Day 99 Chapter 100. Leg and Arm
“But here a curious difficulty presented itself. In the excitement of the moment, Ahab had forgotten that since the loss of his leg he had never once stepped on board of any vessel at sea but his own, and then it was always by an ingenious and very handy mechanical contrivance peculiar to the Pequod, and a thing not to be rigged and shipped in any other vessel at a moment’s warning. Now, it is no very easy matter for anybody—except those who are almost hourly used to it, like whalemen—to clamber up a ship’s side from a boat on the open sea; for the great swells now lift the boat high up towards the bulwarks, and then instantaneously drop it half way down to the kelson. So, deprived of one leg, and the strange ship of course being altogether unsupplied with the kindly invention, Ahab now found himself abjectly reduced to a clumsy landsman again; hopelessly eyeing the uncertain changeful height he could hardly hope to attain.”
Musings:
This was the chapter that took me back to Captain Peleg saying that Ahab has his humanity. What could be more human than Ahab, clambering for information about Moby-Dick during a gam, trying to board a ship with one leg?
Notice the use of language – Ahab had forgotten how the loss of his leg would make things difficult. He found himself abjectly seen as clumsy and a landman. How can we not feel a bit sorry for this man who wants revenge on the very thing that has rendered him clumsy? How can we not understand?
And that is the brilliance of Melville. Ahab is not the hero of this book. He is taking them all down. We can see this coming. But, he also has his humanity. And Melville shows it in this chapter. And I have never forgotten it.
Sorry for the lapse in time with The Daily Dick. Covid, recovery, life. But we push off into these waters once more. Stronger. Perhaps?
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