{"id":"01KFNR889M63VWJXY2GTN0RS31","cid":"bafkreigmbdvazmdkdgvhs5ko6eri4tm24e7fu2smhy5ug6n5thqfqmgviq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7705,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.423Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":7662,"text":"the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white\r\nbefore the great white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there\r\nwhite like wool; yet for all these accumulated associations, with\r\nwhatever is sweet, and honorable, and sublime, there yet lurks an\r\nelusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more\r\nof panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood.\r\n\r\nThis elusive quality it is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when\r\ndivorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object\r\nterrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds.\r\nWitness the white bear of the poles, and the white shark of the\r\ntropics; what but their smooth, flaky whiteness makes them the\r\ntranscendent horrors they are? That ghastly whiteness it is which\r\nimparts such an abhorrent mildness, even more loathsome than terrific,\r\nto the dumb gloating of their aspect. So that not the fierce-fanged\r\ntiger in his heraldic coat can so stagger courage as the white-shrouded\r\nbear or shark.*\r\n\r\n*With reference to the Polar bear, it may possibly be urged by him who\r\nwould fain go still deeper into this matter, that it is not the\r\nwhiteness, separately regarded, which heightens the intolerable\r\nhideousness of that brute; for, analysed, that heightened hideousness,\r\nit might be said, only rises from the circumstance, that the\r\nirresponsible ferociousness of the creature stands invested in the\r\nfleece of celestial innocence and love; and hence, by bringing together\r\ntwo such opposite emotions in our minds, the Polar bear frightens us\r\nwith so unnatural a contrast. But even assuming all this to be true;\r\nyet, were it not for the whiteness, you would not have that intensified\r\nterror.\r\n\r\nAs for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that\r\ncreature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the\r\nsame quality in the Polar quadruped. This peculiarity is most vividly\r\nhit by the French in the name they bestow upon that fish. The Romish\r\nmass for the dead begins with “Requiem eternam” (eternal rest), whence\r\n_Requiem_ denominating the mass itself, and any other funeral music.\r\nNow, in allusion to the white, silent stillness of death in this shark,\r\nand the mild deadliness of his habits, the French call him _Requin_.\r\n\r\nBethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual\r\nwonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all\r\nimaginations? Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God’s great,\r\nunflattering laureate, Nature.*\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84DQYATE2Z2YJZZ1PVJW","peer_label":"42","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84DQYATE2Z2YJZZ1PVJW","peer_label":"42","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR88F2J2RPM7JMKWA3V15V","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR88FQ9G5Z68RH4P76TK1S","peer_label":"Chunk 0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.933Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.547Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}