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VICKI: God speaks to Hagar
about her son Ishmael.

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

And God says to her,

"He will be called a wild man,

"and the world's hand
will be against him."

Yeah? You want me
to run through that one
one more time for you?

The point is that in that,
Melville starts with

"Call me Ishmael."

So what do know
about our narrator
from three words?

That he's...

BOY: Wild.

That he is...
He's considered a wild man.

Kendall?

[KENDALL SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]

That he feels like
the whole world
is against him.

Yipes. Three words.

Really, Hebert?
Is the rest of this book
gonna be this way?

Yeah. Okay.

"Though I cannot tell

"why it was exactly
that those stage managers,

"the Fates, put me down

"for this shabby part
of a whaling voyage yet,

"now that I recall
the circumstances,

"I think I can see a little
into the springs and motives,

"which, being cunningly
presented to me

"under various disguises,

"induced me to set about
performing the part that I did

"besides cajoling me
into the delusion
that it was a choice

"resulting from
my own unbiased free will
and discriminating judgment."

BOY: That's a long sentence.

That is one long sentence.

Do you understand
what he just said?

Yeah, you missed me
with that.

VICKI: Pshew, pshew!

So Melville is saying,

"Now that I look back on it,

"all these choices
I thought I was making

"are actually
not choices at all!

"I thought I was choosing,
but now that I look at it,

"No.

"I wasn't choosing at all.

"I'm fated."

He's just sitting around,
whispering in our ears,

[WHISPERS] "We're fated.
We're fated. We're fated."

We think we have a choice,

but we don't really
have a choice.

What we're doing in this life

is because that's what
we're supposed to do.

Right?

Okay. Yeah?

Darlings, we're so fated

that this book is told
in flashback.

Everything that we read

has already happened.

We can't change it.

And, darlings,

there's also that wink
and that nudge from Melville.

Because no matter when in time
we pick up this book...

Ishmael is always about to go

to sea...

and so are we.

MARK: So I wanted
to tell you a little bit

about why I came upon doing
this project.

I happened to be
readingMoby-Dick,

and I felt like I need
to contact Janet Werner,

not for a sentimental reason,

but I realized I also had
this thing like Ahab did.

He's got this thing in his past
that he has to reencounter.

JANET: Hi! How ya doin'?
Boy, you look great!

You really do! Come on in!

MARK: And then I read the book,
and I felt like

it had sort of opened up
something for me.

Like it was some kind of a...
Like a weird transformation.

Yeah.

MARK: And so, I wanted
to encounter you

because I didn't know
what would happen

if I talked to you again
about it.

Oh! [LAUGHS] Okay.

MARK: I kinda wanna go through
that process of figuring out

what the teacher-student
relationship is
around literature...

Okay.

MARK: ...um, because I think
you understand it really well.

I had had a very good experience
with your older sister,

you know, and some...
How you're...

And I'm not saying that,

you know, a bad experience
with an older sibling would...

-[CELL PHONE RINGS]
-Oh.

This is... This is...
This is my cell phone.

-CALEB: Oh, watch out!
-[THUDS]

JANET: Shit!
CALEB: Sorry there.

JANET: Did I break that?
MARK: No, it's okay.

JANET: I don't even know
where it is... Oh, here.

♪ I see earthquakes
and lightnin' ♪

JANET: You know what?
This isn't even...

It's okay. She'll call me...

I hope she doesn't call me back.

But a lot... Did I break this?

MARK: No, it's okay.
JANET: I fell... Shit.

CALEB: Let me see.
Can I hear you talk now?

No? Still going.

JANET: You think
it's all right? Okay.

CALEB: It's metal as can be.
JANET: Sorry.

You know,
you feel a certain regret

when you can't, um, help people

to create a path
that's workable,

at least temporarily
for them. [CHUCKLES]

CALEB: High school's
a difficult time, man.

Yeah, it is. Don't you think?

CALEB: I can only imagine
as a teacher trying to...

JANET: Yes,
but he did come back,

and he did share with me

that he felt
it was a good experience

not doing well in the class.

Because he said he felt
it woke him up.

But I just hate to see that
having to happen to anyone.

-[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
-EDWIN: I have another
opener downstairs

if this doesn't work.

MARTA: Why are you
all dressed up?

-EDWIN: Okay.
-I'm always dressed like this.

EDWIN: Well, Happy New Year.

ALL: Happy New Year!

Like, all the papers came back
filled with notes.

ALISSA: Oh, wow.
RENATA: I have them.

I even have the letter
of recommendation

that she wrote for me
when I was going to college.

MARK: She didn't write one
for me.

[ALL LAUGH]

But now, we're friends,

so now I get to hang out
with her all the time.

How many years later?

Fifteen years.

And then,
I decided that I needed
the Norton Critical Edition.

-MARK: Mm-hmm.
-Because this has like...

Like loads of stuff in it.
All kinds of stuff.

MARK: You've gotta have
the letters to Hawthorne.

-That's... That's
pretty important.
-Yeah, yeah.

MARK: But, has anyone read
a really good book

that they feel
has changed their lives?

EDWIN: It's not like,
you know, you read a book,

and then, suddenly you go
in a different direction.

Well, that happens for Mark.

MARK: I probably had
a huge act to follow

with my sister
going along this course.

Aw, so I should have heard
what you were saying and said,

"Take a little more time
to do what you have to do."

MARK: No, I think
you were giving me time.

[CHUCKLING] Oh, okay.
Okay, all right. Okay.

MARK: You gave me time,
and, no, you were very liberal
with me because...

Maybe that wasn't good.

-Maybe I should have
been more...
-[MARK CHUCKLES]

More authoritarian. Like my dad.

MARK: But do you remember
these scenes that we had
in the hallway

before class sometimes
and I like...

I didn't want to talk to you

'cause I still didn't have
this paper yet.

And then you'd stop me
before coming in...

Do you remember those?

God, those I don't remember.

I must've blocked them out.

RENATA: Where's that,
um, binder that I gave you

of all the letters
you wrote to me?

'Cause I think there might be
some about Mark. [LAUGHS]

Because I was in Paris, then.
Studying abroad.

MARTA: Oop, this is it.

"I would absolutely love
to see you

"but I have a big problem
with Mark."

They were gonna come
visit me in France. In Paris.

-But, because of him...
-ALISSA: Oh,
you ruined the trip.

"His grades have sunk
in two important subjects,

"and he has lied,
claiming that he is studying

"and just can't do the tests.

"He is on probation
for acting so stupidly,

"and I am upset
beyond comprehension.

"He needs some common sense not
beat into him." [LAUGHS]

Do you have any other
specific memories of me

from that... from that year?

My biggest memory

was after the last grades
were handed in.

And you came in...
Meaning the end
of the school year.

The grades had already been
handed in.

And you came in with some papers

that you wanted
to get credit for,

for the marking period,
maybe fourth marking period.

It might've made a difference
in whether ya...

Whether you, um, passed
for the year or not.

And I couldn't accept them,

because the grades
had already been handed in.

And I felt terrible about that.

RENATA: Here's Mom's letter
that I had from her.

JANET: So, to me, like,
even a grade in my stupid...

Well, not my "stupid class,"
but my class,

is not the most important thing

because look, you know,

you're living proof of that,
in my view.

You know, I consider you to be,

you know,
kind of an intellectual.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

Oh, hi, Janet?

JANET: [OVER PHONE]
Yes?[LAUGHS]

I just wanted to call
and thank you

for having us over yesterday.
It was really great.

JANET: [OVER PHONE]
Oh, thank you.
That's very nice.

I hope I can be helpful
in whatever it is
that you're doing.

I went to breakfast
with some of my friends today

and they were all
asking me about it

because they knew
we had that appointment.

And I told them how well you...

You turned out so well!

