The sermon falls squarely in the Jewish tradition of Midrash, in which we take a Bible story and fill in the details. And what a fabulous Midrash it is! I love the detail of the captain who knows that Jonah is dishonest but likes the color of his money.
I'd always felt bad for the sailors who lost their cargo to Jonah's storm, but no longer.
Jonah's an amazing character, for while he repents and goes to Ninevah to prophesy that the city will fall, he is enraged that they actually repent and so God does not destroy them. Once Jonah sees that God is not going to destroy Ninevah he basically tells God, "See! I told you that this would be a tremendous waste of time!"
Thanks for sharing this, Ray! To be honest, I struggled understanding the sermon chapter a bit, so it's great to have your perspective and insights here.
The sermon worked a lot better for me, reading it aloud. I don't know when the trope of fiery passionate preacher began -- but it's really easy to deliver this whole chapter in a full-throated, podium-thumping mode. Once that's activated, the words become less about the specific story and more about the rhythm, building up to the morals:
- obedience to God is self-disobedience.
- repentance isn't about forgiveness, it's about accepting punishment.
- delight is giving up on the idea of immortality in Heaven.
All of which has some yikesy dissociative implications for a suicidally depressed mariner, who's choosing a job where he'll be taking orders...! That last bit is particularly oof, after Ish was just walking to the church and mulling on how his body is a cage.
Hi Ray! Can I ask, why Yom Kippur? It’s been a while since I’ve been to temple but if memory serves, the usual Torah reading is Moses smashing the commandments. (Which, hey, also Moby-Dick relevant, what with the idol.)
Chapter 10 floored me! While I see that Melville's prose cannot loosen itself from describing Queequeg as the Other, I was so moved by the marriage sequence and Ishmael running a logic puzzle to conclude that God wants him to try his friend's form of worship. Like, yes, the specific descriptors for Queequeg haven't aged well, but this is a beautiful scene about empathy and overcoming one's prejudices.
"In a countryman, this sudden flame of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply." Melville repeatedly calls Queequeg a "savage," and it makes me wince -- but by the time Ishmael develops this intense overnight bond, seeing himself in what once seemed alien, I thought you could read that same line and apply "savage" to Ish. "In *me,* the old rules would not apply." I like that idea.
I love Chapter 10 too! It's my favorite so far. <3
Re: Ishmael repeatedly calling Queequeg a savage, and using other racist terms, I think it's important to distinguish between Ishmael, the character/narrator and Melville, the author. In other scenes, Ishmael's shown to be naive or easily fooled. We, as the reader see this, as directed by Melville, which shows Melville has a greater understanding, and I think something similar is going on here. Ishmael's changed a lot from where he started in Chapter 3, but it fits his character that he'd still be holding a lot of ignorant assumptions and false feelings of superiority this early on, versus making a total 180.
I'm not letting Melville off the hook here, there's definitely still issues in some of his descriptors and how he depicts Queequeg. But I do think he has more awareness than his narrator, who I predict we will see experience even further transformation.
The sermon falls squarely in the Jewish tradition of Midrash, in which we take a Bible story and fill in the details. And what a fabulous Midrash it is! I love the detail of the captain who knows that Jonah is dishonest but likes the color of his money.
I'd always felt bad for the sailors who lost their cargo to Jonah's storm, but no longer.
Jonah's an amazing character, for while he repents and goes to Ninevah to prophesy that the city will fall, he is enraged that they actually repent and so God does not destroy them. Once Jonah sees that God is not going to destroy Ninevah he basically tells God, "See! I told you that this would be a tremendous waste of time!"
Thanks for sharing this, Ray! To be honest, I struggled understanding the sermon chapter a bit, so it's great to have your perspective and insights here.
The sermon worked a lot better for me, reading it aloud. I don't know when the trope of fiery passionate preacher began -- but it's really easy to deliver this whole chapter in a full-throated, podium-thumping mode. Once that's activated, the words become less about the specific story and more about the rhythm, building up to the morals:
- obedience to God is self-disobedience.
- repentance isn't about forgiveness, it's about accepting punishment.
- delight is giving up on the idea of immortality in Heaven.
All of which has some yikesy dissociative implications for a suicidally depressed mariner, who's choosing a job where he'll be taking orders...! That last bit is particularly oof, after Ish was just walking to the church and mulling on how his body is a cage.
Having read the story every year at Yo Kippur I could really enjoy the preacher’s dramatization.
Hi Ray! Can I ask, why Yom Kippur? It’s been a while since I’ve been to temple but if memory serves, the usual Torah reading is Moses smashing the commandments. (Which, hey, also Moby-Dick relevant, what with the idol.)
It's part of the afternoon service.
I go all day. By the afternoon, the blood sugar has dropped low enough that you see God.
The story of Jonah is pretty short if you ever want to check out the original. It’s about a 20 minute read.
Chapter 10 floored me! While I see that Melville's prose cannot loosen itself from describing Queequeg as the Other, I was so moved by the marriage sequence and Ishmael running a logic puzzle to conclude that God wants him to try his friend's form of worship. Like, yes, the specific descriptors for Queequeg haven't aged well, but this is a beautiful scene about empathy and overcoming one's prejudices.
"In a countryman, this sudden flame of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply." Melville repeatedly calls Queequeg a "savage," and it makes me wince -- but by the time Ishmael develops this intense overnight bond, seeing himself in what once seemed alien, I thought you could read that same line and apply "savage" to Ish. "In *me,* the old rules would not apply." I like that idea.
I love Chapter 10 too! It's my favorite so far. <3
Re: Ishmael repeatedly calling Queequeg a savage, and using other racist terms, I think it's important to distinguish between Ishmael, the character/narrator and Melville, the author. In other scenes, Ishmael's shown to be naive or easily fooled. We, as the reader see this, as directed by Melville, which shows Melville has a greater understanding, and I think something similar is going on here. Ishmael's changed a lot from where he started in Chapter 3, but it fits his character that he'd still be holding a lot of ignorant assumptions and false feelings of superiority this early on, versus making a total 180.
I'm not letting Melville off the hook here, there's definitely still issues in some of his descriptors and how he depicts Queequeg. But I do think he has more awareness than his narrator, who I predict we will see experience even further transformation.