The Moby-Dick Bible
< Back to the concordance

Literary Motifs › National Identity

National Identity

1 passage in the novel carry this mark, in the order they appear.

But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is internationally and universally applicable.

What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the Spanish standard by way of waifing it for his royal master and mistress? What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States?

Chapter 89, Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish · verse 15

Read in context >