Moby-Dick Ch. 70: The Sphynx

Summary

Before the crew strips the whale's body, they cut off its head. This is a hard surgical job that experienced whale surgeons are proud of. The whale has no real neck. The thickest part of its body is right where the head meets the body. The surgeon must work from above, eight or ten feet over the rolling sea, cutting deep into the flesh without being able to see the cut. He must split the spine at exactly the right spot. Stubb boasts he can do it in ten minutes.

When the head is cut off, it is dropped astern on a rope until the body is stripped. A small whale's head can be hoisted on deck. A full-grown sperm whale's head is too heavy. It is nearly one third of the whole animal. You cannot weigh it on deck any more than you could weigh a barn on jeweler's scales.

On the Pequod, after the body is stripped, the head is hoisted against the ship's side. It hangs half out of the water so the sea still holds it up. The ship leans steeply toward it. The blood-dripping head hangs at the ship's waist like the head of Holofernes from Judith's belt in the Bible story.

By noon the work is done. The crew goes below to eat. The deck is quiet. A deep copper-colored calm spreads over the sea like a huge yellow lotus flower unfolding.

Ahab comes alone from his cabin. He walks the quarter-deck, then leans over the side with Stubb's spade under his arm like a crutch. He stares at the black hooded head. In the intense calm it looks like a sphinx in the desert.

Ahab whispers to the head. He begs it to speak and tell its secret. He says the head has been to the deepest places in the ocean. It has seen drowned bones, lovers leaping from burning ships, murdered sailors thrown overboard by pirates. It has seen enough horror to shake the planets and turn Abraham into a doubter. Yet the head says nothing.

Then a voice shouts from the masthead: Sail ho! A ship is coming. Ahab straightens up. The dark clouds leave his face. He calls the news cheering on this deadly calm. He asks where the ship is and welcomes the breeze. The silent sphinx is forgotten. The living world calls him back.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Breaking Silent Oracle Loops

Objects that witnessed depth cannot answer your plea. Ahab alone mutters to the severed head to speak its secret, lists abyss horrors, rages at silence until Sail ho returns him to the world.

When you monologue to mute metrics, name one living person to call before the next refresh.

Coming Up in Chapter 71

Next: The Jeroboam's Story. Sail ho brings the Pequod alongside another Nantucket whale-ship, but epidemic quarantine keeps Captain Mayhew in his boat while archangel Gabriel rules the parallel talk and warns against the White Whale.

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Original text

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Chapter 70

The Sphynx

The Sphynx. It should not have been omitted that previous to completely stripping the body of the leviathan, he was beheaded. Now, the beheading of the Sperm Whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves: and not without reason. Consider that the whale has nothing that can properly be called a neck; on the contrary, where his head and body seem to join, there, in that very place, is the thickest part of him. Remember, also, that the surgeon must operate from above, some eight or ten feet intervening between him and his…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Name Your Sphinx

What silent oracle do you consult? Who is your Sail ho?

Consider:

•What question are you really asking?
•Who could answer?
•What alert should interrupt?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time an external ping broke an unhealthy solo loop.

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Summary