Whales, Legs, Harpoons, and Other Things: Methodological Fetishism and the Human-Object Relationship in Moby-Dick

Abstract

This work means to examine Moby-Dick through Bill Brown's use of methodological fetishism and to build upon his argument. The human-object dialectic is explored and flipped, providing a view of the novel in which the objects take precedent and create a collection of quasi-objects that distorts the typical approach of analysis through human action and thought. The objects in the novel act upon the humans in ways of their own - telling stories, taking on different roles, commanding the crew, and creating and destroying their quasi-object human counterparts.