Herman Melville, Moby Dick “Things Remote”
At the very beginning of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, we get that most famous line from American literature, “Call me Ishmael.” Like the biblical Ishmael, the narrator appears to be an outcast, perhaps from an “an old established family in the land.” But what is abundantly clear is that he is mired in a deep funk, as “it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul.” And, he knows that the only solution is to take to the sea. We certainly have all been there.
As the chapter unfolds, Ishmael explains that he will not go to sea as either a passenger or an officer. The first needs to pay for the privilege and does not get to enjoy the experience to the same extent as others on the ship. And the latter has too many responsibilities. Instead, Ishmael prefers to go as a common seaman. Though Ishmael has been to sea before on merchant vessels, this time he has chosen to go on a whaling voyage, chiefly because of “the overwhelming idea of the great whale himself…roused all my curiosity.” But Ishmael is also fascinated by the distant places that a whaler will take him.
Certainly, any of us who have had a little too much of civilization can sympathize with Ishmael. And those of us who long to see new places, to experience different cultures, and to meet interesting people, will also want to proclaim, along with Ishmael, “As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.”
