Nantucket as a parable for Imperialism

Following Dimock's critical line of thought, the Nantucket chapter (No. 14) can be useful to spotlight yet another aspect of subconscious imperialistically influenced state of mind in Moby Dick. As Ishmael and Queequeg land on the shores of this 19th century whaling center, Ishmael turns to tell the traditional legend of the settling of Nantucket. The legend as first presented by Ishmael is supposedly the story of how the red man, the Indians first discovered and then inhabit the island. And hark! This is not to be taken lightly: the action of Discovery is traditionally reserved for white men only. People of color never "discover" a land – they are the passive-native, being discovered (and consequently enslaved or extinct) by the all powerful dominant white male.

But that peculiarity will soon be corrected, in a way that illustrates wonderfully Edward Said's argument in Culture and Imperialism: soon after the two poor Indians, in desperate pursuit after the vulture that snatched their infant, mistakenly discover Nantucket – the scepter is passed to its lawful owners. It goes like this: those bereaved parents (a true Indian Adam and Eve) engender a whole generation of Nantucketers, which at first hunt and feed on crabs, cod and quahogs – like true Indian savages – and then, in an impressive leap, turn to develop the world's largest whaling fleet.

Now, what is intriguing is the easy, nonchalant way in which this shift takes place, from native Indian Nantucketers to the obviously white-man large scale whaling industry. The disinheritance of the native people occurs so naturally, that the reader is led to just hover over it, as a whaling ship floats on a peaceful ocean…