He has just set foot on land, and already wishes to leave.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: This line introduces Lovejoy as a man who is fundamentally restless and unable to feel at home on shore. The tension between land and sea that it reveals prepares readers to see how deeply his identity is bound to a dying industry. It also establishes an early tone of dissatisfaction that follows him throughout the voyage and makes his later decisions feel like the result of long habits rather than sudden impulses.

These are dim days for the leviathan merchants.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: Here the narrator shifts from Lovejoy’s personal story to a wider view of the whaling economy in decline. The phrase captures the fading power of families like the Ashleys and frames the voyage of the Esther as a desperate attempt to hold onto an old way of making wealth. By placing the story within this larger context...