Existential Angst and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is one of the most famous works in American literature. Captain Ahab, the insane whaling ship captain on a diabolical search to kill a whale that bit off his leg, is a fixture of American pop culture. Quick lesson: if you allow yourself to be consumed by revenge it will lead to your demise.

But the opening paragraph of the novel is often overlooked (aside from the first sentence). Melville describes the melancholy that overtakes his quotidian existence:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

I for one often feel a tremendous angst on Sunday evenings. Oh no, the brief respite of the weekend has faded and it is time to go back to work. This leads to the inevitable question: why don’t I like my job. My quick rejoinder, I do like my job, I just don’t like this whole work thing. I do not like the unending routine. The monotony. And I find it very difficult to explain.

So you can imagine my joy upon reading the first paragraph of Moby Dick. Ishamael feels a similar discontent, often to the extreme. Importantly, he states at the beginning that his journeys to sea represent a re-balancing, a kind of ritual cleansing of his emotional state.

He does not look for an immediate or even absolute fix to his dreariness. In fact, this melancholy from time to time is the natural condition of his person on land. Eventually, the routine will get to him and he will grow restless and weary. Then he must take to the sea.

I really appreciate this viewpoint because it does not look for an inward cause for Ishmael’s discontent. Our cultural narrative states that everyone in America has the freedom to be happy and successful. We can thus infer that if you are not free and successful something is wrong with you. After all, who else do you have to blame?

Nonsense, Melville hits back. There is just something about man in modern society that doesn’t quite fit. And you do not need to look further for the cause. You simply need to change the scenery.

Now Melville moves from malcontent to suicidal, and we should discuss that. He takes to sea rather than putting “pistol and ball” to the side of his head. This is extreme, of course, but it is not unfair.

Ishmael is merely being honest with himself. His need for regular breaks from society is as necessary for his life as a defibrillator for a heart patient.

Importantly, Melville’s mention of suicide involves a comparison with Cato. Cato killed himself rather than live under the rule of Julius Ceasar. He wasn’t mad at the world, but simply willing to die rather than lose his freedom.

Ishmael doesn’t have a Ceasar to rebel against. There is no singular tyrant in his world. Instead there are the thousands of tyrants of every day life. And thus he just needs a break every once in a while to get his life back in order.

Remember Melville’s words the next time you are sitting in traffic or stuck on the subway. Think of Ishmael’s desire to “methodically knock people’s hats off” when you are frustrated with work. It is not just you. Everyone feels this way at some point or another.

Instead of searching for answer try taking a break. Maybe your ocean is joining a startup. Just avoid going to work for a tech startup with maniacal CEO who hates whales.