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 colour as the visible absence of colour; and at the same time the concrete of all colours; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows—a colourless, all-colour of atheism from which we shrink? And when we consider that other theory of the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues—every stately or lovely emblazoning—the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of young girls; all these are but subtle deceits, not actually inherent in substances, but only laid on from without; so that all deified Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within; and when we proceed further, and consider that the mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great principle of light, for ever remains white or colourless in itself, and if operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips and roses, with its own blank tinge—pondering all this, the palsied universe lies before us a leper; and like wilful travellers in Lapland, who refuse to wear coloured and colouring glasses upon their eyes, so the wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that wraps all the prospect around him. And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt? (Chapter 42)

Basic set up:

In this chapter from Melville's Moby-Dick, the narrator tells us about the mythical white whale that Captain Ahab hunts throughout the oceans of the world.

The white whale is one of the most important symbols in American literature. On one level, it's just a whale. But it's not just any whale. It's an albino whale. Pretty trippy, we know. It's also huge, it's savage, and it has a very sneaky tendency of disappearing into the blue. Captain Ahab, the captain of the ship that the narrator, Ishmael, is on, is obsessed with hunting this whale.

But the whale in Moby-Dick is more than just an animal that some crazy captain is after. As the passage above suggests, the whale is also a symbol. Its mystery and its color and its huge size embody something beyond the realm of the rational.

It's a symbol of infinity (the "heartless voids and immensities of the universe"). It's a symbol of the colorlessness of the world, and of our own blindness. It's a symbol for pretty much anything we want it to be a symbol of… which is why Melville is such a master.

The white whale is a pretty massive, awe-inspiring creature. A whale is impressive enough as it is. An albino whale is, well, almost out of this world.

The grandeur of the White Whale is reflected in the grandeur of the language of this passage. Look at how long and complicated those sentences are.

Also notice how many questions there are in this passage. The questions that the narrator asks here reflect the mystery of the whale. Heck, it's hard even to get a glimpse of this whale: it's just that mysterious. So is it any wonder that the narrator has so many questions about it?