chapter summary
Captain Ahab starts out doing his usual pacing around the deck, thinking of moby and how much he hates him. He decides to find a way to distract himself so orders for his pipe to be brought to him, then he may use it as a distraction from himself. As he sat and smoked he continued thinking his usual thoughts, of moby and his revenge on him. Eventually Ahab became aware of his own thoughts and realized the pipe was no distraction at all. This upset him because it totally mattered for some reason. So naturally he threw the pipe into the sea because not being distracting obviously made it worthless and anyone who disagrees is clearly insane. This shows that Ahab must have a purpose for things and no time can be wasted; so being that he seeked something for distraction, and the pipe failed to accomplish this, he deemed the pipe purposeless. Of course he could have found it a different purpose, such as a better way to focus on his thoughts than pacing around; or he could trade for something better with a crewman. But then again this is a guy who is obsessed with the idea of getting revenge on a whale that doesn't even care about pretty much anything.
Quotes: "Oh my pipe! Hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsiously toiling, not pleasuring, -aye, and ignorantly smoking to windward all the while;..."
-This is Ahab's response to the revelation that he is basically paranoid.
Captain Ahab starts out doing his usual pacing around the deck, thinking of moby and how much he hates him. He decides to find a way to distract himself so orders for his pipe to be brought to him, then he may use it as a distraction from himself. As he sat and smoked he continued thinking his usual thoughts, of moby and his revenge on him. Eventually Ahab became aware of his own thoughts and realized the pipe was no distraction at all. This upset him because it totally mattered for some reason. So naturally he threw the pipe into the sea because not being distracting obviously made it worthless and anyone who disagrees is clearly insane. This shows that Ahab must have a purpose for things and no time can be wasted; so being that he seeked something for distraction, and the pipe failed to accomplish this, he deemed the pipe purposeless. Of course he could have found it a different purpose, such as a better way to focus on his thoughts than pacing around; or he could trade for something better with a crewman. But then again this is a guy who is obsessed with the idea of getting revenge on a whale that doesn't even care about pretty much anything.
Quotes: "Oh my pipe! Hard must it go with me if thy charm be gone! Here have I been unconsiously toiling, not pleasuring, -aye, and ignorantly smoking to windward all the while;..."
-This is Ahab's response to the revelation that he is basically paranoid.
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