[LAUGHS] In my view.

Like, you know?

You know, you're serious,
you're dedicated.

You're the complete package.
So that's great.[LAUGHS]

Well, thanks. I like being
called a "complete package."

JANET: [OVER PHONE] Okay.

I hope the rest
of your research goes well.

-MARK: [OVER PHONE]
I hope so, too.
-JANET: [OVER PHONE] Yes.

MARK: [OVER PHONE]
Anyway, I guess
what would be...

What would be helpful
for me to think of, at least,

is as I sort of continue
doing this research

that this is somehow,

uh, the book report
or presentation

that I should've done for you.

JANET: [OVER PHONE]
Oh, yes. And don't even...

Don't even be
thinking about that.

- Because I'm thinking...
-No, I wanna think about it.
That's what I'm telling you.

I'm not gonna lie
to you, sweethearts.

This is not an easy read.

If you took it to the beach
to read it,

the only purpose for doing that

is because you wanted
a really bad sunburn.

It's partly a book about whales,

it's partly a theological
meditation,

only tied to characters
in certain places.

Getting through Moby-Dick
gives readers membership

in a kind of cohort, or club.

One finds a little disturbing
as well as exhilarating

the sense, for many readers,

that the book was written
for them.

[BELL DINGS]

MAN: Welcome to the
21st Annual Moby-DickMarathon.

-Welcome, everybody.
-[APPLAUSE]

MAN: Marathoners must
read aloud an average of
141.8 words per minute

to complete the book on time.

Good luck!

VICKI: We've got
tough vocabulary,

tough sentence structure,

and sweetie-pies, tough ideas.

How many of you
can ride a skateboard?

Oh, my.

This is going to get you
where you can go voop

and flip it and go back down

and come back up
and flip it again.

Okay? This is tougher reading.

MAN: Now,
we welcome to the stage

the great-great-grandson
of Herman Melville.

No pressure, Peter!

[CLEARS THROAT] Excuse us.

"Call me Ishmael."

MARK: Your great-grandfather
said he wrote the gospels
of his century.

And he wrote a wicked book
and felt spotless as a lamb.

And so I'm...
I'm caught up on this idea

that he's seen
the annihilating force
behind everything.

What if Ahab experienced that

when he had his first encounter
with Moby-Dick?

'Cause he talks
about whiteness too,

as a kind of like,
clean-slate kind of blankness

that's kind of scary, right?

'Cause it's like
you're letting go of everything.

It's one of my mottos in life

that people are secretly
extremely afraid of freedom.

-They are?
-Yeah.

Can you explain that
a little bit?
What do you mean?

A lot of this is going to be me,
Peter Gansevoort Whittemore,

talking about my family lineage.

And there's a lot of DNA
that I feel akin
to Melville with.

Sometimes I read Moby-Dick
and I say,

"Nobody else would understand me
like he would."

-Right.
-'Cause I think the same things.

So I stand here talking to you
about my family,

but there's a Peter inside me
watching me do this.

-Uh-huh.
-That says...

I'm not just a product
of my family.

I'm also this independent spark
of consciousness

-that we all are.
-Right.

But if you were to let go
of all your, what...

-"My family keeps me together."
-Uh-huh.

What happens when you don't have
any family anymore?

Who are you then?

"Well, my history
keeps me together.

"My culture keeps me together."

What if you could really
stand free of all that?

And say, "Who am I really?"

-[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
-PETER: "A stove boat
will make me an immortal,

my brethren.

"Yes, there is death
in this business of whaling,

"a speechlessly quick,
chaotic bundling of a man
into eternity.

"But what then?

"Methinks we have
hugely mistaken

"this matter of life and death.

"Methinks that what they call
my shadow here on Earth

"is my true substance.

"Methinks that in looking
at things spiritual,

"we are too much like oysters,

"observing the sun
through the water,

"and thinking that thick water
the thinnest of air.

"Methinks my body is
but the lees
of my better being.

"In fact, take my body who will,
take it, I say, it is not me."

In some way he's trying to say,
you know, "Take my body, please!

"'Cause that's not who I am."

That paragraph
is unbelievable metaphysics

about what's the nature
of who it is

that's even asking
the question, "Who am I?"

-Right.
-Who wants to know?

[LAUGHS]

Well, damn,
ain't that a question, too?

The story is a story
of waking up...

-Right.
-...to, um,

an essential nature
of who we are

that Melville was really
struggling with all his life.

BOY: Were you looking at that
as a foreshadow quote?

No, I was just trying
to figure out what it meant.

What about, "Finally I always
go to sea as a sailor,

"because... [MUMBLES]." Right?

VICKI: No help? Need no help?

-Not yet.
-VICKI: Not yet?
That's fabulous.

GIRL: Um, then it says,

"Methinks that in looking
at things spiritual,

"we are too much like oysters,

"observing the sun
through the water

"and thinking that thick water
the thinnest of air."

"Since it is but well to be
on friendly terms

"with all the inmates
of the place one lodges in."

So he's saying that
he wants to be friendly

with people who, like,
don't want the friendliness

and he's social, and he's ready
for an adventure.

ELIZABETH: Place the right foot
in between your two hands.

Release the hands as you
continue to lift the legs.

Beautiful.

And then from here,
we'll see if we can roll back

onto your shoulder blades.

It's like a super-late
book report, film-form,

um, for his high school
English teacher

because he didn't read it
in high school

-and failed the class.
-Shut up!

-He failed?
-Yeah, he failed American Lit.

Okay, take a second.
Lift your ribs
for just a second.

See if you can come back up.

So you know that Herman Melville

was my
great-great-great-grandfather?

What? [LAUGHS]

And then in school,
everybody hated Moby-Dick,

so I... You know, you really
didn't want to tell
your classmates that,

"Oh, yeah, well,
my great-great-grandfather
wrote that thing."

"Shut up!"

I wrote this play based
on Herman Melville,

also called Poor Herman
that's, um...

Yeah, that I've been working on.

That's so weird!

He has to meet you. This is...

-Yeah, I would really like
to meet him.
-Oh, my God.

ELIZABETH: I also made the play
about Herman Melville's wife
and daughters

and I wrote my gender,

yeah, into the...
into the family.

Do you, like,
resemble Melville at all?

Um, well, some people say
in my family,

this, like, cheekbone-eye thing.

Um, I think...

He's like, broad
through the chest
and sort of high cheeks.

Everybody said he was handsome.

[ALISSA LAUGHS]

-So I like to think
I resemble him.
-[ALL LAUGH]

I don't know,
if I have a big beard...

Or you know, I'm not...
I'm not so large.

But in my heart,
I'm like a big man.

BERGMAN:
Melville was ill at the time.
He had a form of the flu.

And when he was found
by a local tribe,

he was near death,
and they nursed him
back to life.

They offered him a membership
in the tribe.

Sadly, it would mean

for him being tattooed
from head to foot.

[CHUCKLES]

So he said "No, thank you."

And they said
"It's not a problem.

"We understand.
But we're so fond of you,

"we're going to offer you
the other option.

"We're going to elevate you
to the top of the menu."

They were a cannibal tribe.

He ran off again.

He decided to visit
old family friends, the Shaws.

Lemuel Shaw was by now
the Chief Justice

of the Massachusetts
Judicial Supreme Court,

and he had sons,
and he had a daughter
named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth fell in love
with Herman.

ELIZABETH: Lizzie
could have married any doctor,

any lawyer, any judge,

but Herman came back
from being overseas,

and he was like hot,
and tan, and built.

So she's like, "That guy."

BERGMAN: He was
a very handsome man.

Five-foot-ten, sturdy,
broad-shouldered with a tan,

and apparently,
a beautiful speaking voice.

Very mesmerizing.

She told her father
she was going to marry him,

and her father said,
"Absolutely not.

