Sarah Kim's Precis

Sarah Kim

English 12

Mr.Fassi

Abeles, Oren. "Of Authors And Harpooneers: Reading Melville's THE DART." Explicator 68.4 (2010): 242-245. Academic Search Complete. Web. 08 Feb. 2013.

    In “Of Authors and Harpooneers: Reading Melville’s THE DART”, literary critic Oren Abeles proves that harpooners in the Moby Dick, and the author, Herman Melville, contain great similarities of demonstrating their demanding hard works and difficulties they suffer to achieve their goals. Oren develops his idea of “similarities” by examining the chapter of “The Dart” in Moby Dick, and author’s letters that he had sent to his surroundings. He first explains similar situations they both are in that they both need to follow the demands and to work those “impossible duties” in order to live. Then, he demonstrates his opinion of Moby Dick that it is not only a book that contains author’s complaints, but also a book that views author’s great efforts and difficulties that he had suffer to make Moby Dick as a great novel. Oren explains the connection between harpooners and author in order to prove that in the chapter, the demonstration of harpooners from Ishmael actually reflects author’s mind when he was writing his great novel.

     Oren put some references from Moby Dick and Melville’s letters to verify that there are similarities between harpooners and the author. In Moby Dick, according the Ishmael, harpooners are demanded to do impossible “double-duty”, which are rowing the whaleboat and, in the same time, throwing harpoons. The description of harpooners by Ishmael shows their overtaxed works that require “superhuman activity to the rest”. Also, the description of harpooner’s action reveals how much they are exhausted to their work : “ He has now to drop and secure his oar… seize his harpoon from the crotch, and with little strength may remain, he assays to pitch it somehow into the whale”. Moreover, Oren also refers author’s letter that he sent to his friend Evert Duyckinck. In the letter, Melville demonstrates his grievances of how chores disturb him to write a book and asks his friend for a help. From both excerpts, Oren suggests Melville and harpooners both feel strong displeasure toward their works. He describes, “Chores impair Melville’s writing just as rowing harms the harpooner’s toss”, which means chores to Melville is like a rowing to harpooners that only bother their working conditions.

     Furthermore, he deals about the difficulties they confront and their following psychic stress base on other people’s attention. In the book, Ishmael describes how hard it is to make a chance for a dart that out of fifty, not five are successful. Therefore, they are “madly cursed and disrated” and whaling becomes a “losing concern”. However, Oren picks out that Ishmael’s description does not fit with people in Pequod. Since Ishmael’s demonstration is inadequate, Oren can say that Ishmael’s demonstration of harpooner’s mental stress is actually reflecting the situation of author himself. Oren goes furthermore by referring to Melville’s letter to Duyckinck, where he reveals his mental stress in writing. His letter demonstrates his situation of how he is afraid of public criticism that he needs to suffer, but, because he is a poor writer, he still needs to write for money. Oren makes a connection by saying that to Melville, published wring carries a critique, and he will be “madly cursed and disrated” like what harpooners will be reflect to others if they do not succeed.

     Oren’s argument advances readers’ understanding of Moby Dick by giving new perspective of the book. Before reading this article, readers can read Moby Dick as a story of whaling that contains broad themes that relates with religion or society. However, before thinking about themes, readers first have to see that the book actually contains author’s stories and his efforts to make his book as a great achievement in American literature.