Classic Book of the Month

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, May 2nd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

For some folks, summer means life at the beach or at least some time at the pool. WORLD reviewer Emily Whitten says our Classic Book of the Month for May might just be the ultimate beach read.

AUDIOBOOK: “There she breaches! There she breaches!” was the cry, as in his immeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tosses himself salmon-like to heaven.

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s B. J. Harrison reading Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick or, The Whale. It follows Captain Ahab and his Nantucket whaling ship, the Pequod, as they seek to find and kill a white whale named Moby Dick.

AUDIOBOOK: “Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!” cried Ahab, “thy hour and thy harpoon are at hand!”

Melville’s magnum opus is clearly a classic of American literature. But if, like me, you tried to read the book in the past and didn’t get very far, you aren’t alone. Early reviews of Moby-Dick were overwhelmingly negative. One critic called it “the ravings of a lunatic.” Another described it as “exceeding many pages of unaccountable bosh.” Perhaps the worst criticism came from Melville himself who called Moby-Dick a “wicked book.” He certainly does give a lot of attention to the wicked character, Captain Ahab.

AUDIOBOOK: Whoso of ye raises me a white-headed whale, with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw. Whosoever of ye raises me that white headed whale with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke. Whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys. Huzzah, Huzzah, cried the seamen.

The book has other issues, too. The narrator, Ishmael, often sounds like he’s reading Wikipedia entries on whale anatomy or habitats. Other times, he’s overly poetic and difficult to follow. For instance, he speaks of the “crush and crash” of a whale’s “ponderous flukes.” I will be honest, I had to look up the definition of a fluke. It’s part of the tail.

Why bother reading it then? For one thing, Melville knows his subject matter. As a young man, he survived three harrowing voyages aboard whaling ships. More than that, the book’s plot—which seems hard to believe at times—comes from a true story. Director Ron Howard explored its historical roots in a 2015 movie starring Chris Hemsworth called In the Heart of the Sea. In the following scene, a whale attacks a group of whaling boats.

FILM: Mr. Chase, what the devil is it? Why have you stopped? He’s been following us. Ain’t nothing out there, Mr. Chase. Ain’t nothing out there. Sir, what are you doing?

The reason I picked up Moby-Dick again is pretty simple: late pastor and theologian R. C. Sproul said I should. Here’s Sproul in a podcast episode of Open Book with Stephen Nichols.

RC SPROUL: “That chapter on the whiteness of the whale is so rich theologically that I try to get everybody to read at least that chapter.”

Critics differ on how readers should view the white whale. Is he a symbol of evil? Or of the power of nature? Sproul believed the whale symbolizes the God of the Bible. Stephen Nichols explained in a Facebook video last June.

STEPHEN NICHOLS: He charts the whale, he thinks that by doing that he can control the whale. And of course this becomes Ahab’s downfall. Because this white whale is so majestic, so transcendent, and this is a metaphor for God.

Nichols sees this as related to Sproul’s major themes in books like The Holiness of God.

NICHOLS: Our fundamental problem is that we have a shallow religious view.

Ahab cannot see the whale’s—or God’s—majestic goodness and power, and he remains blind to his sinful, desperate condition. In contrast, Melville describes the repentance of the Biblical Jonah at length in Chapter 8. Here’s Sproul reading that chapter in a teaching series on Jonah. The whole episode is available on the Ligonier Ministries website.

SPROUL: Here, Shipmates, is true repentance. Not clamourous for pardon, but grateful for punishment. And how pleasing to God was this is shown in the eventual deliverance of Jonah from the sea and the whale. And Shipmates, I do not place Jonah before you to be copied for his sin but I do place him before you as a model of repentance. Sin not, but if you do, take heed to repent of it like Jonah.

Not everyone will agree with Sproul’s assessment of Moby-Dick. But Christians will find much to consider theologically here. We can also think critically about how Melville portrays both the natural world and non-Western people. For instance, in Chapter 42, he says “white men” have been given “mastership over every dusky tribe.” And while that’s obviously untrue, many critics today still see Melville as ahead of his time—especially his positive view of racially diverse characters.

For my part, I hope you’ll give our Classic Book of the Month for May a second look. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick or, the Whale is a difficult book. But with the right edition, like B. J. Harrison’s audio version, this whale of a tale might surprise you.

SPROUL: A dreadful storm comes on. The ship is like to break. But now when the boatsman calls all hands to lighten her, When boxes bails and jars are clattering overboard, When the wind is shrieking and the men are yelling and every plank thunders with trampling feet right over Jonah’s head, in all this raging tumult, Jonah sleeps his hideous sleep.

I’m Emily Whitten.

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