Moby Dick

Chapter 2

"The Carpet-Bag"


Ishmael heads off to Nantucket, but when he reaches the New Bedford docks on a Saturday night, he discovers that the 'little packet' [a boat that shuttles between two ports] had left, and he must wait until Monday. Though many more whalers ship from New Bedford than from Nantucket, Nantucket was the original place for whalers, and so to ship from there Ishmael felt was more romantic. However, he needed a room, and since he had little money, and it was late, Ishmael decided to go somewhere cheap, and not be too particular.
 He began to pace the streets, but the inns he passed all looked too 'expensive and jolly', so he set off waterward, feeling that cheaper inns were in that direction. As he wandered in the dreary black streets, he found "The Spouter-Inn: - Peter Coffin". Though disquieted a moment by the name 'Coffin', the inn looked cheap, so he entered.

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References:
Geographical:
'one of the Moluccas': The Moluccas are a arcapelago inbetween Celebes and New Guinea. It includes the Halmanera island.

Literary and Otherwise:
'Tyre of this Carthage'
'grapnels': A grapnel is a small anchor with several claws.
'ashes from that destroyed city, Gomorrah'
'Black Parliament sitting in Tophet': Tophet is from toph, drum. It is a place where drums were beat to drown out the screams of children being sacrificed.
'tempestuous wind Euroclydon': Euroclydon might be the east wind, but I couldn't find an exact match
'the copestone is on': 'Cope' refers to the highest course of masonry on a wall.
'Lazarus': A beggar, who lived on the doorstep of a rich man, 'Dives', below.
'Dives': Latin word meaning a rich man; used as a proper noun in the Bible story.
'Orion': the constellation.