Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Moby Dick pg 19

"it maketh a marvelous difference, weather thou lookest out at from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or wether though observest it form a sashless window, where the frost is on both sides"

This is talking of a person or type of person. Ishmael is a sashless window considering his dreary outlook on life. He seems to enjoy dark, gloomy places without people and looks for a inn that is down a deserted street. Ishmael is not just looking at things that seem unpleasant like a glass window with frost on the outside, he is frosty on both sides like a sashless window.

Moby Dick pg 13

"but that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. I is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all."

States one main theme of the book, water/ocean connects everything. Many believe that life evolved from water and moved to land over time. This quote gives the idea of seeing oneself in water much like it is a part of us; and that water "is the key to it all" or life.