- description
- # Chapter 39: First Night-Watch
## Overview
This entity is [Chapter 39](arke:01KFNR84CPH0PV6725N4EXQ70H) of the novel *Moby Dick; Or, The Whale* (arke:01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D), titled "First Night-Watch." It is a dramatic soliloquy delivered by the character Stubb, the second mate of the Pequod, and is set on the ship’s fore-top. The chapter follows [Chapter 38: Dusk](arke:01KFNR84CH4QBG3F8YGVE1DHPG) and precedes [Chapter 40](arke:01KFNR84EW497GBXQNYGTEEYYT), forming part of the rising tension aboard the ship as Captain Ahab’s obsession with Moby Dick deepens.
## Context
The chapter appears within Herman Melville’s 1851 whaling epic [Moby Dick; Or, The Whale](arke:01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D), which explores themes of fate, madness, and the human struggle against nature and destiny. Positioned after Starbuck’s somber meditation in "Dusk," Stubb’s monologue offers a contrasting perspective—light-hearted, fatalistic, and darkly comic. His musings reflect on predestination and human helplessness in the face of divine or cosmic design, echoing earlier philosophical currents in the novel while maintaining his characteristic irreverence.
## Contents
In this soliloquy, Stubb laughs off the gravity of recent events, asserting that laughter is the wisest response to life’s absurdities. He remarks on Starbuck’s troubled demeanor, speculating that even the pious first mate is caught in the same inescapable fate that governs all, orchestrated by an inscrutable "old Mogul." Confident in his own resignation, Stubb declares he will face whatever comes "laughing." His tone shifts between philosophical reflection and bawdy humor, as he imagines his wife at home—perhaps crying or hosting other sailors—before breaking into a drinking song celebrating fleeting joy and love. The chapter ends with Starbuck calling him, prompting Stubb to shift from private musing to dutiful obedience, underscoring the layered hierarchies and tensions aboard the Pequod.
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- Chapter 39: First Night-Watch
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- CHAPTER 39. First Night-Watch.
Fore-Top.
(_Stubb solus, and mending a brace_.)
Ha! ha! ha! ha! hem! clear my throat!—I’ve been thinking over it ever
since, and that ha, ha’s the final consequence. Why so? Because a
laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer; and come what
will, one comfort’s always left—that unfailing comfort is, it’s all
predestinated. I heard not all his talk with Starbuck; but to my poor
eye Starbuck then looked something as I the other evening felt. Be sure
the old Mogul has fixed him, too. I twigged it, knew it; had had the
gift, might readily have prophesied it—for when I clapped my eye upon
his skull I saw it. Well, Stubb, _wise_ Stubb—that’s my title—well,
Stubb, what of it, Stubb? Here’s a carcase. I know not all that may be
coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing. Such a waggish
leering as lurks in all your horribles! I feel funny. Fa, la! lirra,
skirra! What’s my juicy little pear at home doing now? Crying its eyes
out?—Giving a party to the last arrived harpooneers, I dare say, gay as
a frigate’s pennant, and so am I—fa, la! lirra, skirra! Oh—
We’ll drink to-night with hearts as light, To love, as gay and fleeting
As bubbles that swim, on the beaker’s brim, And break on the lips while
meeting.
A brave stave that—who calls? Mr. Starbuck? Aye, aye, sir—(_Aside_)
he’s my superior, he has his too, if I’m not mistaken.—Aye, aye, sir,
just through with this job—coming.
- title
- 39