Rebirth in Moby Dick

Joseph Boone describes Ishmael’s journey towards reintegration of his fragmented identity. It is only possible by breaking away from the restricting social conventions of the heterosexual world on land, and entering a new and undefined “geographical and textual space” (228). In this world, male bonds are the solution to loneliness, are emotional and committed, but do not endanger the individual sense of freedom, as does the conventional marital institute.

The journey towards finding the self is characterized by a series of symbolic rebirths into new contexts and new identities that enable the soul to become spacious and open. One of the most extraordinary examples of the rebirths Ishmael undergoes throughout the novel is described in Chapter 87, “The Grand Armada”. Amidst a violent whale hunt, Ishmael’s boat is dragged into the heart of a whale shoal, where he gets a glimpse of the hidden world of whale mothers and their calves, “Leviathan amours in the deep” (303). Ishmael receives a glance into what was conventionally seen as the “private sphere”, which was the realm of the women. Boone claims that this revelation, which is the result of a vertical gaze into the deep, allows Ishmael to recognize something real within his own being. He finds a connection to the feminine aspect of his being, and instead of purging it as society would demand, he embraces the femininity within him: “…deep down and deep inland I still bathe me in the eternal mildness of joy.” (303).

Ishmael is reborn in a sense after this incident, since it allows him to add another layer to his personality, by accepting, as Bonne claims, the “maternal” and “feminine” aspects in himself. Boone continues and asserts, that this embrace of love, peace and mildness echoes for the rest of the novel and resonates in the scene described in chapter 94 “The Squeeze of the Hand”, where men bond evolve into communal embrace and democracy.

Boones reading adds another dimension to the reading of the novel. The individual self is not an island, rather, the key to the self involves bond with others, which act as mirrors. The search for the self can only be done in a truly free environment that enables growth, away from the restricting social conventions. The journey for the self is an endless process of rebirths and reinvention of the self, constantly questioning it in order to evolve as an individual.