In Moby Dick Herman
Melville devoted just a few words to Ahab’s young wife. Sena Jeter
Naslund has made her a character worthy of 668 pages. Una is arguably
as interesting as her husband — and more admirable.
To escape a religiously fanatical father who can’t abide her
skepticism, Una at age 12 goes to live with an aunt and an uncle who
tend a lighthouse off the coast of Massachusetts. At 16 she disguises
herself as a boy to get a berth on a whaling ship. Before she returns
to land, she experiences shipwreck, near starvation, cannibalism, the
loss of a man she loves, and marriage to another who descends into
insanity. It is Ahab’s ship, The
Pequod, that rescues her. She and the much older Ahab are
attracted from the first and in time marry. The rest of the book isn’t
primarily about their relationship, however. Ahab is away at sea most
of the time and eventually dies in his obsessive quest for the great
white whale, while Una is busy making a full life for herself and their
son.
Una's story is a contrast to Melville’s tale of monomania. She is an unusual woman,
definitely ahead of her time. She is unfailingly reasonable,
imaginative, resilient, brave, and wise. It is Una who can see what
Ahab cannot: that other species are not there for humans to hunt and
kill. If Ahab’s Wife has a
fault, it’s that Una is almost too good to be true.
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