Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, March 03, 2006
A whale of a book (sorry)
Note to visitors: Just in case you’re wondering why we’re talking about A Whale for the Killing, many of the regulars here (a.k.a. The Expendables) have just finished reading it. If you’ve read this book (or even seen the movie), please feel free to join in.
Reading A Whale for the Killing (and thank you, Empress, for suggesting it) evoked much of the same emotion, outrage, and anger I experienced while watching the recent re-make of King Kong....with one huge difference: Mowat’s story is not only true, it is also well-told. Filled with passion, suspense, and plenty of astounding whale facts, A Whale for the Killing combined a journalistic urgency with a Rachel Carson-like love for his subject. Unfortunately (and yes, predictably), like Carson’s Silent Spring, Mowat’s tale leaves one feeling frustrated, more than a little powerless, and indeed, ashamed to be a human. As morbid as that might sound, however, I did not—for one second—regret reading this book...thanks to the whales.
The most powerful and moving reportage in the book detailed the trapped whales’ ability to communicate with its nearby mate and guardian. It’s a jaw-dropping moment when “The Guardian” appears to herd a massive school of herring (read: food) into the pond where the other whale is trapped. Sadly (and again, predictably), almost none of the humans in A Whale for the Killing appreciate (or even notice) this aspect of the tragedy.
The most moving commentaries, for me, were Mowat’s rants (I use that term affectionately: one ranter to another) about how almost every single human involved in this passion play responded with aggression and/or self-interest. Mowat asks: “Why is it, if man has such a remarkable intelligence, he has been the processes of self-destruction? Why, if he is the most advanced of all beings, has he become a threat to the survival of all life on earth?”
Forgive the vegan tangent, but this line of questioning and the compassion Mowat shows for the whales begs the question: Why stop at “Save the Whales”? As magnificent a creature as a whale might be, as they are killed by the thousands...what about the tens of millions of animals killed for their fur or through animal experimentation each year? What of the tens of billions of animals slaughtered and eaten each year? I can’t imagine that the treatment of “Moby Joe” in A Whale for the Killing did not upset, anger, and outrage each of you who read the book. If you want to channel those emotions into direct action...there is a way to do so.
A Whale for the Killing was, for me, powerful reading and I’m glad to have been introduced to Mowat’s work. It just was hard to not come away from this book even more jaded than I am now.
(Feel free to respond to what I’ve written above...or just do what most of you do anyway: ignore the main post when it comes time to write your comments.)
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
