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82 Steven Pressfield

Let’s go to the foolscap. What does it say about the skipper?

Next: a mortal to challenge the monster. He must be monstrous
himself. Obsessed, arrogant, monomaniacal. Ahab.

Hmmm. Let’s dig deeper. What does the foolscap say about the
theme?

... the clash between human will and the elemental malice of
nature.

Melville is freaking a little; he’s too close to the material, he has
identified his hopes with it too much. Plus he’s broke and the rent
is due. We’ve given him a couple of stiff tots of rum; he’s lying
down in the bedroom. But still, the Problem. What exactly is it?

Two things.

First, Ahab as he stands now is weak; he’s not a worthy oppo-
nent for the White Whale. We have to beef him up.

Second, the theme is incomplete.

Again we ask, “What’s missing?”

Ahab needs to be more monstrous, more monomaniacal. How
can we accomplish that?

1. Give him a peg leg. (Remember, this wasn’t a cliché in the
1850s.)

2. Not just any peg leg, but one made of whale ivory.