June 20, 2019 - Chapter Thirty-five

This chapter, entitled “The Mast-Head,” is a curious one, packed with allusions for a relatively mundane topic – in this case, where the sailor on watch sits, at the top of the highest mast. Unlike other ships, which have crow’s nests, the type of ship on which Ishmael is sailing does not. Nevertheless, he enjoys the watch and finds the motion of the ship from high up to be very relaxing.

The one group of allusions that caught my eye here was when Ishmael refers to “Louis Philippe, Louis Blanc, or Louis the Devil.” The first is the so-called Citizen King, Louis Philippe, the Orleanist monarch elevated in 1830 following France’s July Revolution. The second refers to a socialist politician from France who became prominent in the next revolution – that of 1848. Finally, the third reference is to Louis Napoleon, a.k.a. Napoleon III, who was elevated following the latter revolution first to President of France and finally to Emperor.

The allusion tells us something about when Ishmael is narrating the novel. Although the events begin (as noted earlier) in 1840, the narration occurs sometime after 1848, when the latter two men would have become widely known.