"Whether he thought the owners of the ship denied it to him, on account of its clotting his clear, sunny complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so long a voyage in such marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and therefore was not for him, a subaltern; however it was, Flask, alas! was a butterless man!" (Ch 34- The Cabin-Table) The final exclamation knows no equals in American literature.
"Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it. It sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows. And besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper foundation for his superior altitude. Hence, I conclude, that in boasting himself to be high lifted above a whaleman, in that assertion the pirate has no solid basis to stand on."
"Ignorance is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed and confounded about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it were the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night."
"Your woraciousness, fell-critters, I don't blame ye so much for; dat natur and can't be helped; but to gobern dat wicked natur, dat is de pint. You is sharks, sartin; but if you gobern de shark in you, why den you be angel; for all angel is not'ing more dan de shark wellgoberned. Now, look here, bred'ren, just try wonst to be cibil, a helping yourselbs from dat whale. Don't be tearin' de blubber out your neighbour's mout, I say. Is not one shark good right as toder to dat whale? And, by Gor, none on you has de right to dat whale; dat whale belong to some one else. I know some o' you has berry brig mouth, brigger dan oders; but den de brig mouts sometimes has de small bellies; so dat de brigness ob de mout is not swallar wid, but to bite off de blubber for de small fry ob sharks, dat can't get into de scrouge to help demselves."
Let's see how much of the first chapter I can get from memory, since I'm too lazy to get my book out at the moment.
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery parts of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; [missing chunk] that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent myself from stepping out into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off, then I account it high time to get out to sea. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. If they but knew it, almost all men, [something] some time or other, would cherish very nearly the same feeling towards the ocean with me."
Some gaps, and probably a mistake or two, but pretty decent. Anyways, I liked this passage a lot, a very strong introduction to what is arguably the most epic work of American literature to date.
"Thou hast outraged, not insulted me sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man." (518)
"Thou hast outraged, not insulted me sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man." (518)
8 comments:
"Whether he thought the owners of the ship denied it to him, on account of its clotting his clear, sunny complexion; or whether he deemed that, on so long a voyage in such marketless waters, butter was at a premium, and therefore was not for him, a subaltern; however it was, Flask, alas! was a butterless man!" (Ch 34- The Cabin-Table) The final exclamation knows no equals in American literature.
MobysEye
"Because, in the case of pirates, say, I should like to know whether that profession of theirs has any peculiar glory about it. It sometimes ends in uncommon elevation, indeed; but only at the gallows. And besides, when a man is elevated in that odd fashion, he has no proper foundation for his superior altitude. Hence, I conclude, that in boasting himself to be high lifted above a whaleman, in that assertion the pirate has no solid basis to stand on."
-Nautilus
"Ignorance is the parent of fear, and being completely nonplussed and confounded about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him as if it were the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead of night."
Mr. Mister
"Your woraciousness, fell-critters, I don't blame ye so much for; dat natur and can't be helped; but to gobern dat wicked natur, dat is de pint. You is sharks, sartin; but if you gobern de shark in you, why den you be angel; for all angel is not'ing more dan de shark wellgoberned. Now, look here, bred'ren, just try wonst to be cibil, a helping yourselbs from dat whale. Don't be tearin' de blubber out your neighbour's mout, I say. Is not one shark good right as toder to dat whale? And, by Gor, none on you has de right to dat whale; dat whale belong to some one else. I know some o' you has berry brig mouth, brigger dan oders; but den de brig mouts sometimes has de small bellies; so dat de brigness ob de mout is not swallar wid, but to bite off de blubber for de small fry ob sharks, dat can't get into de scrouge to help demselves."
MDROCKS08
Let's see how much of the first chapter I can get from memory, since I'm too lazy to get my book out at the moment.
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery parts of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; [missing chunk] that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent myself from stepping out into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off, then I account it high time to get out to sea. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. If they but knew it, almost all men, [something] some time or other, would cherish very nearly the same feeling towards the ocean with me."
Some gaps, and probably a mistake or two, but pretty decent. Anyways, I liked this passage a lot, a very strong introduction to what is arguably the most epic work of American literature to date.
-Nautilus
"Thou hast outraged, not insulted me sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man." (518)
-DaDrizzle
"Thou hast outraged, not insulted me sir; but for that I ask thee not to beware of Starbuck; thou wouldst but laugh; but let Ahab beware of Ahab; beware of thyself, old man." (518)
-DaDrizzle
ONE WORD...
SPERMACETI
R@u!+
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