"This is a man
with no money, no education.

"He's been a sailor
for five years

"and you know what they do."

And he said, "This is
not a possible marriage.

"How is he going to
support you?"

She said, "Well,
he's going to be a writer."

And her father said,
"Exactly, how is he going to
support you?"

[CHUCKLES]

So the play finds Herman ready
to move to Pittsfield,

frustrated by his lack
of success,

and he's gonna, um...
He's gonna write Moby-Dick.

So this is sort of like...
Almost like a prologue scene.

MARK: You should be
Poor Herman.

ELIZABETH: Yeah,
we should do that.

I never have really gotten
to act in it before.
That would be fun.

MARK: And, Alissa you should be,
uh, Herman's wife.

She's also never really
acted before.

ALISSA: I acted
when I was a kid.

I just, you know,
got stage fright once

and then never did it again.

I just had a dream
with the answer in it.

We must move to the country!

-[WINDOW OPENS]
-[CARS HONK]

Oh, too many people here
making god-awful noise!

Spewing nonsense
from their blowholes

such that I cannot
think straight!

Without stimulation,
what will you write about?

On this island,
my writing lies stuck inside me.

I can't see my inner forest
through the smog of the city.

Like a corseted woman
at a banquet,

I am starved and squished,

and bound too tight
to even taste a morsel.

If the Harper Brothers
forget you,

who will publish you then?

The field mice,
and the summer squash?

Nathaniel Hawthorne
does fine for himself

without pounding
this Manhattan pavement

like a draft horse
at death's door.

Oh.

You wish to be
Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Would you still love me?

ALISSA: We just left Boston.

Everyone will think
you can't hack it here.

Why, I was born on this island,

and I'll come and go from it
as I please.

[SIGHS] Just as soon
as I take root,

you pluck me up.

Far better it is to cover ground
than be buried in it!

Why, I've sailed and swum
and searched this Earth

to its antipodes!

My dear Lizzie,
we may share a bed and a roof,

but as you put down roots,

-I put up sails!
-[THUNDER RUMBLING]

If we are to make do,
you must make ends meet.

We can't go now!

I've already borrowed the money
from your father

as a loan
against your inheritance.

I'm writing a light-hearted take
on the whaling industry.

How can it not sell?

How much do you already
owe the Harpers

for advances never recouped?

Here, I write in great haste,
dizzied by distraction.

In the country,
I will write in slow-motion.

There, my dear Lizzie,

I will write something
worthy of your struggle.

With his last words,
I am ousted from the argument

before I can tell him.

He'll soon need
to write for three.

Initially, there was
a little unrest.

His wife was not happy
with the physical layout
of the house.

She wanted to take out
the central chimney,

which is mammoth,

um, and replace it with a grand
front hall and staircase.

Melville immortalized
that battle in his work,

1856 work, I And My Chimney.

This is the singular
most important sentence,

and it's how Melville saw
his future.

"I and my chimney
are settling together."

He saw himself as an old man,

sitting here in front
of the fireplace,

enjoying all that he had
brought together in this place.

And that sadly never happened.

MARK: Was manic-depressiveness
in the Melville lineage?

It would seem so.

His father certainly
went through very heavy
depressive phases.

Brought him to his early death.

His son, Malcolm,
ultimately committed suicide,

shooting himself in the head
with his service revolver.

-MARK: Oh, dear.
-Yeah, not the...

Not the action of a happy man.

Does that still continue?

Do your cousins still have,
like, issues with up and down?

I wasn't gonna bring up
my mother,
but now that you mention it.

Um, you can see it.

-Yeah?
-Yeah.

Yeah, they're a dark family.

They're a very dark family.

We should move on into the...
Um, the guest parlor.

The north parlor.

Let's do that.

Wonderful.

BERGMAN: Thank you
for that home's information.

PETER: Yeah,
it's an interesting way to...

[WIND HOWLING]

MAN: [SINGING]
♪ And we'll have
one of those fine whales

♪ Hand boys over hand

♪ So be cheery, me lads!

♪ May your hearts never fail!

♪ While the bold harpooner
is striking the whale! ♪

MARK: Do I need to do
anything special to log in?

Well, don't sign up now.
Wait 'til later

'cause it will just
confuse everything.

-Okay, okay and is...
-That's too far ahead.

MARK: We're gonna go
grab something to eat
and come back.

-And then I think I'll...
-WOMAN: Okay, well then decide
to do it then.

MARK: Okay, cool.
RICARDO: As a teacher

of language and literature
and acting,

you have to lift that language
off the page,

put it in the air,
and put an electric charge
into it.

I had always kind of
had that approach,

but Moby-Dickgave me
a chance to take it
to another level.

MARK: How late are you staying?

-All night!
-You're all night?

[WOMEN LAUGH]

MARK: All right,
well, we'll be back.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Ricardo Pitts-Wiley

and in 2007,

I took on a project
of adapting Moby-Dick
for the stage.

...stop my singing
in this world,

but to cut my throat!

And in this matter of the whale
be the front of thy face to me

as the palm of this hand!

There was an upper deck
that was the Pequod.

MARK: Ricardo,
can I stop you right there?

Can you address the camera?

I absolutely can.

-Okay, I'm so used to speaking.
-[LAUGHTER]

-WOMAN: Actor!
-Yeah, an actor!

-You know. All right.
-[LAUGHTER]

It was necessary to create
two different environments.

An environment that actually
did Melville's work,

which was on the upper deck.

But then I had to create
a parallel world,

a young crew, a gang,

on a vengeance quest
of their own.

-[TAMBOURINE PLAYING]
-[ALL CHANTING]

♪ Amazing grace

MAN: This is for my homies.

♪ How sweet the sound

MAN: This is for my homies.

[TAMBOURINE, CHANTING SLOWS]

RICARDO: I didn't change much
of Melville.

Melville had written
beautifully.

So, just put the words
in the character's mouths.

MAN: Mm-hmm.

But the young crew, we had to...

I had to adjust the language
to tell that story.

But then I had to...
They had to add
their own flavor to it.

After the read-through,
Ricardo looks at us and he goes,

"Young people, just
to let y'all know, I'm old!"

[ALL LAUGH]

"If there's any of the language
in here that's...

"That's out of date
or doesn't match,

"you let me know,
and we'll adjust it and fix it."

And I joke on him,
because it was one part

where I told him
he made us sound like...

villains on Shaft,like...

[LAUGHTER]

I thought we was goin' to
talk about jive turkeys
and all this!

So I joke on him

and he tells
a great story about...

He'd get excited
whenever one of them was like,

"All right.
You good on that one.
You good on that one."

-He's like, "Yes, I'm cool!"
-[LAUGHTER]

RUDY: You know what I admired
about Ricardo?

Was that his hands were
strong when I dapped him up.

Because it made me feel like,
if something pops off,

Ricardo could probably
knock somebody out.

That was what I admired
about him!

I was like, "Yo, his hands
are mad strong!"

Like, he was probably fighting.

He's cool! He's cool!
Like, he understands.

You know what I mean?
So it was like...

Which is stupid, in retrospect,
but that was...

That was where my head was
at that time.

RICARDO: When I met Rudy,

a teacher of his
called the theater one day

and said,
"I've got this student.

"I think he's got something,
but he's not doing well
in school.

"Can you come talk to him?"

RUDY: He was like...
He gave me an assignment.

He said, "Get a copy
of Taming of the Shrew.

"Read it. And when you're done,
call me."

RICARDO: See, this is when
you know you've got something.

About a week later,
he called me and said,

"Man, I'm struggling with this.

"I'm only about halfway
through it."

But he called me.

So I said, "Well, come on in.

"You'll be
my assistant director."

No, I was the assistant stage
manager.

Assistant stage manager!

-RUDY: Don't put me
that high up!
-Yeah.

