perceived me taking the altitude of the final rib. 'How now!' they shouted; 'Dar'st thou measure this our god! That's for us.' 'Aye, priestswell, how long do ye make him, then?' But hereupon a fierce contest rose among them, concerning feet and inches; they cracked each other's sconces with their yard-sticksthe great skull echoedand seizing that lucky chance, I quickly concluded my own admeasurements." (375)Melville also asserts his own metaphor for self-reliance, embodied in the form of a whale. "Oh, man! admire and model thyself after the whale! Do thou, too, remain warm among ice. Do thou, too, live in this world without being of it. Be cool at the equator; keep thy blood fluid at the Pole. . . retain, O man! in all seasons a temperature of thine own." (261)In view of trying to balance conflicting philosophies in one's head, he declares that "some minds forever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunderheads overboard, and then you will float light and right." (277) In regard to the idea of expanding one's mind, Melville remarks:"Is it not curious, that so vast a being as the whale should see the world through so small an eye, and hear the thunder through an ear which is smaller than a hare's? but if his eyes were broad as the lens of Herschel's great telescope; and his ears capacious as the porches of cathedrals; would that make him any longer of sight, or sharper of hearing? Not at all.Why then do you try to "enlarge" your mind? Subtilize it." (280)This passage directly relates to Ahab's directive to "Hark ye the little lower layer," rather than take everything at face value.Whitman also favored a philosophy of self-reliance. In "Song of Myself" he claims:"I know I am august.,I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,. . . I exist as I am, that is enough,If no other in the world be aware I sit content,And if each and all be aware I sit content." (48)Ergo, he declares a doctrine...
