tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post7112847322064079976..comments2024-03-26T22:47:45.276-07:00Comments on Intro to Critical Reading: Using Cetology to Understand Ishmael's Initial Reaction to QueequegAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-41483833120577983092012-03-16T18:30:12.056-07:002012-03-16T18:30:12.056-07:00I agree with Alison about your strengths, and I al...I agree with Alison about your strengths, and I also agree that you don't go as far as you could here. However, I might be prepared to say that this is your most interesting work yet, simply because of what you almost do. Let me summarize and push it farther.<br /><br />You note some characteristics about Ishmael's obsessive academic thinking on whales. Good, but easy enough. Then you use that to *read back* to his analysis of Q., recognizing many of the same charactistics there. Better! Your seeing I. as obsessively academic, with (perhaps) an *anthropological* orientation.<br /><br />Why does this matter? I think you've done a decent, if not conclusive job (that might take more examples) of showing that Ishmael is consistently academic, including in his understanding of people. But why do we care? Your disinclination to answer that question is what bothers Alison, and what keeps this interesting beginning from being outstanding work.<br /><br />How do you feel about it? How should we respond to it? Should we admire Ishmael, for turning the same critical eye on all things, human and inhuman? Should we be outraged that he picks apart and analyses even the one true object of his affections? You've picked up on something really interesting and important. But that's just a start - now you need to show us why we ought to care.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5425514987715337437.post-59212666833410089272012-03-15T05:32:19.181-07:002012-03-15T05:32:19.181-07:00Erika-
I don't want to sound like a broken re...Erika-<br /><br />I don't want to sound like a broken record, but like I've said in earlier comments on your blogs, I feel that (as with some of your earlier work) your strength lies with coming up with an interesting idea, but then you struggle with having that idea become muddled in summary rather than strong conclusions. In this case, I'm somewhat intrigued by the idea of connecting Cetology to the concept of comfort for Ishmael and to his relationship to Queequeg, but by the end of your blog I'm still intrigued but not entirely convinced your point of view is really that significant. It's interesting, but I just don't think there's enough here to make that concept compelling. That may be because as the novel continues the role of Ishmael's relationship with Queequeg (and even the character of Ishmael himself), seem to disappear into the background and are thus not as prominent later in the novel as they are earlier, or maybe it's because you have an idea (Ishmael using Cetology as comfort) that, while somewhat interesting, doesn't really seem to lead anywhere more profound, at least for me personally. Either way I think that if you choose to revise this blog it would help you to look not only at the story as it leads up to Cetology, but after it as well, and see how your central idea evolves (and hopefully strengthens) from there.<br /><br />I do want to mention that you discuss very weighty texts in very readable terms which is refreshing. Basically, despite the fact that I had issue with some aspects of your content, I thought the flow of this was good.<br /><br />AlisonAlison Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03360096776852562068noreply@blogger.com