But he literally made up
a job for me,

so that I could just be there.
He just wanted me there,

and I remember
the first reading,

just sitting there
and listening to everybody
read through the script,

and I remember something
in the back of my mind

just telling me, like,
"Yo, Rudy, don't mess this up.

"Something's here.
I don't know what it is.

"But there's something here.
Don't mess it up."

So every once in a while,
an actor wouldn't be there,

and he'd have to read his part.

So I'm listening, I'm going,
"He can read!"

"The lights rise on Ishmael."

RUDY: "So me and my crew,
we call ourselves "The One."

"We are young and tough,

"well-organized and well-armed.

"Everything was cool until Pip,

"the crew leader's
little brother,

"decided to take some
of our product

"and sell it himself."

I never followed, like,
the punctuation rules.

I would kinda read too fast

'cause I just wanna
get it over with.

This will be a lesson for
all future project directors.

When you get too big
to pick up the hammer,

you're too small to work
in the theatre.

[LAUGHTER]

"We try not to get too close
to anybody but each other.

"Which is all we have,
most of the time."

I always knew how to
read the words. I just...

It was comprehending the text
that I always had
a problem with.

I have a responsibility
as an actor.

So I felt like it was my job
to really understand it,

word for word.

[APPLAUSE]

KRIS: The typeface seem
a little small forMoby-Dick .

MARK: What, you think
because it'sMoby-Dick ,
it should be bigger?

KRIS: I didn't think it all.
I don't...

I don't read, so I don't think.

MARK: Well, I think you should
read Moby-Dick.

It's like all about the water.

KRIS: But I know what I know
about the water.

I don't want another
person's version of the water.

I just want the idea,
and I wanna walk away from it.

I don't... I don't wanna
get stuck in something.

MARK: But you knew what
all the good comic books were,

-so at least you read those.
-[LAUGHS]

I didn't ever really
read the comic books.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

We were never born to read,

and that slender sentence
holds an entire history
within it.

Um, the reality is that
most people believe that

reading is something
that the brain has that unfolds

just like language of vision.

It is anything but true.

Reading is an unnatural act.

It's a gift for you. I bought it
at Point Reyes Books...

-Thank you
-...in Point Reyes.

Does it have a receipt in it?

So no, the brain was
never meant to read,

and indeed, it is changing
as we speak,

the brain is, uh,
this amazing organ

that is capable
of creating new circuits.

So reading is basically
a brand-new circuit
for the brain.

A little child has
a very basic circuit

and can decode words.

But over time,
the processes move

from basically perceiving print

to binding perception
with cognition in ever more
elaborate ways.

And all these processes change
what is read to what is thought.

So really, the act of reading
is the change from perception
to cognition,

and that changes
the circuitry over time.

It changes the reader itself.

We literally change
with reading.

How did that make you feel?

That I wanted a coffee.

I was thinking about coffee
the whole time

[CHUCKLES]

Okay, let's go get a coffee.

KRIS: I can't read out loud.
I never read out loud.

-MARK: Well, do you usually
read in your head?
-KRIS: I don't...

MARK: 'Cause when you read
in your head, you weren't
very cooperative, Kris.

KRIS: 'Cause then when
I read in my head,
I don't read linear.

I skim.

MARK:
What are you working on, Rory?

Um, I'm drawing Popo's kitchen.

CALEB: And who's Popo?

Popo's my bear
that goes to Take Flight
with me and has dyslexia.

CALEB: I love it.
Can you put Popo
somewhere in his house?

RORY: Mm-hm. Hm.

He can't really fit in there.

So every time we sat down
with anything letter-related,

it was just like
a whole new lesson every time.

Every time.

And so it was just
the repetition of having
to start over again from scratch

was our first sign.

And then as a teacher myself,
and watching my other daughter
learn to read,

just kind of the natural signs
that you see

where they're trying to read
what's in their environment

and trying to sound out things,

uh, Rory was really stuck
with it at like, one level

for a very, very,
very long time.

-Pass...
-Pass...

-...en...
-Pass-en...

-...ger.
-Passenger

"Hurrying down to

"a tourist?"

"Ch... Ikens..."

GRANDMOTHER: "Church."
RORY: "Church."

GRANDMOTHER:
Are you on the next page?

Do you want to try one more page
maybe by yourself?

RORY: Okay.
GRANDMOTHER: Okay.

It looks all weird,
and it's like the letters
are like, doubling

and they're like jumping
and like, flipping over
and stuff.

And it gives me a headache,

and there's like all these
big words that are,
like, confusing.

And so, it's really annoying

and hard when I try to read.

One of the more amazing aspects
of my work is to understand

that our individuals
with dyslexia have a different
brain organization.

One that's been with us
for all the 50,000 years

that we have been on this Earth
as homo sapiens

but one that organizes
language differently.

Especially written language.

So when a dyslexic individual
is reading,

they are going to actually
activate areas

in the right hemisphere

and hold on to them
in a way that makes
a kind of delay

in how fast
they process that word.

KRIS: [READING]
"If your caravan happened
to be supplied

"with a metaphysical professor.

"Yes, as everyone knows,
Meditation and water
are wedded forever."

"Meditation and water
are wedded forever."

KRIS: I love going to stores
and seeing letters backwards.

That makes it much more,
you know, readable.

But you're not...
you're not dyslexic.

-You never...
-Oh, I am.

-You are?
-Oh, yeah.

-Really?
-Oh yeah, when I write...
When I type my notes,

if I just type
without thinking,

every other word
will be backwards.

-Oh.
-It's really interesting.

-Oh, so you are dyslexic.
-Yeah.

No one ever told me anything.

They just bounced me
from room to room.

And now,
everyone's concerned about,
you know, labels and stuff.

It's like, "Okay, if you want
to call me dyslexic, call me..."
you know...

-[LAUGHS]
-That's fine.
That doesn't help me.

Well, it could be different.
I mean, I could probably find
a backwards Moby-Dick

-for dyslexics or something.
-Uh... It's too late.

The early circuit has to...
has to form,

you know, the connections,

has to repurpose these neurons,

and then, has to become
so automatic and fluent

by around third or fourth grade
that the thinking stuff

-really can become hinged.
-Mm-hmm.

And that becomes a new,
thinking reader. Or not.

And that's another story
that you may or may not
want for this

but that fourth grade
is what I call "the black hole
of American education."

If the kids aren't fluent enough
by then, if the circuit's
not automatic enough by then,

the "deep reading" processes
that are so important

to complex,
sophisticated thinking,
they don't get hooked together.

Okay, Rory, let's do
Take Flight.

Let's put this away.

-"Wink," "pink," "pink."
-"Think."

-"Pink," "thunk," "pink."
-"Pink."

-"Pink."
-Ready?

-RORY: "Hunk."
-"Hank."

RORY: "Hank." "Sunk."

-"Skunk."
-RORY: "Skunk."

-"Thunk."
-"Trunk."

It's all right.

-"Trunk," "hunk"
-"Hank."

"Hank," "Think."

-"Thank"
-"Thank"

[WAVES SPLASHING]

SAMUEL: Across the book,
you get characters looking
in the water,

and you are told what they see.

That reveals something
about the character.

Sometimes looking in the water
is a mirror back to them.

Sometimes looking in the water
is piercing to the depths.

Strikingly, toward the end
of the book

and looking in the water

is seeing Moby-Dick
rise up to the surface.

MARK :[ON PHONE] Well,
we have to say hi
to your daughter now.

There's pie inside.

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
I mean she doesn't talk
that much.

She's only, you know,
five-and-a-half months.

Oh, does... does she gurgle?

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
She can make a some gurgles.

She's kind of a little
whiny right now, actually.

Okay, well, put her
on speakerphone.

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
All right, Annalise, say hi.

