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Nature and Man
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Moby-Dick, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The book explores many different forms of equality, fellowship, and enslavement in human relations. A notable example of fellowship and racial tolerance is Ishmael’s close friendship with Queequeg. Although Ishmael is initially repulsed and terrified by Queequeg’s appearance and background, he soon perceives Queequeg to be principled, loyal, affectionate, and talented. The two men become “married,” in Queequeg’s parlance, meaning that they vow to join their fates and lay down their lives for each other.
The organization of the Pequod is portrayed as more meritocratic and less racist than society at large. The crew is racially diverse, with rank and pay dependent on skill; meanwhile, the men are financially interdependent, since none of them are paid upfront and any profit will arise from collective success. This interdependence also takes a physical form: Ishmael notes that the Pequod is distinct among whaling boats in that a harpooner and the crew member in charge of holding onto him with a rope are tied together, so that if the harpooner is dragged into the sea, the corresponding crew member will be dragged down too.
The Pequod does parallel conventional society in that the captain and mates are all white, while all the harpooners working under them (as well as many lower-order crew members) are non-white. However, all members of the Pequod’s crew are subject to Ahab’s whims and bouts of frenzy; in this sense, they are all equally enslaved. Early in the novel, Ishmael asks rhetorically, “Who ain’t a slave?” He is referring to the fact that most people, and not just sailors like him, live at the beck and call of others; everybody follows orders, and everybody is subjugated in some way. Notably, Ishmael’s chosen name (“Call me Ishmael,” he says in the opening chapter, making it unclear whether it is his real or assumed name) is Biblical in origin, and refers to the prophet Abraham’s son with the slave woman Hagar.
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Race, Fellowship, and Enslavement ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Race, Fellowship, and Enslavement appears in each chapter of Moby-Dick. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
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Chapter
Chapter 1
1
Chapter 2
2
Chapter 3
3
Chapter 4
4
Chapter 5
5
Chapter 6
6
Chapter 7
7
Chapter 8
8
Chapter 9
9
Chapter 10
10
Chapter 11
11
Chapter 12
12
Chapter 13
13
Chapter 14
14
Chapter 15
15
Chapter 16
16
Chapter 17
17
Chapter 18
18
Chapter 19
19
Chapter 20
20
Chapter 21
21
Chapter 22
22
Chapter 23
23
Chapter 24
24
Chapter 25
25
Chapter 26
26
Chapter 27
27
Chapter 28
28
Chapter 29
29.
Chapter 30
30
Chapter 31
31
Chapter 32
32
Chapter 33
33
Chapter 34
34
Chapter 35
35
Chapter 36
36
Chapter 37
37
Chapter 38
38
Chapter 39
39
Chapter 40
40.
Chapter 41
41
Chapter 42
42
Chapter 43
43
Chapter 44
44
Chapter 45
45
Chapter 46
46
Chapter 47
47
Chapter 48
48
Chapter 49
49
Chapter 50
50..
Chapter 51
51
Chapter 52
52
Chapter 53
53
Chapter 54
54
Chapter 55
55
Chapter 56
56.
Chapter 57
57
Chapter 58
58
Chapter 59
59
Chapter 60
60
Chapter 61
61
Chapter 62
62
Chapter 63
63
Chapter 64
64
Chapter 65
65
Chapter 66
66
Chapter 67
67
Chapter 68
68
Chapter 69
69
Chapter 70
70
Chapter 71
71
Chapter 72
72
Chapter 73
73
Chapter 74
74
Chapter 75
75
Chapter 76
76
Chapter 77
77
Chapter 78
78
Chapter 79
79
Chapter 80
80
Chapter 81
81
Chapter 82
82
Chapter 83
83
Chapter 84
84
Chapter 85
85
Chapter 86
86
Chapter 87
87
Chapter 88
88
Chapter 89
89
Chapter 90
90
Chapter 91
91
Chapter 92
92
Chapter 93
93
Chapter 94
94
Chapter 95
95
Chapter 96
96
Chapter 97
97
Chapter 98
98
Chapter 99
99
Chapter 100
100
Chapter 101
101
Chapter 102
102
Chapter 103
103
Chapter 104
104
Chapter 105
105
Chapter 106
106
Chapter 107
107
Chapter 108
108
Chapter 109
109
Chapter 110
110
Chapter 111
111
Chapter 112
112
Chapter 113
113
Chapter 114
114
Chapter 115
115
Chapter 116
116
Chapter 117
117
Chapter 118
118
Chapter 119
119
Chapter 120
120
Chapter 121
121
Chapter 122
122
Chapter 123
123
Chapter 124
124
Chapter 125
125
Chapter 126
126
Chapter 127
127
Chapter 128
128
Chapter 129
129
Chapter 130
130
Chapter 131
131
Chapter 132
132
Chapter 133
133
Chapter 134
134
Chapter 135
135
Epilogue
Ep
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Race, Fellowship, and Enslavement Quotes in Moby-Dick
Below you will find the important quotes in Moby-Dick related to the theme of Race, Fellowship, and Enslavement.
Chapter 1 Quotes
Call me Ishmael.
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Chapter 16 Quotes
I have forgotten to mention that, in many things, Queequeg placed great confidence in the excellence of Yojo’s judgment and surprising forecast of things; and cherished Yojo with considerable esteem, as a rather good sort of god . . . .
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Chapter 52 Quotes
Round the world! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only thought numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we left behind secure, were all the time before us.
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Chapter 54 Quotes
So help me Heaven, and on my honor the story I have told ye, gentlemen, is in substance and its great items, true. I know it to be true; it happened on this ball; I trod the ship . . . I have seen and talked with Steelkilt since the death of Radney.
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Chapter 60 Quotes
All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever-present perils of life.
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Chapter 82 Quotes
Perseus, St. George, Hercules, Jonah, and Vishnoo! there’s a member-roll for you! What club but the whaleman’s can head off like that?
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Chapter 92 Quotes
What then shall I liken the Sperm Whale to for fragrance, considering his magnitude? Must it not be to that famous elephant, with jeweled tusks, and redolent with myrrh, which was led out of an Indian town to do honor to Alexander the Great?
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Chapter 100 Quotes
He’s welcome to the arm he has, since I can’t help it, and didn’t know him then; but not to another one. No more White Whales for me; I’ve lowered for him once, and that has satisfied me.
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Chapter 133 Quotes
Men, this gold is mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here till the White Whale is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall be killed, this gold is that man’s, and if on that day I shall again raise him, then, ten times its sum shall be divided among all of ye! Away now!
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Chapter 135 Quotes
Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.
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Epilogue Quotes
On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her tracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.
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