Chapter 59-126: And So We Near the End...

Wow.

Just wow. This has been a much faster, easier read than I ever thought possible. And beautifully written.

First, a round-up of quotes over the last 50+ chapters...

Re: eating sperm whale brain and stupid males into food in general: "The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the two plump, whitish lobes being withdrawn (precisely resembling two large puddings), they are then mixed with flour, and cooked into a most delectable mess, in flavor somewhat resembling calves' head, which is quite a dish among some epicures; and every one knows that some young bucks among the epicures, by continually dining upon calves' brains, by and by get to have a little brains of their own, so as to be able to tell a calf's head from their own heads; which, indeed, requires uncommon discrimination."

One of the more famous passages, regarding eating whale and using whale-made candles while doing so: "But Stubb, he eats the whale by its own light, does he? and that is adding insult to injury, is it? Look at your knife-handle, there, my civilized and enlightened gourmand, dining off that roast beef, what is that handle made of?- what but the bones of the brother of the very ox you are eating? And what do you pick your teeth with, after devouring that fat goose? With a feature of the same fowl. And with what quill did the Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Cruelty to Ganders formally indite his circulars? It is only within the last month or two that that society passed a resolution to patronize nothing but steel pens."

More about using whale skin to magnify the page of a book: "...it is pleasant to read about whales through their own spectacles, as you may say."

Pretty flowery imagery: "An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea."

RANDOM: "Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, riding and rowing."

About life: "...this is life. For hardly have we mortals by long toilings extracted from this world's vast bulk its small but valuable sperm; and then, with weary patience, cleansed ourselves from its defilements, and learned to live here in clean tabernacles of the soul; hardly is this done when - There she blows! - the ghost is spouted up, and go through young life's old routine again."

Just a random note: Ishmael is so hardcore about whales and whale dimensions that he had the dimensions of the sperm whale TATTOOED on his arm. Yeahhhh.

Starbuck's angry curse: "Thou hast outraged, not insulted me, Sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man."

So, what can we say has happened so far? Little Pip fell overboard and he's now stark raving mad. Actually he jumped in cowardice while in the whaling vessel. We've gotten interludes from the carpenter and the blacksmith.

And there's tons of doomsday foreshadowing. The Pequod passes the Bachelor, a merry ship stocked to its gills with oil, and the contrast is severe. The masts are lit on fire by lightning during a typhoon. Ahab's compasses go awry and point the complete opposite direction. Ahab creates his harpoon, and forges it with the blood of the noble savage harpooners. Ahab breaks his quadrant, and loses the log-line. And the life-buoy. And a man dies.

The doom and gloom just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. The dread is ratcheting up. And still, we haven't seen a single sign of Moby-Dick! You'd almost think the whale to be unreal. That Ahab's obsession has manifested itself in a physical form, and that form is the monstrous white whale.

But we're almost there. The story is nearly over. And it has been epic. I can't wait to see what happens next!