Moby-Dick Ch. 74: The Sperm Whale's Head (Contrasted View)

Herman Melville

The Sperm Whale's Head (Contrasted View)

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Summary

Two great whale heads hang from the Pequod's side. Ishmael says this is the best place on earth to study whales. You can walk across the deck from one head to the other. The sperm whale and the right whale are the two main kinds that hunters chase. Their heads show the biggest difference between them.

Both heads are huge. But the sperm whale's head looks more balanced and noble. It has a salt-and-pepper grey top that marks an old experienced whale. Fishermen call that a grey-headed whale. The right whale's head does not have the same symmetry.

Next Ishmael looks at the eyes and ears. On both whales the eyes sit far back on the sides of the jaw, low down. They are tiny compared with the head, like a young horse's eye on a giant body.

Because the eyes are on the sides, the whale cannot see what is directly in front of him or directly behind him. He only sees to the left and to the right. The huge head between the eyes blocks the middle. So the whale gets two separate pictures, one on each side, with darkness in between. It is as if he had two windows on the sides of his head but nothing straight ahead.

Ishmael thinks this split vision may explain why some whales act confused and frightened when several boats attack at once. They cannot see straight ahead even when danger is coming.

The ears are even harder to find. They are tiny holes behind the eyes. On the sperm whale the ear has a small opening. On the right whale it is covered by a membrane and hidden from outside.

Ishmael says it is strange that such a huge animal sees and hears through such small organs. But he adds that bigger eyes and ears would not make the whale wiser. The same is true for people. Do not just try to enlarge your mind. Sharpen it. Make it finer.

The crew tips the sperm whale's head upside down. Inside the mouth is a beautiful white lining, glossy like wedding satin. The lower jaw is like a long hinged lid. When it opens, the rows of teeth look like a deadly gate. Many sailors have been killed when those spikes fall on them.

Later the jaw is cut off and hoisted on deck like an anchor. Queequeg, Daggoo, and Tashtego act as dentists. Queequeg cuts the gums with a sharp spade. The jaw is tied down. With ropes and tackle they pull out forty-two ivory teeth, strong and undecayed. Then the jaw is sawed into slabs and stored like lumber for making canes, umbrella handles, and whip stocks.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Mapping Blind Spots in Big Systems

Scale does not fix split perception. Ishmael shows the sperm whale's sideway eyes give two pictures with darkness between and warns the fishery to remember it.

Before you enlarge dashboards, subtilize: name what your massive head cannot see dead ahead.

Coming Up in Chapter 75

Next: The Right Whale's Head (Contrasted View). Crossing the deck Ishmael compares the shoe-shaped right head to bass-viol spouts, barnacled crown, Venetian baleen blinds, and a stoic lower lip pressed to the hull.

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Original text

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Chapter 74

The Sperm Whale's Head (Contrasted View)

The Sperm Whale’s Head—Contrasted View. Here, now, are two great whales, laying their heads together; let us join them, and lay together our own. Of the grand order of folio leviathans, the Sperm Whale and the Right Whale are by far the most noteworthy. They are the only whales regularly hunted by man. To the Nantucketer, they present the two extremes of all the known varieties of the whale. As the external difference between them is mainly observable in their heads; and as a head of each is this moment hanging from the Pequod’s side; and as we may freely…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Chart Your Blind Ahead

For one big initiative, what is visible on each side? What is dark between?

Consider:

•Left picture?
•Right picture?
•Ahead blind?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a time you enlarged noise when subtilizing would have helped.

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The Sperm Whale's Head (Contrasted View)

Summary