Whiteness

I too want to comment on the Whiteness of the Whale chapter - though I have a somewhat different take than Caitlin.  For me the story is filled with ambiguities - one of the main cases in point being Ahab who is on a crusade against nature, but is a man/nature hybrid himself.  So what exactly is he fighting, nature, or himself.  Or both?  The whiteness of the whale fits right in here - white being a color usually associated with goodness and now we get an entire chapter full of examples of how bad it is.  But the villain here seems to be Ahab, and by contrast then, MD must be good - or at least neutral.  Now that I think about it, I think this theme runs back to the start - Qq the savage is also the most civilized person at the Inn.

OK, that being said, I find this chapter quite frustrating.  Ishmael starts by saying "But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught."  But explain himself he doesn't.  Pages and pages of examples go by, but explanations?  No.  Towards the end he says "But thou sayest, methinks that white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a white flag hung out from a craven soul; thou surrenderest to a hypo, Ishmael."  That's exactly what I sayest.