Can someone help me understand this passage in Philip Hoare’s “The Whale; In Search of the Giants of the Sea”?
Posted by captainaldous@reddit | whales | View on Reddit | 6 comments
Apologies if this is…crass, but I have been reading Philip Hoare’s “The Whale; In Search of the Giants of the Sea,” and have come across this passage where he describes visiting the sight of beached, decaying, minke whale and well, I’m a little perplexed by those last two sentences. I’m new to expanding my knowledge on whales, is something going completely over my head here or am I reading what I think I’m reading? Earlier in the book, he describes a similar thing happening by a researcher to a beached whale in the 1800’s.
Loloharou@reddit
The word “fingered” here is not what you’re thinking. It just means prodding or touching with your finger.
ElkeKerman@reddit
He gave a talk at my uni last year, was a very good speaker and gave a good answer to my question (though I can’t remember what my question was now!)
AnonymousGoldfish@reddit
Not sure what you're confused about. Guy found a whale carcass with its penis out, proceeds to prod the whale or penis a bit and moves on. Curiosity makes people to strange things.
One_Swordfish1327@reddit
He's grieving, it's not just curiosity - he talks about the animal's innate beauty in the first line.
One_Swordfish1327@reddit
https://youtu.be/5IcgRKX5UQE?si=Iz2mdzlTklalwLCJ
These are off the coast of Western Australia - aren't they amazing.
One_Swordfish1327@reddit
I haven't read the book, I've just briefly Googled it and now I definitely want to read it.
I think he's mourning the death of this wonderful creature and appalled that such a magnificent animal now lies rotting. It seems he fingered the animal's genital area before walking on and I think that's part of his grief - that it's life and any life it may have created in the future has been erased.
I live in an area of the Australian coast where I am lucky enough to see whales migrating north each year and I only once also witnessed one close up from a ship at sea - the ship's captain rang a bell so everyone could come out and see it (it was a small cargo ship I was traveling on) and the whale was so magnificent it took my breath away. Now I'm definitely going to have to read that book.