At the heart of these themes is a continual exploration of the importance of appearances. A crucial chapter in this regard is “The Whiteness of the Whale,” where Ishmael reflects on the mask-like ambiguities that shape our understanding of the visible world. The chapter itself is shrouded in ambiguity, with one of two footnotes offering Melville’s firsthand account of his first encounter with an albatross: “Through its inexpressible, strange eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God.” Does the reader interpret this as Ishmael or Melville speaking? (Ambiguity later becomes a central theme in Melville’s next novel, Pierre.) In this chapter, Ishmael ponders the unusual phenomenon of whiteness, which can symbolize divine purity or evoke fear with its ghostly hue.

The meditation extends beyond mere color references, evolving into a broader contemplation on the nature of fear and the presence of hidden evil: “Though in many of its aspects this visible world seems formed in love, the invisible spheres were formed in fright.”