ABOUT THE CHAPTER 108 - AHAB & THE CARPENTER

The chapter 108 - Ahab & The Carpenter is very interesting from the point of view of its form. It is written as a theatrical play but there are no remarks, no dashes, so the reader has to guess himself who is speaking. It’s a dialogue between Ahab and the carpenter making the artificial ivory leg for the captain. However this text seems to me the precursor of the post-modern stylistics.

 Why did the author decide to write this chapter in the form of a play, which means without the remarks of the narrator?

I think it’s the only chapter when we may take pity on Ahab. This situation is very embarrassing for him. He is so independent and authoritarian, but now he depends on the carpenter. All this makes him feel awkwardly.

At first he behaves himself like a shy boy who is trying to hide his shyness – he is speaking a lot and sometimes he is not clear; he is touching the carpenter’s tools, he is trying to show his ironic attitude to the situation and so on.

Then Ahab tries to escape this embarrassing situation and began to philosophize about Prometheus, artificial men etc.

The carpenter’s reaction is also interesting: as Ahab depends on his work, the carpenter feels himself equal to the captain. He is polite but independent. He asks questions just to make conversation. He does not understand what Ahab means and this is not interesting to him. He seems rather intelligent. But in the previous chapter the narrator characterizes the carpenter as a “deaf and dumb” manipulator of the various tools.

Whose opinion is this – the author’s or the narrator’s? The latter’s, I think. Ishmael sees the carpenter as a dumb worker. But the author shows his opinion in the next chapter and that is why it is written in the form of a play – in order to exclude the remarks of the narrator.