Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet Man and the Natural World Quotes

The poem opens from a perspective of great distance from the earth. Our speaker doesn't even feel that the earth below him is real, since he's so far up. As the poem unfolds, we see how this sense of detachment from the world (especially the natural world) is a big part of what our speaker fantasizes about changing, when he imagines how much better if would be on the Pequod. We also can't help but notice that not only is our speaker 30,000 feet away from the ground, but the place right below him isn't even very wild or natural—it's a bunch of neatly-ordered fields.

This comparison isn't very flattering for the fields. It's like human cultivation and control has turned the natural world into something as small and as neat as a page in a travel magazine. Bummer, right?

Here's where our speaker is most direct about his desire to feel some contact with the natural world. He fantasizes about being on the boat, feeling the ocean spray on his cheeks. We also notice that the wind "spits" in his face; but rather than this being offensive, it's exciting. It's a challenge, Man vs. Nature. We think maybe part of our speaker's dissatisfaction with square fields and with airplanes is that there's no balance anymore, no contest in Man vs. Nature, because man has essentially already won.

Even though he's imagining hunting a whale, there's still a sense of wonder and celebration of the animal, a real awe at its size and power. The wildness and adventure our speaker craves wouldn't be possible without the whale.

Want more proof that a big part of the appeal, for our speaker, is the connection to nature? Look at what the simile here does: it compares a crewman to a gull. The man's animal side can be expressed on the boat. Our speaker, sadly, doesn't feel that he can find a way to stand up on his seat cushion and express his more primal urges among his fellow airline passengers.