Herman Melville, Moby Dick “I Try All Things”
Throughout Moby Dick, Herman Melville critiques a lot of contemporary American social and cultural ideas. And one concept that comes in for a good deal of criticism is phrenology, a popular nineteenth-century pseudoscience that involved studying and measuring bumps on the skull to predict mental abilities and traits. Phrenology has been entirely disproven. But it captured many people’s imagination in the 1800s and was used extensively to reinforce racial and gender stereotypes.
In chapter seventy-nine of Moby Dick, Melville half-seriously conducts a phrenological study of the whale. Through this analysis, he concludes that the sperm whale is a god-like genius. But he also recognizes that this reading may be incorrect and challenges the reader to make their own judgement. In sum, Melville is both demeaning phrenology and lionizing the whale. He may also be commenting on the role of the writer in helping the reader to decipher the consciousness of others, whether human or animal.
But all this is not really that pertinent to the quote (taken from the same chapter) at hand, “I try all things, I achieve what I can.” This is a lovely sentiment that should guide all our endeavors. And what better quote to have emblazoned on your torso, proclaiming your unbridled efforts, your love for Moby Dick, and your commitment to, like Melville, undermining racist, sexist, and unscientific beliefs.
