ahab as luddite (Quakerism)

[The Great Quail]

Terrance writes,

>You wouldn't, but the narrator of M-D does.

Well, you certainly have a point there!

>And it this strange mixture
>of Quakerism and Calvinism and other religions  (and  by its mixing-Ahab
>has no christian harpooners-- the corruption of its dogma, I think
>Thomas has hit the nail on the head, it is Father Mapple we should look
>to first, and to Melville's Mosses) that the text calls our attention
>to. It is significant, very significant, I think. In fact, when we read
>Chapter 16, The Ship, there can be no doubt that Meville is not simply
>padding the text with historical facts.

I do not think he is merely padding the text; I am sorry if I gave 
that impression. I agree that Melville works on the irony of Quaker 
whale-hunters, but in an historical/cultural/social context outside 
the novel, I just don't find it that significant, nor very 
corrupting. I think the arrogant evil of Ahab, the pagan-ness of the 
Harpooners, and the corrupted nature of the men on the ship are more 
general, poetical statements involving the mad quest than any bold 
statements on religion and corruption in general. I think Melville 
has a very ironic view of religion and its relationship to man's 
everyday life (as witnessed in the sermon to the sharks and so on), 
and he certainly exploits the fact that the whale butchers are 
Quakers, but I don't see it as being a dominant tonic in Melville's 
impressive symphony -- merely one minor theme among numerous themes 
minor and major. Of course, this is just my own reading of the book, 
and I make no claims to deep scholarship or personal enlightenment!

--Quail