Eye - 09 November 2012

From whales to ducks

Illustration from an early edition of Moby Dick, 1892 | Photo: A Burnham Shute via Wikimedia Commons

Moby’s first mate

An avid fan of Herman Melville got in touch to remind Eye of the other side of the literary coin in his book: ‘Anne Adams (2 November) is right about the monstrous Quaker shipowners in Moby Dick. But Eye might remind its readers that the wisest and most humane character in the book, the first mate Starbuck, is also a Quaker. He is the only one who dares confront Ahab about his fatal obsession with the white whale.’

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