The Fat-Cutter, with Specksynder being the more frequently used name, refers to a position assigned to the chief harpooners on whaling ships back in the days, who cut and processed the fat besides just killing the whale. How endearing, wouldn’t you say?
The length of “Moby Dick,” Herman Melville’s magnum opus, recognized as one of the greatest works in American literature, results from an extended plot and several chapters which aren’t directly related to the storyline. Many readers decide to skim through them or even skip them altogether. However, if you are someone who has little or no experience with “Moby Dick”, and you consider reading it, I assure you that it is precisely those chapters that will provide you with the most peculiar insights. So, for the sake of cetology and fat-cutters, read the whole book.
Who is the Specksynder?
As mentioned in the beginning, the Specksynder was the fat-cutter among whalers. Besides cutting and boiling the fat of the dead whale, his presence was crucial for one other aspect too. His status in the hierarchy of the crew members was unquestionable. He was not only treated with privacy and material priveleges like the Captain, but possessed over another, premium advantage, which even the Captain did not have. He could easily join the company of the other sailors and enjoy the freedom of the ordinary man. Oh, how lovely this position seems! The monolitical hierarchy may appear lucrative if you stand at the bottom, but wait till you reach the top. Only then will you understand what loneliness and lack of simplicity means. It is then that you feel mostly struck by destiny and become inferior to the superior qualities that have led you to the heights: “For be a man’s intellectual superiority what it will, it can never assume the practical, available supremacy over the other men, without the aid of some sort of external arts and entrenchments, always in themselves, more or less paltry and base.”(Moby Dick, ch. 33) So one becomes more evil, when having too much power (sounds logical, doesn’t it?). And the knowledge! What can you learn at the top? Who can you learn from? A specksynder has the fortune of the rich and the comfort of the poor. Oh, Specksynder! How I wish I were you!
Linguistic aspect of the word
Melville messed up. For my surprise, the correct word turns out to be specksnyder, and not specksynder. Despite my decent knowledge of the German language (Schneider meaning “cutter”), the need of being critical at the word did not seem relevant, so I didn’t even consider a critical approach. How could someone like Melville ever be wrong? But as I conducted some research, I became aware of the author’s mistake. It was a post in Reddit I came across: „I thought right away that it should be Specksnyder rather than Specksynder”, someone said only to ask the following question after that: “Is this a mistake Melville made…?” The response included a quote from the Norton critical edition: “Melville got this incorrectly anglicized form of the Dutch word speksnijder (with sni instead of the syn sound) from [William] Scoresby, as well as other facts in the paragraph. His not recognizing the error suggests that Melville did not learn much Dutch from older members of his Albany family.” This leads to my main point. We all make mistakes. And perhaps the only way to avoid as much of them as possible is to improve ourselves at noticing more mistakes.
Role of the Specksynder
The Specksynder plays a pivotal role in maintaining healthy relations between people of different ranks in the social hierarchy. Melville makes it quite clear, that the Specksynder is essential for “controlling” the power of the dictator. I guess we could call this an example of the most primitive form of the principle of separation of powers which states that there should be more than one power, so that equilibrium is preserved. The Specksynder succeeds in maintaining pеаce in an imperfect social structure. He is the Fat-Cutter, dealing with grease and killing, whose existence turns out to be essential for the survival of his crew.
How grateful I am for people like Melville who, despite the passage of time, keep on nurturing us with insightful wisdom! “Moby Dick” is a novel I will have to reread many more times before being able to claim of having comprehended it in all its nuances. As a matter of fact, it seems to me nearly impossible to extrapolate all of the aspects, ideas and messages spread throughout the pages. And the best I can do here, is to consider this a personal advantage. Not only am I supplied with entertainment for life, but the insights gained will undoubtedly accompany me through my life’s journey for however long it is destined to last.