Chapter 83 Summary

Ishmael discusses the historical implications of the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale. He seeks to denounce the reasons one man had for doubting the story. The first reason the man had for doubting the Biblical account is that a whale could not swallow a whole man. Ishmael retorts that according to the Bishop Jebb, the whale didn't necessarily swallow Jonah but could have had him housed in some part of his huge mouth. The second reason the man gave for his disbelief is that the whale's gastric juices would have injured or killed Jonah. Ishmael deflates this reason by assuming Jonah took refuge in the floating body of a dead whale or on another ship called The Whale. A third reason behind the man's disbelief is that the geography and time measures of when the whale swallowed Jonah and when he...