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“Nothing But Blows”: Herman Melville And The Contagion Of Authority, Conrad Irving Brittenham

Senior Projects Spring 2016

In Chapter Thirty Six of Moby Dick, “The Quarter Deck,” captain Ahab rallies the Pequod’s crew behind his hunt for Moby Dick, met with no opposition other than from the ship's first mate, Starbuck. After heatedly bickering for some time, Ahab mentions in an aside, “Something shot from my dilated nostrils, he has inhaled it in his lungs. Starbuck now is mine; cannot oppose me now, without rebellion” (168). What follows is Starbuck’s “tacit acquiescence” to Ahab’s demands. Though it is unclear exactly what the “something” is that comes out of Ahab’s nose, it is clear that this one-track-mind captain …