Thoughts: on Moby Dick

Thought #1:
Damn I wish it was 1851 and I could be on a whaling ship contemplating existential questions about Man, and Nature, and what drives Humanity. But unfortunately I'm actually just contemplating these questions alone in my room, or in the library. Basically my point is that I'm jealous of Ishmael and Melville because it seems to me that exploring these questions was more interesting in the past, given there was more time available in a given day to really think about these grandiose kinds of questions. And perhaps there were more people interested in actually reading about them.
Then again this may absolutely not have been the case. It's very easy to look back on the past with an idealized view of philosophy in mind. It is equally possible that a relative amount of people from 1851 compared to people today, equally did not give a damn about existential questions back then.

Thought #2:
How absolutely terrifying hunting a sperm whale would be in actuality. These creatures are enormous. They have giant teeth and hunt giant squid. They spout scalding water from their blow hole and tend to ram themselves into the boats that are trying to kill them. They can swallow you without chewing you. They lurk below the surface and dive to unimaginable depths. I don't know... it just seems to me like the whole process absurdly scary and further complicated by the fact that you are literally stranded out in the ocean for a very long time.
Not to mention that you would essentially be trapped on a boat with a crew of crazy people. In order to embark on a quest to hunt a sperm whale one would have to be crazy. It is objectively a crazy thing to do. The crew of the Pequod are certainly crazy, and their captain Ahab is perhaps the craziest of them all. So on top of all of the inherent danger of hunting a sperm whale, and being out at sea for three years-- you would be at the mercy of an absolute crazy captain who's only motivation in life is to murder a whale that chewed his leg off years ago.

Thought #3:
There is something about this book that makes it truly and un-apologetically American. Obviously this book is a cornerstone of Canonical American literature, but there is something about it that effortlessly speaks to the condition of being American. I think that what was true for Melville about being American back in 1851, is still true today. The unending quest towards the unknowable. The restless pursuit of some invaluable something. The ceaseless pull toward an ideal of success. There's something about this book that really nails the whole "American Dream" theme; something wholly separate from the financial aspect of that dream like in The Great Gatsby. This book speaks more to the spiritual side of our quest towards the American Dream. Or maybe I just relate to Ishmael way too much.

I have more thoughts about this book and I will be periodically posting them on this blog.