Sea's role in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and the issue of pollution in the Baltic Sea

In chapter 58 of Moby Dick, Herman Melville writes: "Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide in the water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure (Melville, 1851). Many authors write their literary pieces using the ocean as their primary location of action, and Melville with his piece is not an exception. Besides being an actual location, the sea in the novel also works as a metaphorical location. This article is written in connect with the issue of pollution, mainly focusing on the Baltic Sea, in order to remind and shed some light on the issue our oceans face, as well as to provide some ideas how you can help reduce the seriousness of pollution.

Like the author of the novel himself, the main character, who calls himself Ishmael, sets himself on a journey on a whaler. There, he is quickly embarked on the mission by the captain of the ship, named Ahab, whose main desire in life is to catch the whale responsible of his lost leg. While the novel starts with the character's location not being on the sea, it quickly becomes so (Melville, 1851). Therefore, most of the novel is set on the ocean, meaning that one of the roles the ocean has in the novel is to provide a setting. The whole whaling voyage, however, is more like a quest for the meaning of life, especially for Ishmael, who is not content with the life that he has. He is in need of some excitement, and in hopes of finding it he ends up on the sea (Youree, 2010). The sea is in the novel the place where all the horrors happen, both with the ship Ishmael is on, as well as previous ships that have sailed on it.

While the ocean acts as a biological element in Herman Melville's Moby Dick, it also acts as metaphorical element. The whole storyline of the novel is in relation to the Greek Uroboros, who is almost always depicted as a snake or a dragon eating its own tail. The storyline resembles the snake or the cycle of life – in the end only Ishmael is alive, and a seed for the future is planted. He survives with the help of Queequeg's coffin, bringing life and death strictly together (Forray, n.d). Death is tightly related to the sea, especially death that occurs on the sea. In the chapter titled "The Chapel", Ishmael wonders over the memorial plaques dedicated to sailors that are lost at sea. He worries over the family members whose family members have died in the sea, and argues that their members can never achieve peace as long as they do not know what happened to them. Sea acts as a mystery, a mystery that cannot be easily solved (Youree, 2010).

In relation to the sea, the issue of pollution that our oceans have today is one of the main problems the world is facing.  Unfortunately, the Baltic Sea is the most polluted seas in the world, largely due to the fact that it is almost totally surrounded by land. Nitrogen and phosphorous, caused by the agricultural production as well as fossil fuel combustion from energy production and transport, are the main sources of pollution affecting the Baltic Sea. Large flow of traffic takes place every day in the Baltic Sea. Currently, there are about 2000 vessels in the Baltic Sea during a day, and it is predicted that the number will grow by 2030, perhaps even twice as much. Because of that, the risk of accidents has grown as well as oil spillage in the sea. Fortunately, an agricultural policy by the European Union has decreased the use of fertilizers and other pollutants. The Gulf of Finland's reporting system (GOFREP) for vessel traffic between Finland, Estonia and Russia is one of the examples of a joint problem solving. The system, which has been operative since 2004, has increased highly the safety on the Baltic Sea (Luoto, n.d.). Today, there have been created various projects in order to shed some light in the issue of pollution in the Baltic Sea, as well as to provide some information how an individual can help reduce the problem. One of those projects is called Our Baltic Sea Media Project, where the founders of the project share their information through visual ways, such as films and documentaries. The site is available for everyone on here: https://ourbalticsea.com/.

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In conclusion, the sea has been a source as a setting used in literature for centuries. In literature there is a way to write about anything positively or negatively, and there is a way to change the truth. The truth is that our nature is suffering through our actions, and if we do not change our ways there will not be much nature left to care for. It all comes down to our actions and deeds, and whether we help the nature or not.

                                                                                                                            Hülja Varjula