M&D, Moby Dick, and Quakers

ckaratnytsky ckaratnytsky at nypl.org
Thu Jul 24 17:04:50 CDT 1997


I don't think it's important but thought I'd point out a part of Moby Dick
(M&D? coincidence? hehe) that describes a couple of worldly Quakers such as
Dixon. It's in chapter 16, The Ship. I quote just a little.
     "Now, Bildad, like Peleg, and indeed many other Nantucketers, was a
Quaker, the island having been originally settled by that sext; and to this
day its inhabitants in general retain in an uncommon measure the
peculiarities of the Quaker, only variously and anomalously modified by
things altogether alien and heterogenous. For some of these same Quakers are
the sanguinary of all sailors and whale-hunters. Thery are fighting Quakers;
they are Quakers with a vengeance.
     So that there are instances among them of men who named with Scripture
names-a singularly common fashion on the island-and in childhood naturally
imbibing the stately dramatic thee and thou of Quaker idiom; still, from the
audacious, daring, and boundless adventure of their subsequent lives,
strangley blend with these unoutgrown peculiarities, a thousand bold dashes
of character, not unworthy a Scandinavian sea-king, or a poetical Pagan
Roman. "

I haven't checked what the historical information is regarding Dixon but I
wonder if Pynchon didn't have Melville's description of Peleg and Bildad in
mind. Any thoughts?



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