How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
By 1760, the Nantucketers had practically wiped out the local whale population. (1.18)
Well, that was fast. We're halfway through the first quarter, and the human race is already out to an astounding lead, completely annihilating the local whale population in a matter of generations.
Quote #2
Just as the skinned corpses of buffaloes would soon dot the prairies of the American West, so did the headless gray remains of sperm whales litter the Pacific Ocean. (4.11)
Did you know that America was once teeming with bison? Well, you wouldn't know it from driving around these days, because those bison are all gone, either hunted or killed en masse to make way for railroads. In a similar way, whale populations were once obliterated in order to (literally) fuel the Industrial Revolution.
Quote #3
The sperm whales' network of female-based family units resembled [...] the community [of] the whalemen [...] In both societies the males were itinerants. (4.34)
If only they knew, they might be BFFs: Nantucketers and whales walking (or swimming?) hand-in-hand (or hand-in-fin?). Either way, it's clear to educated Shmoopmasters like ourselves that whales are a lot more like humans than their hunters would like to admit.