The Death Of The Coffin - 1660 Words

The imagery suggests that the mother, who is the carpenter, gives life to her child, the coffin. Ahab referred to the carpenter as â€Å"Prometheus,† a titan, a silkworm spinning its own shroud out of itself (Leiter 1958). This, I think is Melville’s way of connecting the coffin’s obvious meaning of death to life. The carpenter as Prometheus symbolizes God who gives birth or in other words life to death. The coffin then acts as a life buoy for Ishmael specifically, when it carries him over to safety at the end of the novel. Ishmael and the coffin, both tossed up by the Pequod—rigged out like a whale—also like Job by the Whale of God, become Prophets who deliver the message of God to the world (Leiter 1958). In a way then, the coffin also symbolizes the universe, man, his life, and his death. It is a symbol of the fate of man here on this earth. Ishmael is saved because he—unlike Ahab, whose view of the condition of man is so monolithic and pr etty much insane—has reached a state not only of understanding man’s role in the universe, but he has also achieved acceptance of that role. â€Å"Wedded† to Ishmael earlier in the novel, Queequeg points the way to sanity, neither through destructive internal questioning, nor through acceptance of religious prophecies, but by what he is. After meeting his other half in Peter Coffin’s inn, which is decked out like a whale, Ishmael says, â€Å"As I sat there in that lonely room†¦I began to be sensible of strange feelings. I felt a melting in me.† SinceShow MoreRelatedVietnamese Culture on Death819 Words   |  4 Pagesthe ceremony of the first anniversary of the relative’s death and after two years is the ceremony of the end of mourning. The first stage is called â€Å"Nhap Quan† or â€Å"Entering the Coffin.† The purpose of this stage is to clean the death body and place it inside the coffin. The death body is cleaned with alcohol or water, removed from the old clothes and worn in the death clothes. The clothes are made from white fabric, and not only the death body but also the husband/wife, the son and daughter andRead MoreThe Connection Between Christianity, The Bible, And Moby Dick1338 Words   |  6 Pagesfate, he dies devoured by both mental and physical sharks. The connection between Christianity, the bible, and Moby Dick is a clear one as we have seen earlier on. Because of this connection, it can be understood that Ahab’s death and Ishmael’s survival through the coffin was also foreshadowed in the bible. Ahab believes he is a warrior of God and that he is somehow commanded to help rid the world of evil. The fact that he thinks he can help God fight evil is certainly a little insane, but it isRead MoreEssay about Herman Melvilles Moby Dick685 Words   |  3 Pagesby Herman Melville, a recurring theme of death is seen throughout the book. A coffin appears at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book, Ishmael sees a large oil painting that foreshadows and represents many things and events that follow in the book, and Fedallah makes a prophecy talking about hearses and predicts Ahab’s death. Ishmael stays at The Sprouter-Inn, whose proprietor was a man named Peter Coffin. In the end, Ishmael clings to a coff in for over a day until rescued by anotherRead MoreAnalysis Of As I Lay Dying 1086 Words   |  5 Pagesfish. He constantly dehumanizes Addie into a fish, which is seen in the bridge scene. When witnessing the fall of the coffin into the river, Vardaman does not describe the coffin falling but instead describes a fish that is swimming away. The fish is a symbol of his refusal to connect the reality of her decaying body to her death. Instead of rationalizing that the body in the coffin is that of his deceased mother, Vardaman regresses into a stage of denial and believes that Addie is an animal that willRead MoreEgyptian Mummies and the Afterlife1051 Words   |  5 Pagesprotect and identify the body by painting or carving pictures, hieroglyphics, and symbols on the coffin. One very good example of this is represented by the ‘Mummy of Irethorrou in Coffin.’ This coffin, made of wood with polychrome, is adorned with hieroglyphics, symbols, and a portrait of the Egyptia n priest. It was found in a cemetery in Akhmim, and dates back circa 500 BCE. The inside of the coffin, where the mummy lays, also has a carved outline of Irethorrou’s profile standing on some sort ofRead MoreAnalysis Of As I Lay Dying 1738 Words   |  7 Pagesthe family and is the most sensitive as well as articulates of the children. The journey takes a large toll on him and the reader can see that when Darl becomes so frustrated with the whole journey that he tries to incinerate his deceased mother’s coffin. His mother’s passing has a great toll on him and makes him gain a deeper meaning about his own life as well as the nature of being and the world that encompasses it. One of the first aspects about his life that he re-analyzes is his connection andRead MoreThe Book s Name Is `` Smoke Gets On Your Eyes By Caitlin Doughty1323 Words   |  6 Pagesand the awareness and cognition of death. Caitlin mentioned that she works in a crematorium because she want ed to overcome the fear of death. Because when she was eight years old at Windward Mall, she saw a little girl climb up to where the escalator met the second-story railing, then she tipped over the edge and fell thirty feet, landing face-first on a laminate counter with a sickening thud (Caitlin 29). So, she lost control of death. Maybe people fear of death because they experience some frighteningRead MoreAs I Lay Dying by William Faulkner997 Words   |  4 Pagesrest in the Jefferson town (Faulkner, William, Michael 43) In the entire novel, Faulkner presents fifteen different points of views with each chapter narrated by a single character including Addie who expresses her though from the casket after her death. The chapters are narrated in such a way that the characters are developed steadily through the opinions and perception of the characters in the novel. The novel explores the burden of the family faced in Mississippi countryside in order to bury AddieRead MoreSymbolism in as I Lay Dying1066 Words   |  5 Pagesthemes throughout the book but one of the most important ones was the use of symbolism. Cashs tools and Anses farm equipment symbolizing their stability becomes threatened from the carelessness of the Bundrens journey. The coffin stood the burden of dysfunction the Addies death put on the family. There were also a couple instances where Faulkner used animals to symbolize emotions and as a comparison to a couple of the characters. Cash was the eldest sibling in the Bundrens family, he was a carpenterRead MoreGeorge Bernard Shaw and His Short Story About the Cremation of the Nar774 Words   |  4 Pagesbody are eventually reconciled with an understanding that her spirit lives on. He imagines how she would find humor in the bizarre event of her own cremation. The quality of humor unites Shaw and his mother in a bond that transcends the event of death and helps Shaw understand that her spirit will never die. The reader is also released from the horror of facing the mechanics of the cremation process when Mamas own comments lead us to understand that her personality and spirit will live on.