Universo da obra
Universo da obra
Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this post-mortemizing of the whale; and had you strolled forward nigh the windlass, pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small curiosity a very strange, enigmatical object, which you would have seen there, lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers. Not the wondrous cistern in the whale’s huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone—longer than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg. And an idol, indeed, it is; or, rather, in old times, its likeness was. Such an idol as that found in the secret groves of Queen Maachah in Judea; and for worshipping which, King Asa, her son, did depose her, and destroyed the idol, and burnt it for an abomination at the brook Kedron, as darkly set forth in the 15th chapter of the first book of Kings.
Look at the sailor, called the mincer, who now comes along, and assisted by two allies, heavily backs the grandissimus, as the mariners call it, and with bowed shoulders, staggers off with it as if he were a grenadier carrying a dead comrade from the field. Extending it upon the forecastle deck, he now proceeds cylindrically to remove its dark pelt, as an African hunter the pelt of a boa. This done he turns the pelt inside out, like a pantaloon leg; gives it a good stretching, so as almost to double its diameter; and at last hangs it, well spread, in the rigging, to dry. Ere long, it is taken down; when removing some three feet of it, towards the pointed extremity, and then cutting two slits for armholes at the other end, he lengthwise slips himself bodily into it. The mincer now stands before you invested in the full canonicals of his calling. Immemorial to all his order, this investiture alone will adequately protect him, while employed in the peculiar functions of his office.
That office consists in mincing the horse-pieces of blubber for the pots; an operation which is conducted at a curious wooden horse, planted endwise against the bulwarks, and with a capacious tub beneath it, into which the minced pieces drop, fast as the sheets from a rapt orator’s desk. Arrayed in decent black; occupying a conspicuous pulpit; intent on bible leaves; what a candidate for an archbishopric, what a lad for a Pope were this mincer!20
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. Narrated by Ishmael, it follows Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that had taken part of Ahab's leg on a previous voyage of the whaling ship Pequod. Now regarded as one of the central works of the American Renaissance and a Great American Novel, the book received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure during Melville's lifetime. Its opening line, "Call me Ishmael", is among the most famous in world literature.
Ainda não há resenhas para esta obra. A primeira leitura comentada pode começar aqui.
Escolha a arte, confira a disponibilidade e adicione o produto ao carrinho sem sair da experiência.
Adquira Relíquias da Obra e deixe sua marca registrada, criando valor ao item!
Capítulos disponíveis para continuar a leitura.
Nenhuma Relíquia desta obra foi adquirida ainda. Seja o primeiro a eternizar seu nome no acervo oficial!
Conhecer as 100 RelíquiasAinda não há resenhas para esta obra. A primeira leitura comentada pode começar aqui.
Nenhuma posse foi registrada publicamente para esta edição.
Durante a leitura, abra Menu para ajustar a experiência sem sair do capítulo. As preferências de aparência ficam salvas neste aparelho.
Recursos identificados como “em preparo” aparecem para antecipar a evolução do leitor, mas ainda não executam uma ação.
Posso mostrar leituras em destaque, clássicos e Relíquias disponíveis agora no Literúnico.
Escolha um caminho
Dúvidas desta página
As explicações do Aurélio são respostas cadastradas pelo Literúnico.