Nearing The End - Tumblr Posts

"That glad, happy air, that winsome sky, did at last stroke and caress him; the step-mother world, so long cruel—forbidding—now threw affectionate arms round his stubborn neck, and did seem to joyously sob over him, as if over one, that however wilful and erring, she could yet find it in her heart to save and to bless. From beneath his slouched hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such wealth as that one wee drop."

To me this is one of the most moving passages of the whole book so far. The visual of the of the cruel and indifferent universe hugging Ahab and that allowing him to cry a single tear. That tear being more valuable than the entire Pacific.