Say hi!

[BABY SQUEALING]

-Oh! Hi.
-Hi, Annalise.

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
Say something else.

Does she know "hi"
through a phone? Hi.

PJ: [OVER PHONE] Hi!

[LAUGHS] Hi, PJ.

ALISSA : I mean,
it just seems like
the timing is right, and...

Yes, it's a dramatic
and drastic change.

But I think we are
a good partnership.

And I'm looking forward
to see what we can do together.

It's like a new, like,
experiment, adventure.

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
She loves books.

She loves books?
They got the pictures,
they're hard.

Reading is kind of...

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
But she likes...

-Well, there's pie inside.
-MARK: Oh, there is pie?

-Yeah. There's pie, peach pie.
-MARK: Oh.

PJ: [OVER PHONE]
She's really not...

she's sometimes
a little chattier.

Luck of the draw with the baby.

CALEB: Before you wanted
to have a kid,

were there certain things
you wanted to do with your life?

Um, sure. I mean, that's...

Maybe it's because I've decided

that you don't
have to do all those things...

Cause that's part of my problem,
is that there are
all these things I...

I mean, even now,
constantly decide I want to do.

Or regret not having done.

There are lots of things
I regret not having done.

And you just
can't continue to regret

the lives you could
have had forever.

And... [CRYING SOFTLY]

yes, having a child
puts a huge wrench in any...

in some plans I may have had.

But they are plans that
I need to just let go because,

they weren't going to happen.

I haven't acted on them.

And,

it would be...
It could be a way of letting go.

When he moved here,
he had written a book called,
The Whale

which was based on the adventure
of the whaleship Essex

which was capsized
by a giant whale
in the Pacific

-when Melville
was only one year old.
-MAR: Mm-hmm.

But after meeting
Nathaniel Hawthorne,

basically scuttled the book
and rewrote it as Moby-Dick.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Oh, now what, Augusta?

Oh, you've come back.

HAWTHORNE: Yes.

Oh, my dear Hawthorne.

I had pretty much made up
my mind to be annihilated,

but now, you're here.

I've always appreciated
your enthusiastic greetings,
Herman.

Oh it's you that titillates me
till I'm a giddy schoolgirl!
[CHUCKLES]

Shall I carry your books
as we stroll?

HERMAN: Like that fated day
we met in Berkshire.

Oh that fated day
that brought me here

to live a stone's throw
from you. And now,

only old Mount Greylock
stands between our two abodes.

How I love to watch you
come down that mountain.

But, today your descent
eluded me.

And how I came day after day
as you made for me
one Moby-Dick.

That's why we reside here
in Berkshire.

So we might write wicked books
that need not be laced
with rose petals.

You are my lifeboat
as I've walked the plank.

Speak not another word
until I...

light your pipe.

[INHALES]

The physical affair between
Herman and Nathaniel

seems highly unlikely
since Nathaniel hated
to be touched.

And you can have
a psychological affair
with someone

but you can't touch them,
you can't have
a physical affair.

-So there's rumors out there
that Nathaniel and Herman had...
-A love affair.

-...a love affair?
-Yeah.

PETER: It's so eloquently
put into words by Melville.

You gotta say,
"Well, who's kidding who?"

But whether or not
they actually had
a physical relationship,

I don't think anybody
can verify it.

But Hawthorne was gorgeous.

He was when he was young.

He was everything Melville
wasn't in a way.

But Melville was everything
he wasn't.

Right. They were two
total opposites.

-Which usually attract, right?
-Often.

Yeah.

Monument Mountain
where Melville...

uh, first met
Nathaniel Hawthorne
and became friends with him.

And when he met
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
they uh... they had a picnic,

and Hawthorne convinced him
to take Moby-Dick

into like a very
different direction
than he ended up,

uh, when that... when he...

-[CORK POPS]
-[SCREAMS]

And then they all
recited poetry.

Hey.

-Oh! To Herman Melville.
-To Herman Melville.

Took my last pill yes...
Well, no. Yesterday,

should have been the last day.

But, I forgot.
So, I'm off my pills.

I'm not ready to be a father.
I'm not ready to have a child.

And financially, I'm not ready.

Emotionally, I'm not ready.

You're not ready.

We're never going
to be ready, Mark.

I think you're kind of
coming at it

for the wrong reasons.

I don't know what
the right reasons
are supposed to be, Mark.

What do you think
the right reasons are, then?

I mean, isn't this enough?

Like, can't we just
be a couple for a little bit?

We have been.
I don't understand when the...

MARK: You're a creative person,
but you don't let yourself
be creative

because you're afraid,

and that, like,
the path of least resistance
is making a baby

which, you know,
I think is every woman's right
to do, but, like,

if you have other things
you can do,

I think you should do them, too.

You know, really shitty for you
to like... I mean...

[CRYING] You could try
a little harder, Mark.

[SNIFFING] I'm sorry
that was so mean.

[CRIES]

No, that's okay.
If you're feeling it.

Look, I'm trying to tell you
that you have the right

to be impatient
and angry with me.

ALISSA: [CRYING] Really?
Because I am.

Because I am impatient,
and I am angry with you.

But I don't want...
I don't want to get in the way

[SNIFFLES] of what
you need to do.

I'm sorry.

Are you missing a button?

Yeah, but it's been missing
since California. It's okay.

[CHIPMUNK SQUEAKS]

That was a chipmunk.

ALISSA: Oh my gosh...

-MARK: They're mating.
-They're so cute.

This bed is a Melville bed.

It was purchased for us
at an auction.

There were always
at least three,
if not five people

sleeping in this room.

Herman and Lizzie,
and at least two or three
of their children.

The children were always placed
closer to the fireplace

for the additional warmth.

The difficulty of this room
isn't having children in it.

It's the door behind me.

That door leads
to three more bedrooms.

Two of his sisters
were ensconced
in the outer ones

and directly behind
the head of the bed,
was Herman's mother.

-MARK: Oh.
-Yeah.

This is the only door
into that suite of rooms.

So anytime anybody came in
or went out,

they went by Herman in bed.

There's talk that there
must have been
an outhouse at one point.

But early on,
everyone used chamber pots.

You woke up, you did what
you needed to do,

and you carried your chamber pot
through this room
to take it outside.

Could not have been pleasant.

-MARK: [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
-PETER: Yeah, really. [LAUGHS]

Herman and Lizzie
managed to conceive

and give birth
to three more children
in this room.

They're a very
unfortunate quartet, really.

Malcolm, as I said,
was subject to depressions
and committed suicide.

The baby of the family, Frances,
known as Fanny

is the only one who grew up,
got married, had a family

and provided us
with descendants like Peter.

Any questions about this room?

The floorboards are original
to the house.

Nice.

SAMUEL: [READING]
"A certain significance
lurks in all things."

That seems to be
a key sentence for the book.

Uh, the book presents the world
as suffused,

as charged with meaning.

Um, everywhere
the narrator looks,

He interprets, he manipulates,
he speculates.

It's one of the pleasures
of the book.

But to me the most
interesting word in that
sentence is "lurks."

It's not "a certain significance
is in all things"

or "lies in all things"...

The world "lurks"
with significance.

There's something unsettling.

There's something unsteady.

There's something ominous

about the acts
of interpretation
that the book provokes.

CALVIN: I got really frustrated
because I didn't understand

any of the references
or allusions to the Bible.

So I just started doing flips.

And that's kind of like
an escape.

It gets my anger out,
and it resets my mood.

I don't know.
I don't get angry too often,

so it's like kind of
a special occasion when I do.

but not like the good kind
of special.

I was doing double
front-flip, landed.

And I was just repeating those
over and over again.

CALVIN'S MOTHER:
He had fractured
three of the vertebrae

in the top part
of his thoracic area

and two other
are very suspicious.

