The Moby-Dick Bible
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Themes › Functionality

Functionality

2 passages in the novel carry this mark, in the order they appear.

How they use the salt, precisely—who knows? Certain I am, however, that a king’s head is solemnly oiled at his coronation, even as a head of salad. Can it be, though, that they anoint it with a view of making its interior run well, as they anoint machinery?

Chapter 25, Postscript · verse 2

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Therein no fairy’s arm can transcend it.

Five great motions are peculiar to it. First, when used as a fin for progression; Second, when used as a mace in battle; Third, in sweeping; Fourth, in lobtailing; Fifth, in peaking flukes.

Chapter 86, The Tail · verse 8

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