1) Amid the numerous celebrations of the color white, Ishmael explains that it also pushes something to be more terrible or intimidating: "This elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds" (160). Directly referring to the Polar Bear and Great White, could Ishmael also be referring to the terribleness of his own skin? Due to meeting Queequeg and other various skin colors, could he see that, though it's well known that men are terrible, the white men are potentially the most terrible?
2) "Cough be damned! Pass along that return bucket" (166). "Hark!" offers an interesting dialogue between a sailor who is searching for drama and rumor while the other simply wants to get his job done. Is this a depiction of the English/American desire for drama against the Peruvian (Cholo) determination to his work? Subtly pushing the question of where American dedication and passion lies?
3) "...While he himself was marking out lines and courses on the wrinkled charts, some invisible pencil was also tracing lines and courses upon the deeply marked chart of his forehead" (167). While Ahab pursues revenge against the White Whale, he doesn't realize the stress it puts on his body. As he "sleeps with clenched hands" and "wakes with... bloody nails in his palms" (169). While Moby Dick roams free, especially free of stress (as we know), Ahab is beating himself up under his own desire and pressure of finding the whale and achieving revenge, is this an image we should understand to be in effect in our lives? Is revenge really necessary? Particularly going through all the pain he has been through to get it?
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