Nailed to Desks: Symbolism of the Hammer in Moby-Dick
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date published 26/09/2007
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SummaryHerman Melville’s iconic novel Moby-Dick contains in its 135 chapters dozens of symbolic images artfully connected and expanded. The power of the imagery lies in how the symbols reappear throughout, like a juggler’s balls constantly in the air. These range from lofty literary and Biblical allusions to simple words with archetypal associations. One such simple word is ‘hammer.’
While a hammer seems an everyday object, it has some distinctive qualities. It is widely considered the oldest type of tool, its use possibly pre-dating Neanderthals; the basic design has bred thousands of variations for uses ranging from tiny mechanical parts to lethal war-hammers; and it has been purposefully imbued with symbolic meaning by its adoption in Communist flags and artwork. Hence, global associations with work, labor, death, and progress.
While a hammer seems an everyday object, it has some distinctive qualities. It is widely considered the oldest type of tool, its use possibly pre-dating Neanderthals; the basic design has bred thousands of variations for uses ranging from tiny mechanical parts to lethal war-hammers; and it has been purposefully imbued with symbolic meaning by its adoption in Communist flags and artwork. Hence, global associations with work, labor, death, and progress.
Table of Contents
- While a hammer seems an everyday object, it has some distinctive qualities.
- Hammers, literal or figurative, appear from early in the novel, but the frequency of appearance and the intensity of associated imagery increase as the novel progresses, through to the final lines
- The presence of hammers aboard a whaling ship like The Pequod in Moby-Dick is no surprise, but varied uses of the word reveal a range of ways in which deeper conclusions can be drawn from the work
- The next mention comes in 'The Quarter-Deck,' in the scene in which Ahab nails the gold doubloon to the main-mast.
- The hammer further develops as a symbol in the chapters 'The Blacksmith' and 'The Forge.?
- So the hammer, representing labor personified, is portrayed as a happy thing when it is productive
- Except for allusions to gods of the sea, the ocean itself is rarely personified in the novel.
- Similarly, in the very final pages, in chapter 135 'The Chase – Third Day,' Moby-Dick sounds, diving beneath the surface
- However, the sound of those hammers clanging does continue in the background of the final chapter until the last paragraph
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