Moby Dick, Herman Melville

History 111

Paper 2

09.25.19

        In the chapter 89 of his book Moby-Dick, Herman Melville purposely invites his readers to participate in the philosophical debate concerning the laws of possession. It is a controversial subject that has either brought conflicts to court or provoked episodes of violence throughout history. Melville’s narrative uses the conflicts he witnessed during his experience in the whaling world to expose the multiple perspectives about possession whether if a whale can be possessed and who can technically claim it and explain the complexity of possession in other contexts such as the possession of land. At the same time, he denounces the immorality that often occur around the subject o possession.

        In his book Moby-Dick, Melville uses the subject of whaling to discuss the ambiguity of the laws concerning first possession. His description of the few whaling norms explain the ambiguity of confrontations at sea. In fact, the vagueness of what “Fast-Fish” and “Loose-Fish (Moby-Dick, Ch.89)” mean shows us why conflicts occurred at sea. In order to clarify these norms, Melville describes a “Fast-Fish” as a whale being physically attached to a vessel that claims its possession or still intends to capture it if it “bears a waif (Moby-Dick, 308)”. Moreover, “a Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it (Moby-Dick, 308)”. Laws essentially exist to prevent conflicts. In a similar way, these norms gave fishermen a chance to solve disputes for whales without the use of violence. Norms and ethical judgement are the only things allowing different parties to share the oceans and its resources without entering in conflict and Melville explains that some follow these norms while “others are by no means so scrupulous (Moby-Dick, 308)”. The oceans offer resources that cannot be claimed by any party until they are on board of their vessel or brought back to land. As the oceans are places no one owns and where laws in place on land don’t apply, the discussion of possession on the water is even more complex. In theory, anyone can debate that a resource is theirs since there are neither rules nor territoriality on the oceans. The fine line between pirates and British privateering illustrates this idea well.

Even though we can believe at first sight that Melville only discusses the issues fishermen face concerning the possession of whales, he also questions the idea of possession of land and the laws concerning possession in general. On the whole, it does not matter how things come in your possession. If you claim possession of something that is not claimed by anyone else, it becomes yours. Melville invites us to think about the morality of the saying “Possession is the whole of the law”. In fact, in this same chapter 89, he enumerates different possessions and questions the morality of the way they have been acquired. He writes:

“What is the archbishop of Savesoul's income of lb. 100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven without any of Savesoul's help) what is that globular 100,000 but a Fast-Fish? What are the Duke of Dunder's hereditary towns and hamlets but Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? (Moby-Dick, 309-310)”.

In these illustrations, Melville shows us that laws of possession can be difficult to see as fair. However, life happens to be this way in many circumstances. Additionally, it shows that the people with power exercise the law. In a certain way, people with power are the law. The passage where Melville writes “What are the sinews and souls of Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is the whole of the law (Moby-Dick, 309)” reinforces the fact that Melville points the finger at the unethical sides of the laws. Undeniably, he alludes to the slavery of his lifetime. By that, he means that slaves are the possession of their masters and that there is something immoral about it as he tries to denounce throughout this chapter. His purpose is to make the readers think about how the laws of possession and that they happen to make sense to one’s perspective and while they might not from another person’s perspective.

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