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- # CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish.
## Overview
This entity is a chapter titled "CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish." It is part of a larger collection of works by Melville. The chapter discusses the concepts of "Fast-Fish" and "Loose-Fish" as metaphors for possession and acquisition, drawing parallels to historical and societal contexts.
## Context
This chapter was extracted from the file `moby_dick.txt` as part of the `Melville Complete Works` collection. It follows the subsection "II. A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it." and precedes other content within the same section.
## Contents
The chapter explores the metaphorical meanings of "Fast-Fish" and "Loose-Fish." "Fast-Fish" represents possessions acquired through questionable or exploitative means, where possession is considered the entirety of the law. Examples include the exploitation of serfs, the seizure of a widow's mite, ill-gotten gains, and the income of clergy. The text also critiques the concept of hereditary wealth and colonial acquisitions, referring to Ireland as a "Fast-Fish" to John Bull and Texas to Brother Jonathan.
Conversely, "Loose-Fish" signifies opportunities or territories that are available for the taking. The chapter uses historical examples like Columbus's discovery of America, Poland's fate under the Czar, Greece under the Turk, and India under England to illustrate this concept. It extends the metaphor to abstract ideas such as the Rights of Man, public opinion, and religious belief, suggesting that even the globe itself can be considered a "Loose-Fish." The chapter concludes by posing a rhetorical question to the reader, implying that individuals can be both "Loose-Fish" and "Fast-Fish."
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- CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish.
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- sculpture, the Temple of the Law, like the Temple of the Philistines,
has but two props to stand on.
Is it not a saying in every one’s mouth, Possession is half of the law:
that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often
possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of
Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession
is the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow’s
last mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain’s marble
mansion with a door-plate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish?
What is the ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from poor
Woebegone, the bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone’s family from
starvation; what is that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the
Archbishop of Savesoul’s income of £100,000 seized from the scant bread
and cheese of hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure
of heaven without any of Savesoul’s help) what is that globular
£100,000 but a Fast-Fish? What are the Duke of Dunder’s hereditary
towns and hamlets but Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer,
John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic
lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all
these, is not Possession the whole of the law?
But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the
kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is
internationally and universally applicable.
What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the
Spanish standard by way of waifing it for his royal master and
mistress? What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What
India to England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All
Loose-Fish.
What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but
Loose-Fish? What all men’s minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is
the principle of religious belief in them but a Loose-Fish? What to the
ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but
Loose-Fish? What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what
are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?
- title
- CHAPTER 89. Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish.