I've had the story of Jonah preached to me a hundred times but damn, Melville's take just hits different. I can feel the words coming out of the page, he writes with so much sincere devotion. I think part of the charm of Melville's writing is that same devotion he has towards life, he cares so much, man. And the way he phrases things has so much weight ??? God I wish I had the words to explain. Just simple things like "Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep" why is that so punchy and satisfying adñfdjdkahs "Woe to him whose good name is more to him than goodness!" that goes so hard, and my favorite from this chapter "And now behold Jonah taken up as an anchor and dropped into the sea; when instantly an oily calmness floats out from the east, and the sea is still, as Jonah carries down the gale with him, leaving smooth water behind." I want to kiss your brain Herman 🫠

And don't get me started on chapter 10. Ishmael waxing poetic about the guy he met yesterday because they slept in the same bed once, then that same guy counted book pages and mogged him for like half an hour and suddenly their hearts are dancing and I get it. I'm a firm believer of if you're not half in love with your friends then you're not friendshipping right but damn it, Ishmael why you gotta be so tender about it ffs you tear my heart out.

Exhibit A:

"You cannot hide the soul. Through all his unearthly tattooings, I thought I saw the traces of a simple honest heart; and in his large, deep eyes, fiery black and bold, there seemed tokens of a spirit that would dare a thousand devils."

Exhibit B:

"There was something almost sublime in it. Here was a man twenty thousand miles from home (...) thrown among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself."

ALWAYS EQUAL TO HIMSELF ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME I'M FROTHING AT THE MOUTH NOW

Exhibit C:

"I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me. No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were tuned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits. Wild he was; a very sight of sights to see; yet I began to feel myself mysteriously drawn towards him. And those same things that would have repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me. I'll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy."

So Ishmael puts aside his prejudices and decides to meet Queequeg where he is. He lets curiosity and admiration guide him instead of learned fear and joins Queequeg in his worship.

Then they touch foreheads and declare themselves married and "Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg - a cosy loving pair." You god damned 1800's U-Haul lesbians I love you please never change.

I already peeked the start of the next chapter and I am sorry I have to stop. My heart has a boner and it's starting to hurt. I have never felt more single in my life.