1. What does the "not very pleasant smell" signify? Is Melville using this smell as foreshadowing for further negative events in the novel? Or does he simply intend for it to be a bad smell?
2. "Now this ambergris is a very curious substance, and so important as an article of commerce, that in 1791 a certain Nantucket-born Captain Coffin was examined at the bar of the English House of Commons on that subject" (317). Elaborate on the importance of ambergris. Is Melville once again attempting to emphasize the vastness and importance of the whaling industry by detailing the uses of ambergris? Describe the contradictory nature of ambergris's origin and its uses.
3. What does Ishmael mean when he says, "for even blackness has his greatness" (319)? Does this alter or enrich our thoughts on Ishmael's stance on race and racism?
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