- description
- # BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).
## Overview
This is a chapter from the novel "[Moby-Dick; or, The Whale](arke:01KG8AJ9GN1K052QJEZVGKXJ0T)" (2026), extracted from the text file [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). The chapter, labeled "BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).", spans lines 5950 to 5960 of the source file. It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection.
## Context
The chapter is part of the novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale," which was extracted from the plain text file [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). The novel and chapter were created by the structure-extraction-lambda. This chapter follows [BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER III. (Narwhale), that is, Nostril whale.](arke:01KG8AK7G2R4EXKAMTFVR0JKAT) and precedes [BOOK II. (_Octavo_), CHAPTER V. (_Thrasher_)](arke:01KG8AK83BB7XX1E1GFNTXHYTE).
## Contents
The chapter discusses the "Killer" whale, noting that little is known about it by the Nantucketers or naturalists. It describes the Killer as a savage whale, similar in size to a grampus, that sometimes attacks larger whales. The chapter also mentions that the Killer is never hunted and questions the appropriateness of its name, given that "we are all killers."
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:50:57.107Z
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- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).
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- 5960
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- 2026-01-30T20:47:54.527Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 5950
- text
- BOOK II. (_Octavo_), CHAPTER IV. (_Killer_).—Of this whale little is
precisely known to the Nantucketer, and nothing at all to the professed
naturalist. From what I have seen of him at a distance, I should say
that he was about the bigness of a grampus. He is very savage—a sort of
Feegee fish. He sometimes takes the great Folio whales by the lip, and
hangs there like a leech, till the mighty brute is worried to death.
The Killer is never hunted. I never heard what sort of oil he has.
Exception might be taken to the name bestowed upon this whale, on the
ground of its indistinctness. For we are all killers, on land and on
sea; Bonapartes and Sharks included.
- title
- BOOK II. (Octavo), CHAPTER IV. (Killer).