The Moby-Dick Bible
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Literary Motifs › Omens

Omens

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

’Tis Ahab—his body’s part; but Ahab’s soul’s a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs. I feel strained, half stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates in a gale; and I may look so. But ere I break, ye’ll hear me crack; and till ye hear that, know that Ahab’s hawser tows his purpose yet. Believe ye, men, in the things called omens?

Chapter 134, The Chase—Second Day · verse 28

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