âNo murmur, no impatience, no petulance did come from him. Silent, slow, and solemn; toil were life itself, and the heavy beating of his hammer the heavy beating of his heart. And so it was. - Most miserable!â Chapter 112 The Blacksmith
I really want to illustrate the Blacksmithâs backstory. This is a new style I tried for the first page but I donât think Iâll continue with it for the entire story. The rest will be very colorful, slowly descending into this black and white sort of thing. Anyway, I love backstories and find it interesting which characters get one, or in depth ones. Why does the blacksmith get his own chapter? Is Ishmael trying to document the lives and deaths of everyone on the ship with him?Â
So this started as a project to draw a bunch of sharks based on thier descriptions in these chapters like the one below. This came out of â...the sharks, also, with their jewel-hilted mouths...â (pp. 237) when I was going to draw on a jeweled hilt on the tiger sharkâs mouth but got this derpy thing instead. So what else but make a meme of it.
â - through seas so wearily, lonesomely mild, that all space, in repugnance to our vengeful errand, seemed vacating itself of life before our urn-like prow,âÂ
 - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 51 The Spirit-Spout, pp. 193.
"The rest of his body was so streaked, and spotted, and marbled with the same shrouded hue, that, in the end, he had gained his distinctive appellation of the White Whale; a name, indeed, literally justified by his vivid aspect, when seen gliding at high noon through a dark blue sea, leaving a milk-way wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden gleanings," (Moby Dick pp. 155). "It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me," (Moby Dick pp. 159). "Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky-way? Or is it, that, as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible appearance of color, and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows - a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink?" (Moby Dick pp. 165). I enjoyed the pondering on the color white and especially its place in different societies. I was working on another project when I realized I had the perfect materials to form a white whale out of pieces I find by the lake. I put him together like how in he book they describe him piece by piece to identify him. His "wholeness" is put together by the different stories everyone has of him and nobody has the full image of him. I wanted to use more water elements with the photo but I figured taking it by the lake was good enough.
I just really love Bildad okay, (and yes I took some artistic liberties with the clothing, but hey, its the face thatâs important).Â
So, when Bildad is introduced he is the quiet, strict, super-duper seriously religious, stingy, maybe a little cruel, but well mannered and reserved owner, in comparison to Peleg, who is a little more lively and rambunctious, and definitely less strict. Peleg is more like the Human Relations Dept. and Bildad like the Finances and Accounting Dept.Â
But then we kinda get to know them a little better while they are preparing the ship. Peleg never leaves the ship while Bildad runs around buying all their supplies. Then Charity is introduced, Bildadâs F.O.I.L. and sister. However, once dissected they really arenât that much different (and Iâm not talking about autopsies). Bildad is purposefully written to be a unlike-able but still like-able so maybe just slightly less like-able character. But I love him and hereâs why.
During their meeting and signing with Queequeg we are given a scene of Bildad trying to persuade Queequeg to relinquish his religion for Christianity. Now, of course this is a problem because you know, religious tolerance and all that, but Bildad isnât coming at it from the âI donât accept any religion but my own therefor you need to follow mine or we canât be friendsâ perspective. He talks about it as if it is a safety precaution. That means he genuinely is caring about him: âMeanwhile Captain Bildad sat earnestly and steadfastly eyeing Queequeg, and at last rising solemnly and fumbling in the huge pockets of his broad-skirted drab coat, took out a bundle of tracts, and selecting one entitled âThe Latter Day Comming; or No Time to Lose,â placed it in Queequegâs hands, and then grasping them and the book with both his, looked earnestly into his eyes, and said, âSon of darkness, I must do my duty by thee; I am part owner of this ship, and feel concerned for the souls of all its crew;â (85)   Honestly, like, he doesnât just care about converting people he just wants to guarantee the safety of his crew. He just wants them to be okay.
And of course this could and was probably meant to be taken in a negative way, especially right after Ishmaelâs speech on page 84 about how everyone, despite religious practices, are people and thus Godâs children. However, when Charity, his sister, did basically the same thing when she âhad placed a small choice copy of Watts in each seamanâs berth,â (94).
Next thereâs chapter 20, âAll Astirâ where they are preparing the ship. During this Peleg stayed on the ship and Bildad âdid all the puchasing and providing at the stores;â (89). Later Ishmael describes what necessities a ship, especially a whaling ship, has. He even says they bought enough to outfit two ships, âbut a spare Captain and duplicate ship,â (89). Bildad, up to this point described as frugal, is the one providing all these supplies. Easily he could have given them the bare minimum but he makes sure everything is more than sufficient.
Finally there is Chapter 22 where they are departing. Another jab at Bildad was made when he was piloting the ship and âbeing suspected to have got himsefl made a pilot in order to save the Nantucket pilot-fee to all the ships he was concerned in,â (94). But really the way I see it is that he wants to spend as much time possible taking care of his ship and crew. We see this later when its time for him to leave the ship and he doesnât want to leave. â- poor old Bildad lingered long; paced the deck with anxious strides; ran down into the cabin to speak another farewell word there; again came on deck, looked to windward; looked towards the wide and endless waters, only bounded by the far-off unseen Eastern Continents; looked towards the land; looked aloft; looked right and left; looked everywhere and where; and at last, mechanically coiling up a rope upon its pin, convulsively grasped stout Peleg by the hand, and holding up a lantern, for a moment stood gazing heroically in his face...â (95). Now if this whole passage isnât heartbreaking then you are one of the soulless men Elijah was talking about. He cares soooooooo much about this ship and his crew and Ahab and everyone and I just canât take it, especially knowing that this is the last time he will ever see any of them. Its like he knows too and thatâs why he delays leaving as much as possible like he finds everything to distract him until he can come to terms with it.Â
I relate so much to Bildadâs way of showing he cares and the way he leaves the ship it hit me so emotionally I almost teared up and thatâs saying something. Anyway, on a lighter note....his name is a total pun. So most of the jokes about his character is how he is frugal and basically the money handler (Bil like bill). AND he is a total father figure for this ship and is so caring and wonderful and gentle yet distant (dad - heâs their dad, all of them). Therefore BILDAD.
Going along these lines I hope Pelegâs name isnât also a pun.Â
