This is Moby Dick Chapter 11: Nightgown (summary).
Vocabulary Words found in this chapter: Moby Dick Chapter 11: Nightgown (Vocabulary Words)
Previous Chapter: Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend (summary)
Queegqueg and Ishmael only had short naps. Every time they woke up, they chatted until they fell asleep again. Unlike the time they first met, they both feel comfortable now because they were best friends.
Ishmael felt like getting up, sitting, chatting and having a social smoke with Queegqueg. He thinks that Queegqueg might be feeling the same. But before they got up, Ishmael said something about the benefit of sleeping with a friend.
If a person has already known what warmth feels like, will he really enjoy the warmth that he feels right now? For example1my example, not Ishmael’s, how could a person truly savor a big delicious pizza, if it has always been his meal, everyday? Likewise, how could a person truly enjoy a relaxing time, if he has always been relaxed before?
In addition to that, a person should never furnish his bedroom with fire, so that he could truly enjoy the warmth he feels with his bed partner.
Yes, people identify themselves and others based on physical appearances. But according to Ishmael, one will only know himself if he closes his eyes, and start meditating.
Admittedly, Ishmael likes nothing to do other than to have a dear friend beside him, and to share a blanket and a pipe with him. Finally, they lit up the lamp, sat, and began to chat.
Then, Queegqueg started to talk about his native land, but he hesitated. But because Ishmael was eager to hear it, he begged him to do so. Subsequently, Ishmael had become familiar with Queegqueg’s phraseology. And from that, he thought that he could predict Queegqueg’s life story and origin.
End of Moby Dick Chapter 11: Nightgown (summary).