Chapter 127 Summary

Ahab ascends to the deck of the ship where he finds the carpenter turning Queequeg's coffin into a life buoy. Ahab asks the carpenter the meaning of his work and if he was not the one to also make Ahab's leg. Ahab ponders the meaning of a person who makes things for both the living and the dead. He also contemplates the idea that the coffin is being turned into a life buoy.

Chapter 127 Analysis

Melville uses this chapter to show how truly morbid Ahab's thoughts have become. Ahab admits he cannot look at the bright side of circumstances. They only seem to him a strange and unfamiliar mind-set. Melville also plays with the idea of a coffin, generally used to hold a deceased body, being made into a life buoy, which can be used to save lives.