#henry rants

[conniecast]

OMF JIMMY WHY??!?!?? JIMMMMYYYYYY×??!??!?!?! JIMMMYYY!!!!!!

And making curly as the blame :( I feel so bad for curly but he's safe now........ right? Gonna have to make art for it now..... sigh I forgot the daisuke.......... poor daisuke sob AND ANYA???? PLEASE WHY?!?!

[probably-an-alien]

Here's what bugs me about chapter 99 "The Dubloon":

Stubb's perspective is a really interesting device through wich to show other characters' interpretations and I can appreciate what Melville did with that to some degree. However I am still angry that we don't get to see, what Queequeg and Fedallah think about the coin, because Stubb, who is a racist asshole, is blocking the way. The goddamn old Manxman, who by comparison is so much less important of a character, get's his own little monologue, but Queequeg and Fedallah don't get to say a single word.

I feel like we were robbed of two extremely interesting perspectives here.

About Queequeg we at least get to know what he's physically doing, if not what he thinks. He seems to be comparing something about the coin to his tattoos. Stubb of course dismisses this as some kind of superstition and even supposes that Queequeg doesn't really know what a coin is (??????? wtf Stubb!?).

In actuality, what Queequeg is doing isn't even that dissimilar from Stubb's hermeneutics. Both of them try to decifer the coin's meaning by consulting some kind of document as a frame of reference. In Stubb's case that's his almanac and the Massachusetts calendar, but for Queequeg it's his tattoos.

I wish we could have known, what they mean and what Queequeg sees in that coin, but alas, this book and Stubb refuse to tell us. Queequegs thoughts remain a mystery most times just like his tattoos.

And then there's Fedallah.

I could rant for hours about how shittily the entire narrative and all the other characters treat him and this chapter is exemplary of that.

The first thing Stubb does upon seeing Fedallah come up to the dubloon is call him a "ghost-devil" and speculate on how he's supposedly hiding his devil's tail and hooves. We get to know that Fedallah "makes a sign to the sign and bows himself", but Stubb doesn't seem to know that gesture and therefore doesn't care to describe it any further, explaining it away as just some weird thing he does because he's a "fire worshipper" (as far as I know a wildly incorrect term for Zoroastrians) and the're a sun on the coin.

It's wild to me that we do not get even the slightest real glimpse into Fedallah's mind here. He is probably the one person on the ship who gets the most insight into Ahab's thoughts and feelings. He's closest to Ahab and he knows what is going on inside the captain's head and what fate the ship is heading towards. That coin on the mast that signifies Ahab's mission must mean something to him. I bet he has so many interesting thoughts about it and about Ahab, but all we get is Stubb's racist superstitions.

And really, this is what the entire book is like, concerning this character. Fedallah does nothing objectively wrong, but the rest of the crew constantly regard him with suspicion, going so far as to claim he's the literal devil and the narrative pretty much never lets the man speak for himself about what he thinks of all this.

As you might have guessed, I'm pretty angry about this, because I think there's so many missed opportunities here and they just get thrown overboard because Stubb (the crew, Ishmael as a narrator, the entire narrative) can't be normal about non-white characters.

[art-has-died]

why don’t people claim to descend from the gods anymore? ignore one of your parents, claim a throne, become a hero. people are so boring nowadays.

[conniecast]

Guys I'm going into old fandoms I was in and THE FIRST ONE I FOUND AGAIN IS TROLLHUNTERSAA!!!! AAHHHHHHHHY!!!!!

I wanna make art of walter strickler:3 and when jim became a troll I actually really love trollhunters :3 so I might watch it again so to see it all bc back then I watched it all seasons 💔 I miss it so ima see if tubi has troll hunters on it

[conniecast]

*cough cough* I may and may not be going into the twst Fandom shortly but I'm definitely gonna try ♥ I always said I was going into the Fandom when I was talking to uhhhhh someone that I won't name because I ain't sure if I'm allowed to mention him or not! <3

Bjt if you know who you are then thanks for ranting about twisted wonderland in that one server we shared with like 3 other people 😭

Me gonna see how the game or so is gonna go :3

[conniecast]

the names of them are so funny specifically the "handsome boy"

[art-has-died]

top reason my flatmates and i reached peak dark academia.

hallways covered in bookshelves. about two thousands books paving the way to our rooms.

falling asleep early enough to still hear someone typing their essay in the living room, but late enough into the night so that the birds’ singing will accompany you to your dreams.

tea being drunk by the pot. coming back from classes and knowing there will be a stimming cup waiting for you.

joking through latin quotes and obscure references to literature.

wild parties. opera blaring through the windows, growing into classical music, centuries old songs, and chanted poetry. dancing as if possessed by forgotten spirits. wild movements, skin covered in screaming, painted exclamations. leaving the alcohol behind and getting drunk on life instead.

one of my roommates’ door opening and closing through the night as he leaves the flat to walk through the sleeping city.

another one running into the living room, taking one unique leaf from a potted plant and leaving right away, only to send us pictures of its cells a few minutes later.

heated debates over books and historical events.

getting high on the toxic fumes inhaled during labs.

walks into the woods, howling poetry at the wind, hands cold and feet wet, getting lost further and further down a path of mushrooms.

breaking into the abandoned greenhouses to steal flowerpots, old biology notes and a mysterious painting.

discussing the best ways to murder someone, including through our study of mushrooms.

drinking games including the improvisation of poems and dancing the waltz.

[art-has-died]

if you ever get the chance to live poetry instead of reading it, take it. i promise it’s worth it. shout the verses at the quiet night, laugh hysterically reciting a sonnet, fall to your knees in the middle of a soliloquy. don’t leave the words on their pages, make them burn your throat and shatter the universe.