Moby Dick and the End of an Era

In a recent conversation about classic books with Ruth, my wife, we agreed that we would probably never read Moby Dick even though it is oft-quoted. We decided to listen to it as we travel hither and yon, and that's what we have been doing.

We're now about a third of the way through the 135 chapters and it has been a revelation. The Sermon is about a rather fiery message on a Sunday morning about Jonah and the whale which is thoroughly entertaining. Then there is The Ramadan,  a surprisingly enlightened outlook on another religion given that Melville's novel was published in 1851 (there are still racist perceptions.)

It's also fascinating that Melville, who worked in his youth as a whaler, interjects in his narrative praise and support for the importance of the whaling industry of the 19th century. 

It's obvious that whaling is generally held in low regard, because of its butchery, but through Ishmael, the narrator, he is an advocate for the almost Godly dignity of the whaling industry..  Whalers have expanded our understanding of the globe through exploration. The whale is important to world literature. Even kings and queens rely on whale oil for their coronations. I wasn't so sure about this latter claim, so I checked. Lo and behold, the mixture of ingredients in the coronation oil for the current monarch of the British Empire, Queen Elizabeth II , included ambergris from a sperm whale, of which the fictional white whale was one. 

Ishmael also points out that whaling is the generator of considerable wealth because the harvested oil is used for many important purposes, including lighting. 

But, though the world scouts at us whale hunters, yet does it unwittingly pay us the profoundest homage; yea, an all-abounding adoration! for almost all the tapers, lamps, and candles that burn round the globe, burn, as before so many shrines, to our glory!



Moby Dick Erika Gallagher

All this struck me as quite current, in a way. We constantly hear similar arguments for fossil fuels, even to the claims that they are the source of wealth in Canada we are moving toward "ethical oil." Eventually though, whales were hunted toward extinction, and whale oil was supplanted by -- you guessed it -- fossil fuels. 

We are in the midst of a 21st century transition from fossil fuels and while the road is bumpy, there is evidence that it is occurring. We can be grateful for all the benefits we've enjoyed from the fossil fuel energy era, even as we hope it comes to an end.   We can hope and pray that humans aren't on the edge of extinction because of our over-reliance, along with so many other of God's creatures.