“I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me” (Moby-Dick)

Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! all the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules. Such an abounding, affectionate, friendly, loving feeling did this avocation beget; that at last I was continually squeezing their hands, and looking up into their eyes sentimentally; as much as to say,—Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness.

Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever! For now, since by many prolonged, repeated experiences, I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower, or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity; not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy; but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle, the fireside, the country; now that I have perceived all this, I am ready to squeeze case eternally. In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti.

From “A Squeeze of the Hand,” Chapter 94 of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick.

2 thoughts on ““I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me” (Moby-Dick)”

  1. As good a time as any to remember the good times I had reading Moby-Dick for a college course with two professors who co-teach a new course every year, and have foul, dirty, playful senses of humor. I don’t remember where exactly the passage is, but a line in Moby-DIck led them to spend the rest of the year randomly shouting “Grease the bottoms!” at each other.

    Like

Your thoughts?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.