So now he's in a neck brace,

[CHUCKLES] for six weeks,

and he'll be restricted
from movement for almost
three months.

That's not good.

MARK: Is he supposed
to be wearing the neck brace
right now?

Yes, he is.

JESSIE: I did Queequeg.

Um, he's from Kokovoko.
He's twenty-five years old.

He's a sailor of Pequod,
and he's also Starbuck's
harpooner.

He likes to smoke,
practice his religion.

Um, he likes to protect Ishmael,
and he's learning how to read.

[APPLAUSE]

VICKI: You know what I realize
we forgot to talk about?

We forgot to talk about white.
The whiteness of the whale.

Pretend you live in Michigan.
What's white?

CLASS: Snow.

Snow. Right?

Snow is associated with...

CLASS: Cold.

And cold is associated with...

CLASS: Death.

-And so white is symbolic of...
-CLASS: Death.

[YAWNS]

White looks like it's what?

CLASS: White?

COOPER: The absence of color.

It looks like the absence
of color. Right?

But on the spectrum,
what's the...

Thank you, sweetheart.

White is made up
of all of the colors. Right?

It looks like no color.
It's actually all color.

-Yeah?
-[CLASS MURMUR IN AGREEMENT]

So it's everything.

-Yes?
-COOPER: Weird.

It's everything.

And so, sweetie pies,
you know what that means?

White is everything, right?

So it's nothing.

Point to everything for me.

You got it?

[SPOOKY ANGELIC MUSIC PLAYING]

-Daggoo's from where?
-GIRL: Africa.

VICKI: [INDISTINCT]
Tashtego's from...

COOPER: Look, you act like
I've read this.

No, you've read... [LAUGHS]

Yeah, I do try to act like
you've read this. Okay. So...

COOPER: Maybe it's
just that nothing
in this book truly interests me.

Like, I don't care
about whaling.
I mean, it's just...

VICKI: You don't care
about whales?

I said I don't care
about whaling.

They just like, go out to sea
and it kinda,

like, there's no plot!
Like there's no, like...

VICKI: Do you agree with him
that there's too much
descriptive stuff?

Kat.

KAT: It seems like we're reading
way too much into things

more than I normally would.

We had the mutiny in class,
and they were like,

"I just don't get this book!"
"It doesn't speak to me!"

"It's so much harder
than everything
I've ever had to read".

There is always that
"Why are you making us
do this?" day.

-It's about revenge.
-VICKI: Is it about revenge?

-Yes, partially.
-VICKI: Partially, a little bit.

It's about a lot of things
that I don't want
to think about.

Too much sauce.
Maybe if it was like, hey,
read a chapter...

Actually I don't think
it's the sauce that
it's too much of, though.

-It is, actually there's a lot.
-It's the stuff that
you have to chew up.

It overloads your system.

Imagine a chicken nugget
and dipping it
in Chick-fil-A sauce

and then dipping it
again and again.
It's too much.

Guys, Cade's turn.

CADE: It's like what
Cooper said.

You're just like,
dipping a chicken nugget
all over,

over and over again.
And then you drop it
in your Coke.

VICKI: They are not at all shy
about telling me

what they think
and telling me when

they don't think what I'm doing
is what they need.

COOPER: The sauce is all the,
like, repetitive,

transcendentalism, overstating,
restating, dip again,

and then you dip again
and then your chicken nugget
becomes soggy, right?

-VICKI: [LAUGHS]
-And it's just overfilled
with sauce

and sauce and sauce...

and then you lose
the chicken nugget,
and it becomes all sauce!

Isn't that the point
of the book?

Isn't that, like,
what he's trying to get across

'cause he makes everything,
like, confusing and descriptive,

and like, "Oh I don't want
to read this

"because this is too much".

But doesn't he do that to like,
develop the idea that, like,

finding your own free will
and whatever, is, like, hard?

And like, confusing?
Like doesn't it all...

Isn't there a point
to how descriptive

and confusing he is?

[APPLAUSE]

[CLASS CHATTERING]

Okay. So sweetie pies...

[JESSIE CHUCKLES]

[SCHOOL BELL BUZZES]

I'll stand up here
and you grab your papers
as you go.

MARK: Cooper's comment about
"too much sauce"

sounded a lot like
the original critics
of the novel.

[LAUGHS]

Cooper's smarter than he knows.
[LAUGHS]

So I've got to figure out
what I can do to make it

less saucy for them.

When the book came out,
it got such poor notices.

It's filled with other stories,
other tales.

Things that distract you
from what's going on
in the plot.

Melville's book went through
that lack of appreciation

because you never find
what's anticipated or expected.

It's always different.

I love that about
all of his work.

It's as much about the reader
as it is about Melville's
creative mind.

Only true genius
enjoys the privilege
of misunderstanding.

[CHUCKLES]

Is that something
you really believe?

Or is that just something
we like to tell ourselves?

Oh, my dear Hawthorne.

I cannot write novels
for the general public.

For the general public
relies on general generalities.

So what if they can't stomach
my Moby-Dick?

Their blasphemy is my poetry.

MARK: We should head up
to the...

Yeah. We should head up
to the study.

Come on into Melville's study.

Wow.

So this was the room
that Melville chose for himself

as a work room.

He loved sitting here
at the window

with its view of the field
and Mount Greylock
in the distance.

Greylock was a mountain
of total fascination
for Melville.

He looked at it
through his study window

and used its shape as part
of his inspiration
for the whale, Moby-Dick.

He could look at Mount Greylock
and see the dashing lights

that he assumed
were fairies dancing
on the hillside.

[CHUCKLES]

BERGMAN: He wanted to be
as close to that fairy window
as he could get,

and the vision of it
that helped keep him going.

Reading Herman Melville
and I know you've
experienced it too.

You feel like he's in you
in some way.

And you, probably more than I
because of a genetic link.

BERGMAN:
More than either of us.
More than anyone. [LAUGHS]

In a way, but once you see
what's going on,

you realize that
it's deeper than blood.

-It's deeper than DNA.
-BERGMAN: Oh, definitely.

Because there's something
more true than

just the DNA would allow.

But the DNA comes
with the curse at least,

so you have that to deal with.

Yeah.

I don't feel cursed by this.

My father died
when I was nine years old.

[TEARFULLY] When I was 12,
my favorite brother died.

Left my mother alone
to take care of
the three remaining kids

who were young teenagers.

And she had
no basic income, really,

except to go to her mother
and beg for money.

[SERENE MUSIC PLAYING]

So I grew up without my father,
without my favorite brother...

No role model.

Who am I?

[ANGELIC MUSIC PLAYING]

Who am I?

Doesn't that question damn me?

But I'm the author
that's gonna write the book

that allows the inner soul
to surface.

Breach the surface
like a whale.

I'm Herman Melville.

Conveyor of the beauty
and the madness of life.

So, pumpkins,

I did not say anything
because I was angry.

There's two things that happen
when I get angry.

One of them is
I speak injudiciously.

-That means that
I skewer people.
-[ALL LAUGH]

And I tend to do that
with my Dallas accent.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[IN A SOUTHERN ACCENT]
I would suggest
you not talk right now.

GIRL: Oh, my goodness. Okay.

[IN NORMAL ACCENT]
So, if this is not
the book of your dreams,

I really don't give a shit.

If it doesn't speak to you,

I think it's probably
a lack of effort.

Damn, she roasted you
right there.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

COOPER: Ms. Hebert,
when I was talking about sauce,

I wasn't trying to make us
not read the book.

I was just simply
expressing my opinion.

I know, baby. I know.

But see, at the end...
And that's why I let you talk.

-Do you want
to read that one, Jonas?
-JONAS: Oh, I'm sorry.

Never mind. I got it.

