- description
- # Flask's interpretation of the doubloon
## Overview
This is a section titled "Flask's interpretation of the doubloon" extracted from the plain text file [moby_dick.txt](arke:01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6). It presents the character Flask's perspective on the meaning of the doubloon nailed to the mast in Chapter 99 of Herman Melville's *Moby Dick*. The section falls within the larger section [CHAPTER 99. The Doubloon.](arke:01KG8AMA8Z935HRK7VVGR9ARH4).
## Context
The section is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It is preceded by [Stubb's interpretation of the doubloon](arke:01KG8ANJNFVSY2SF2B1MWP5W8Y) and followed by [The Manxman's interpretation of the doubloon](arke:01KG8ANK9KV0JPKXEMNAFE4XJ0), each offering different perspectives on the symbolic meaning of the doubloon.
## Contents
In this section, Flask interprets the doubloon in a materialistic and straightforward manner. He sees it as a gold object worth sixteen dollars, equivalent to nine hundred and sixty cigars. He expresses his preference for cigars over pipes and declares his intention to find the whale to claim the doubloon. The passage also introduces the Manxman, whose interpretation is then foreshadowed.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:51:12.411Z
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- description_title
- Flask's interpretation of the doubloon
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- 16785
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- 2026-01-30T20:49:12.946Z
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- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 16770
- text
- “I see nothing here, but a round thing made of gold, and whoever raises
a certain whale, this round thing belongs to him. So, what’s all this
staring been about? It is worth sixteen dollars, that’s true; and at
two cents the cigar, that’s nine hundred and sixty cigars. I won’t
smoke dirty pipes like Stubb, but I like cigars, and here’s nine
hundred and sixty of them; so here goes Flask aloft to spy ’em out.”
“Shall I call that wise or foolish, now; if it be really wise it has a
foolish look to it; yet, if it be really foolish, then has it a sort of
wiseish look to it. But, avast; here comes our old Manxman—the old
hearse-driver, he must have been, that is, before he took to the sea.
He luffs up before the doubloon; halloa, and goes round on the other
side of the mast; why, there’s a horse-shoe nailed on that side; and
now he’s back again; what does that mean? Hark! he’s muttering—voice
like an old worn-out coffee-mill. Prick ears, and listen!”
- title
- Flask's interpretation of the doubloon