- description
- # Starbuck's interpretation
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
This is a section extracted from the text file [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6), labeled "Starbuck's interpretation". The text was extracted on January 30, 2026, as part of the structure extraction process. It contains Starbuck's reflections on a doubloon. It is part of the larger section titled "CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon."
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This section is part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection ([arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW]), specifically from the file "moby_dick.txt". It is preceded by [Ahab's interpretation](arke:01KG8ANJN9D44ZF9RY7VBCH4F6) and followed by [Stubb's interpretation](arke:01KG8ANJN9X0YQG3GC20PVYZM2), both of which are also interpretations of the doubloon. The text was extracted by the "structure-extraction-lambda" tool.
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The section contains Starbuck's interpretation of a doubloon. He reflects on the coin's symbolism, seeing it as a representation of the "vale of Death" and the "sun of Righteousness." He concludes that the coin speaks sadly and that he will "quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely."
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:51:12.023Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- Starbuck's interpretation
- end_line
- 16716
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:49:12.946Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 16702
- text
- “No fairy fingers can have pressed the gold, but devil’s claws must
have left their mouldings there since yesterday,” murmured Starbuck to
himself, leaning against the bulwarks. “The old man seems to read
Belshazzar’s awful writing. I have never marked the coin inspectingly.
He goes below; let me read. A dark valley between three mighty,
heaven-abiding peaks, that almost seem the Trinity, in some faint
earthly symbol. So in this vale of Death, God girds us round; and over
all our gloom, the sun of Righteousness still shines a beacon and a
hope. If we bend down our eyes, the dark vale shows her mouldy soil;
but if we lift them, the bright sun meets our glance half way, to
cheer. Yet, oh, the great sun is no fixture; and if, at midnight, we
would fain snatch some sweet solace from him, we gaze for him in vain!
This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still sadly to me. I will
quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely.”
- title
- Starbuck's interpretation