"To trail the genealogies
of these high mortal miseries

"carries us at last among
the sourceless primogenitures
of the Gods."

So if we follow
all of this angst

and all of this pain
and all of this woe

and all of this misery

back to where it started,

it's gonna take us back to God.

[TRAMPOLINE THUMPS]

-In other words,
Ahab thinks...
-[STUDENT COUGHS]

...that people are miserable

because we are made
in God's image and...

-ALL: God's miserable.
-...God's miserable

[THUNDER RUMBLING
AND RAIN PATTERING]

VICKI: "I own thy speechless
placeless power."

"But to the last gasp
of my earthquake life

"will dispute
its unconditional,

"unintegral mastery in me."

Unintegral definition.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[AUTOMATED VOICE]
As an adjective it means,

"necessary to make
a whole complete.

"Essential or fundamental."

-Do you want to...
-Okay, so that's "integral."
Unintegral...

So it's not necessary
to make complete. There's...

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

...prophets...
[MUTTERS INDISTINCTLY]
Ahab...

and Goddess of rain...

CADE: Ahab,
he has this internal conflict
and this just struggle.

And sometimes he's able
to make it go away.

But just the next day,
it comes back.

You know, I feel like everyone
kind of has that.

You know, some days, like,
you're on top of the world.

But there's that one thing
that kind just really
brings you down.

And some days
you can bat it away,

but other days it's kind of

more prominent.

And kind of,
you know, characterizes you.

And then...

MARK: Does it bring
any experiences to mind?

Uh, I mean, not...

Not really, I guess.

But whenever I was younger,
my uncle died and...

I had trouble coping with that.
And that kind of...

You know, some days
I'd be able to, you know, go,

do whatever,
be a regular kindergarten,
first grader.

And then other days, I would be

like nothing could
make my day better.

I was just...
I was a sad sack on some days.

And I think that I'm not really

affected as heavily
as I would be,

whenever I was younger.
And I feel that, kind of Ahab,

he's heavily affected,
obviously.

I think one of
the most exciting aspects,

whether we're a child
or an adult,

is when we become
so immersed in the reading act

that we pass over.

We pass out of
our own consciousness

and we enter
the consciousness of other.

Of other time,
of another culture,
another religion.

We develop in that process,

a capacity to leave ourselves.

[READING TO HIMSELF]

VICKI: Reading is
far more intimate
than any other media.

It's as close as we can get
to sharing a mind

as there is any other experience
on the planet.

"His vast mild head,
overhung by a canopy of vapor,

engendered by his
incommunicable contemplations
in that vapor,

as you sometimes will see it,

glorified by a rainbow.

as if heaven itself
had put its..."

MARK: So when
you readMoby Dick,

-you're sharing
in Herman's mind...
-I share Melville's mind.

"For do you see,

"rainbows do not visit
the clear air..."

"Rainbows do not visit
the clear air..."

"They only irradiate vapor."

"And so, through
all the thick mists
and dim doubts of my mind,

"divine intuitions
now and then shoot

enkindling my fog
with a heavenly ray."

[SIGHS]

KRIS: I've never wanted
to be changed.

And I've never wanted
to be influenced.

Is this what you say
on all your first dates?

-KRIS: Oh!
-[LAUGHS]

-KRIS: First and last.
-[BOTH LAUGHING]

MARK:
"I don't want to be changed,

-"and I don't want
to be influenced!"
-KRIS: That's right.

MARK: [SARCASTICALLY]
That probably
goes over really well.

KRIS: Oh, that, yeah.
That's why I'm single.

I thought... See?

'Cause you can't get past
page five of Moby Dick?

KRIS: There's no compromise.
For me.

And so,

going through this journey

is accepting a relationship.

Yeah, with Herman.

I... Yeah, I'm not dating him.

'Cause you really like
your perspective on the world,

and you want to keep it,
kind of like, fixed, right?

Like you don't
want it to change?

Or maybe you feel like
you're done changing? [LAUGHS]

I'm not changed.

No, no. What do you mean,
"not changed?"

I'm the same me,
who was in school.

In high school?

-Oh, yeah.
-You're the same you?

Oh. Oh, yeah.

What does that mean?

I don't know what it means.

[RAIN FALLING]

It's raining. [LAUGHS]

MARK: It's like we're in the...

-We're in the moment.
-KRIS: Why do we
have to have it real?

-Why do I have to
really get wet?
-[MARK LAUGHS]

It's this annoying spit!

MARK: [LAUGHS] It's like
the spray from the ocean.
It's like the...

[WIND WHOOSHING]

MARK: "There is your law
of precedence

"There is your utility
of traditions.

"There's a story
of your obstinate survival
of old beliefs,

"never bottomed on the Earth."

[READING CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]

-MARK: Alissa, are you asleep?
-No.

-Are you comfy?
-Yes.

What was the last read
you had like?

[LAUGHS] Right.
The last "read" I had?

Yeah.

ALISSA: Hmm.
When did I last read?

Well, I just read aloud.

-You mean before that, though.
-MARK: No, that's it!

Oh. [LAUGHS]

-What was the question?
-[BOTH LAUGH]

Because it's in
the middle of the night,
and I'm tired.

It's like 3:00.

MARK: How do you read a book
by sleeping?

[LAUGHS] You don't.

Sleeping is the opposite
of reading.

MARK: "Sleeping is
the opposite of reading."

-I think we're
onto something there.
-[BOTH LAUGH]

Actually, I wouldn't say
they are the opposite.

I would tend to think
that there would be
aspects of reading

that elicit some of
the kind of imagery,

some of the kind of...

Not wild associations,

but disparate associations

that reading can
sometimes activate.

So I wouldn't put them
as an opposite,

but where they are different
is that sleep does not analyze.

After sleep,

we can take
those reflective powers and...

fashion insight,
fashion novel thought...

-that came out of dream.
-[BABY COOS ON PHONE]

I'm crying again.

[SNIFFLES] Mark?

[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]

[MOZART'S PIANO CONCERTO
PLAYING]

CLEARY: Yeah, they call that
the banking model of education.

Like, you deposit meaning
into their heads,

it fills them up with meaning.

But the problem with that is,

how we find meaning,

is often constructed,
not... not received.

The meaning that's found
by the student is theirs.

You see, they have to possess it
and make it theirs,

instead of just something
that's served up.

Somebody says, "Well,

"you know,
if you just remember this,

"you're gonna be so wise."

Being wise means
that you're engaged in
the interpretation of wisdom.

Wisdom isn't a thing. Right?

Wow! This is a really beautiful
part of the river, right here.

Look at the water. Wow.

Beautiful.

We're gonna have
some waves here.

[MOTORBOAT WHIRRING]

Just for safety's sake, Mark,
we're just going to go
into them, okay?

So it isn't just about yourself
and your own thoughts, but,

sort of the kind of wild joy
that comes with learning

more about yourself
and the world by, um...

What is that
off to the left there, Mark?
Is that a ledge?

That looks like a ledge,
doesn't it?

MARK: To Socrates,

-education was
all about virtue. Right?
-Yeah.

MARK: The whole purpose
of gaining wisdom

was for the Gods
to view you more kindly.

And if you were
someone who was wise,

that wisdom
doesn't belong to you.
You had to give it back,

so that the Gods don't see you
as someone who's

greedy with wisdom, right?

Um, Mark you see
off to the left here?

You can't see it from here.
There's a huge ledge

off to the left there.
We gotta get all the way
to the right.

MARK: Okay.

The reality is that Socrates

had some very interesting,

and I believe
still legitimate concerns.

He felt that language is alive.

And that it's the exchange.
It's the dialogue.

That, "I answer you,
you answer me."

He felt that words,

these inert things,
could not talk back.

He said,
"These kinds of words are dead.

"They cannot talk back."

How can we speak about language

in a way that will
make the Gods happy?

