Plot Summary
Chapter 20 of Moby-Dick finds the Pequod in a flurry of last-minute preparations before setting sail from Nantucket. A day or two after Queequeg signs the ship's articles, the vessel becomes the scene of constant activity. Old sails are mended, new sails and bolts of canvas arrive, and fresh coils of rigging are hauled aboard. Captain Peleg stations himself on deck in his "wigwam," barking orders and keeping a sharp eye on the crew, while the thrifty Bildad handles all purchasing and provisioning at the Nantucket stores. Workers labor in the hold and on the rigging well past nightfall.
Ishmael and Queequeg are told to have their chests aboard before night, though the warning proves premature—the ship will not sail for several more days. Ishmael reflects on the enormous quantity of supplies a three-year whaling voyage demands, comparing the outfitting to a massive housekeeping enterprise on the open ocean. Because whaling ships face extraordinary hazards and cannot easily replace specialized equipment, the Pequod must carry spares of virtually everything—"spare boats, spare spars, and spare lines and harpoons"—everything, Ishmael wryly notes, except a spare captain and a duplicate ship.
Character Development
The chapter introduces Aunt Charity, Bildad's sister, a lean, determined, and kindhearted Quaker woman who embodies Christian generosity. She bustles aboard with pickles for the steward's pantry, quills for the chief mate's desk, and flannel for a crewman's aching back. Her name, Charity, is both literal and allegorical, and her tireless provisioning underscores the domestic side of the whaling enterprise. The sight of this gentle Quakeress clutching an oil-ladle in one hand and a whaling lance in the other creates a striking comic juxtaposition of tenderness and violence.
Meanwhile, Captain Ahab remains conspicuously absent. Ishmael and Queequeg repeatedly ask about him and are told only that he is "getting better and better" and is expected aboard any day. Ishmael confesses that, had he been honest with himself, he would have been deeply troubled at committing to a years-long voyage under a captain he has never seen. Instead, he stifles his unease: "I said nothing, and tried to think nothing."
Themes and Motifs
The chapter develops several key themes. The motif of preparation and anticipation dominates, as the feverish outfitting of the Pequod mirrors the narrative's own building momentum toward the unknown voyage ahead. The theme of domesticity versus danger emerges through Ishmael's extended comparison of whaling provisioning to housekeeping, and especially through Aunt Charity's incongruous pairing of charitable acts with instruments of slaughter. Ahab's mysterious absence deepens the atmosphere of foreboding that has surrounded his character since his introduction, reinforcing the theme of concealment and self-deception as Ishmael deliberately suppresses his own suspicions.
Literary Devices
employs irony throughout: the ship carries spares of everything except the two most critical items—captain and vessel. The analogy between whaling provisioning and domestic housekeeping lends humor and accessibility to the maritime details. Foreshadowing pervades Ishmael's reflections on Ahab's absence, as his willful self-deception hints at dangers he cannot yet articulate. The portrait of Aunt Charity holding a whaling lance uses comic juxtaposition to compress the novel's larger tension between Quaker pacifism and the violent whaling trade into a single vivid image.