tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post1556954286003857718..comments2024-03-26T22:47:45.276-07:00Comments on Intro to Critical Reading: Ahab + Pip 4EVAAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-83577446093440637552011-04-03T20:13:05.280-07:002011-04-03T20:13:05.280-07:00I think you could have done more research regardin...I think you could have done more research regarding this topic. I was looking at writing about this topic before I decided on something else. I had come across an article called Ahab and Pip: Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes. I did not get the chance to read through it but maybe that could help you out.<br /><br />I really like how you connected Ahab's affinity toward Pip because of seeing him as free of the controller. It's really nice to see it from a different view other than just the sanity aspect.<br /><br />I feel as though you could ultimately split your writing into Ahab's view of the relationship and then Pip's view. Maybe that could help you to further develop your ideas in regards to a deeper understanding of the relationship as well as its growth.Chelsea Wampolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08391555989296405249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-56922541407929316552011-04-02T08:36:52.633-07:002011-04-02T08:36:52.633-07:00I love the title.
This reads, in many ways, like ...I love the title.<br /><br />This reads, in many ways, like a fantastic first draft. I don't mean that as an insult or a problem - I mean that I feel like you have figured out what you're doing, and that it has great potential for further development and expansion.<br /><br />Your research is merely ok; I know that you were struggling with it, and in retrospect I wish that you had realized you were having trouble earlier, and that I'd taken the time to do some searches with you. Searching the body of work on Moby-Dick is intimidating and never easy; there's lots out there, but finding what's relevant can be a huge challenge. That being said, this research worked, but adequately rather than brilliantly. People have said lots of interesting things about Pip - some of it would have been useful to you.<br /><br />Let's get to what really matters, though. Although I don't consider your reading of Ahab and Pip by any means finished, your detailed focus on Pip as being abandoned and *therefore* free of the controller is a truly fantastic insight, and your analysis of their relationship *from* that point is great (including your use of Cline to discuss their parting, which is really very good).<br /><br />I'd never really thought of Pip as being involved or implicated in the hunt before - but that's what you're getting at, in part. You've also pinned down Pip's combined strength/weakness in a unique and convincing way.<br /><br />So why do I say it reads somewhat like a draft, even though I'm thoroughly onboard? It's not just because your research could be better, or because it's a little short. It's that you don't do anything, then, to turn this new understanding of Ahab and Pip back onto the novel as a whole. <br /><br />For instance, if we understand Pip as liberated/abandoned, and Ahab as haunted by that liberation-abandonment (my rewording of your idea), how does that change our understanding of the fact that Pip reminds Q. of the work that remains to be done - and of Ahab's obsession with with the "visionary system" which is written on his body?<br /><br />I'm suggesting, in other words, that your exceptionally interesting reading of Pip & Ahab has wide (and spiritual - to use Kermode) implications in the novel, which you could be exploring.<br /><br />Short version: insightful, even exceptional, and incomplete in a promising way.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.com