go towards the Marquesas Islands (about 1,200 miles west), go towards the Society Islands (about 2000 miles west), or turn east back towards South America (about 2000 nautical miles east). Despite the relative nearness of the Polynesian islands, the survivors of the Essex ended up heading towards South America because they’d heard tale of cannibalism on the Marquesas and other Society Islands. As a result most of them died and, ironically, resorted to cannibalism.

The story of the Essex is something Melville was obviously aware of and it deeply affected him. Pair that with his own experiences on the Marquesas and Society Islands, it all points to this idea that your prejudices will get you killed. The survivors of the Essex were, in the end, no more “civilized” than the natives they avoided and they had taken the chance with the unforgiving ocean rather than take a chance on the idea that their prejudices might be unfounded (both the Marquesas and the Society Islands were friendly towards mariners at that time).

Melville speculated on their decisions, writing: "All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might, in all human probability, have been avoided had they immediately after leaving the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti, from which they were not very distant at the time. But they dreaded cannibals.”

I think it is anything but a coincidence that it’s ultimately Queequeg who indirectly saves Ishmael’s life. He is the epitome of every terrifying stereotype of Polynesia made human and made savior. There’s a lot more you could symbolically unpack there and throughout the novel in general (it’s the kind of book where everything means everything), but I digress. I know I’m probably not the first person to make these connections but I just needed to get it out and infodump or I would’ve exploded. Ultimately Queequeg is still, in many ways, a stereotype, but I think he’s a lot more nuanced than people think. Anywaysssss, thanks for reading this long ass post

(edited to add more details about Melville’s history, the Essex, and the influence of the Society Islands as well)

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Sometimes I feel like drawing for the classics.

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still losing my mind over the 2011 MobyDick shows decision to make Stubb, second mate Mr. "makes fun of the disabled captain and bullies the older Black cook and treats Fedallah with violence repeatedly and threatened a child with slavery and then abandoned him to drown" Stubb an anti racist like gbskfjekfk. i never thought I'd be mad about an adaptation making a character less racist but the decision to make all the officers #Good White People who correct the racist lower sailors is SO OFF THE POINT OF SYSTEMIC CAPITALISM THAT MELVILLE WAS TRYING TO MAKE. AND it takes away the agency of the characters of color defending themselves and each other WHICH THEY DO IN NOVEL, in favor of making Mr Racism now suddenly in favor of diversity i just

[ID: A screenshot of text reading: "he would not fucking say that." End ID.]

the POINT is inherently unfair systems and power dynamics and the violence of capitalism. the point is finding community and rallying against the awful oppressors who are in charge. finding community even within that. sanitizing the oppressors feels very very weird to me

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Things escalated a bit (I only paid 20€?!)

Somehow worked my way through all of stochastics in an hour this morning? That means I can start solving problems and old mocks tomorrow morning :)!! I’m quite happy to have this much time to study for my math final. Anyway, I went to the bookstore afterwards and picked up:

•Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke (just finished it and I LOVED it. 5/5⭐️ & the first work by Rilke I’ve ever read)

•The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

•Walden and Civil Disobedience- Henry David Thoreau

•Moby Dick - Hermann Melville

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Moby Dick Chapter 5 - Breakfast

Very short chapter today! Only two pages

Silly Summary: Brekkie Time! Ishmael stares intently at sailors, and I grow increasingly more obsessed with how cool Queequeg is .  

Notable Quotes:

However, a good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing; the more's the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.

I appreciate this quote I think, in part, because how funny I am finding Moby Dick, and how much this surprised me. Melville was very right, laughter and good humour is something I think the world could definitely use more of.

[Queequeg's] greatest admirer could not have cordially justified his bringing his harpoon into breakfast with him, and using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table with it, to the imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the beefsteaks towards him.

Again, this man is cool as hell. Later we find he also “lighted his tomahawk-pipe” The tomahawk doubles as a pipe?! Move over Ishmael, I want Queequeg and his sexy, sexy weaponry. 

Some things I learnt/googled:  - Word of the chapter: Bosky - covered by trees or bushes; wooded. A hilarious way to describe someone's beard. - A sea cooper is a craftsman on a boat who makes things like barrels and casks, important I suppose when collecting 'barrels of whale oil' is the whole point of their voyage.

My Musings: Look, not a lot happened this chapter. I did think Ishmael's reaction to the sailors at breakfast was a little interesting. You can tell he has a certain level of adulation of them, 'a set of sea dogs [...] had boarded great whales on the high seas [...] duelled them dead without winking' and seems to expect them to almost be regaling their tales over the breakfast table. Demonstrates he still maintains a certain level of romanisation of the idea of whaling I believe. Ishmael calls them shy "bashful bears" but honestly, I just thought they are probably tired. It's breakfast! People are usually a little more quiet and happy to keep to themselves as oppose to the drinking and revelry of night. Also. You have Queequeg using a weapon as a serving implement, that's probably enough to make anyone a bit quiet.

Bonus Picture time! I really wanted to find an image of a tomahawk pipe being used because I could NOT visualise how on earth that worked, and found this video of a guy using one. Side note: The site was called '1 bird 2 stoned' and this is a business name.

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ishmael: steering wheels are for WOMEN

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every other chapter of moby dick is just ishmael sharing his opinion on Whale Discourse i didn’t know existed. and it’s great!

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everyone say, hi moby

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Peppermint Soda (Diabolo menthe, dr. Diane Kurys, 1977) is underappreciated as a realistic chronicle of two sisters' early experiences of misogyny, predatory men, abuse (many of their teachers are absurdly cruel), cluelessly detatched parents, potential queerness, and - most interesting to me - political awakening.

Things suddenly Get Real when the girls are discussing politics in class and whether they should be learning about them. Frederique (Odile Michel), the elder sister, expresses anxiety about the nuclear bomb, but most of the girls are apathetic or joking until classmate Pascale (Corinne Dacla) recounts an antiwar demonstration she witnessed in 1962. The march was attacked by police outside the Charonne Metro station, killing nine including Daniel Féry, a 15 year old boy:

This sparks Frederique's political awakening - she becomes an antiwar activist and finds herself dealing with opposition from her mother (Anouk Ferjac), who thinks at 15 she is "too young" to be thinking about politics. Frederique reminds her mom that their Jewish identity makes it impossible to sit on the sidelines - that the problem of fascism will affect them if they don't act. Unbeknownst to her mother, hate is embedded in the power structures around them:

We stan an antifascist queen.

Frederique does experience antisemitism at the hands of a former friend during a communists vs. fascists fight at their school, and to make matters worse, she loses a close friend Perrine, who betrays Frederique when asked to take some moral stance - instead picking up her books and going to sit with the fascist girl, their formerly mutual friend:

How familiar does this feel? Fuck Perrine.

Frederique receives support from Pascale, and the two become good friends... and potentially more, given the lengthy gaze they exchange later in the film:

Anyway, this movie is underrated and I was sad when combing Tumblr for appreciation that there was limited actual commentary on what an apt coming-of-age film this is for young people in this moment. From suddenly noticing the leers of the men around you, to adults in your orbit continually minimizing your problems, to being penalized for following your conscience, Peppermint Soda feels almost as relevant now as it did in 1977.

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Kanenori