1. Is Ishmael's philosophical rambling supposed to confuse the reader? Is the lack of perfect logic in the chapter the Whiteness of the Whale supposed to hint at the lack of logic in racism?
2. Ishmael points out the absurdity of searching for one whale in all of the ocean, but then continues on talking about Ahab's ability to calculate latitudes and tracking where sperm whales may be at certain times of the year. Could Ishmael be justifying Ahab's quest and could he believe that Ahab is actually capable of tracking one whale?
3. As Ishmael talks about Ahab and his obsession with killing the white whale he says, "yielding up all his thoughts and fancies to his one supreme purpose; that purpose, its own sheer inveteracy of will, forced itself against gods and devils into a kind of self-assumed, independent being of its own" (170). Could Ahab's obsession, which consumes him, be even more dangerous than the whale itself? Is Ahab putting himself in more danger than its worth? And even if Ahab does kill the whale, does the whale ultimately win because Ahab has already lost control of his own self?
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