I don't know.

There's an old story.

How true it is I'm not sure.

In the Egyptian city
of Naucratis,

there's an ancient God.

His name is Thoth. [ECHOES]

He was the inventor
of many arts,

arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, dice.

But his greatest invention
was the use of letters.

[BELL DINGS]

One day, Thoth came
and showed his inventions off
to the King of Egypt.

They discussed each one,
but when it came to letters...

Oh, ingenious Thoth.

I am worried about
this discovery of yours.

By externalizing memories,

you will create a forgetfulness
in the learners' souls.

You're not offering truth,
but the appearance of truth.

The people that
follow this method

will be hearers of many things,
but will have learned nothing.

They will be tiresome company,

having the show of wisdom,
without the reality.

MARYANNE: He said,
"It's not a recipe for memory.

"It's a recipe for forgetting,

"because you will depend
on this"

Reading this
radical technology, to him

would give people
an illusion of knowledge

that they did not possess.

And, in our words today,

they wouldn't know
what they didn't know.

Socrates is one of the best
sources of questions...

Is that a rock?
Yeah it is. Gee whiz.

...to us in a similarly
radical transition.

His was the transition
from oral-language culture

to a literacy-based culture.

And ours is
a literacy-based culture

to a digital culture
with similar issues

about memory
and delusions of knowledge.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

[RATTLING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

GIRL: I'd put it in for another,
like, 30 seconds.

Yeah, you may not know

what you want to do yet.
That is okay.

Don't create stress on yourself.

Life is stressful enough

without the stuff we manufacture

that we don't really need
to worry about yet. Okay?

[BRACELETS JINGLING]

So this is, backwards
from how it was before.

Yeah, it's set up
differently today.

-So I used to be...
My desk was over here.
-Yes.

But it was facing this way,
and so...

And you used to teach from...
Yeah, you used to teach
over there.

Yes, because the school
was set up with

-the "green boards," as they
used to call them...
-Mm-hmm.

...on this side of the room
as opposed to the other side.

It was an older desk,

but it had drawers
on both sides,

which I always needed.

Plus, I always liked
to stash extra books on these.

-Like here,
there's space to put books...
-Uh-huh.

Which I never have enough of.
Okay?

But I had to retire when I did.

My husband said,
"Janet, if you don't..."

He said...

"I don't know how much longer
you're gonna live."

He said... he said,
"You really have to,

-"you know, hang it up." Yeah.
-Yeah.

I kind of felt bad because
I still thought I had some time.

And I actually felt...

[STUTTERS] I wasn't necessarily
getting better all the time,

-but I was hoping
I was getting better.
-Yeah.

-Uh, maybe not more efficient,
but more knowledgeable.
-Right.

And more knowledgeable
about people.

-And that... that's big.
-Yeah.

Becoming more knowledgeable
about people

and what makes them tick.

MARK: One of the things
that I remembered,

when I was driving away
from your house
last time, was,

I came in with that small stack
of papers.

Remember this part?

And you came in with some papers

that you wanted
to get credit for.

-MARK: The essays on, uh...
-That was... That was
at the very end of the year.

-The very end of the year.
-I was cleaning up my room. Yes.

-MARK: Yeah, you were
cleaning up this room and...
-Yes. Yes.

and I remembered
what you said to me.

Um. That it was too little,
too late.

Did I really say that?

Oh, my goodness.

That was terrible, and I
didn't try to mollify it at all.

No, you were mad at me, but...

No I wasn't. I wasn't. No.

Because I...
It was very disheartening
to have to...

[SIGHS]

MARK: It stuck there, but I
didn't remember it consciously
until I was driving.

Oh, I'm really sorry
I put it that way.

I really am. I am. I am.

But you know what?

I-I probably also felt that

you have to like, just say,

-"That's it."
-"That's it." Yeah.

You know? It's like,
there are times in life,

when it is too late
to do something.

I suppose.

So, we're going to have an essay
on The Candles?

Mm-hmm.
Over just those paragraphs.

Ain't it crazy?

It's gonna be all right.
I promise.

MARK: It seems like,
every lunch,

there's someone coming at you

for some sort of life advice
or career advice.

Why do they come to you?

I'm old. [LAUGHS]

And I care about them.

They know that
I will listen to them,

let them talk themselves
into understanding

what they want for themselves.

For their lives.

It's... It's part of my job.

I'm a teacher.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]

And letting them know
that they're cared about.

And that there are things
in their lives

that I know that are
a whole lot more important

than anything
that I bring to them.

[WHISPERING]
That works very well. Excellent.

[STUDENTS WHISPERING QUESTIONS]

I think
you're just panicking, okay?

So you should breathe.

[BREATHING DEEPLY]

[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]

I want them to be happy
with who they are.

But I want them
to be smart about the world

so they don't get eaten alive.

Or horribly disappointed.

[INHALES] Why is Moby-Dick
so important to that?

[SERENE INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN: "'The ship! A hearse!
The second hearse!'

"cried Ahab from the boat.

"'Its wood
could only be American.'"

They've been chasing Moby
for three days

because Ahab's a crazy man.
And they're tired.

HALEY: L-A-A-K-E.

-You don't know
how to spell my last name?
-HALEY: I'm making sure!

I double checked his name.

Wow, Haley.

She's supposed to be
my best friend. What is this?

VICKI: You see, you survived!

JESSIE: I survived.

-VICKI: How are you doing?
-Better.

I'm not saying I don't like it.

I'm just saying
that I'm better at math.

"Towards thee I roll,

"thou all-destroying
but unconquering whale,

"to the last I grapple with thee

"from hell's heart
I stab at thee..."

MAN: "A sullen white surf
beat against its deep sides,

"then all collapsed.

"And the great shroud
of the sea rolled on

"as it rolled 5,000 years ago."

I mean, it's glorious writing.

It really is.

VICKI: Ishmael survives
on Queequeg's coffin.

He is picked up by The Rachel.

So you have that symbolic

"mother of
the Jewish people" ship

picking up

Abraham's discarded son,

so that the family is reunited.

And it always makes me wonder,

is Melville just trying
to say that,

maybe all of
these great big things,

that we notice happening

are happening
so the little connections
can be made?

I mostly think
of Herman and Lizzie as

-you and Elizabeth Doss...
-[ALISSA CHUCKLES]

...being in bed together.

ALISSA: Well that's...
that's a little weird.

MARK: It's a little weird, yeah.
That was a weird scene.

He really wrote himself
into this book.

So I don't really feel like
he's actually

in the ground.

Even though he sure is.

-Hi!
-JANET: Oh, don't you look nice.

I look the same I did before.

-Okay. Well,
I like that look, Mark.
-Hi, nice to see you!

[LAUGHS] Nice to see you too.

-Hi, Tom.
-TOM: Hi.

-We finally meet! Yay!
-[ALL LAUGH]

-JANET: Hi, I'm Janet!
-ALISSA: Hi.

-JANET: Hi, Alex, right?
-ALISSA: Alissa.

Alissa. Okay, all right.

Yeah, so this is my wife,
Alissa.

This is my mom, Marta.
You've met her before, probably.

MARTA: No, we tried to meet.

She tried to meet me
through mail and e-mails.

-Yeah but I stopped it
up until now.
-[ALL LAUGH]

JANET: Yeah,
and this is my husband, Tom.
MARTA: Hi, Tom.

-ALISSA: Hi.
-TOM: Hi.

JANET: [ON TV] And then,

I decided that I needed
the Norton Critical Edition,

because this has like...
like, loads of stuff in it.

All kinds of stuff.

MARK: [ON TV] You've gotta have
the letters to Hawthorne,

That's...
that's pretty important.

JANET: [ON TV] Yeah, yeah.

You didn't make me feel bad.
I just did.

ALISSA: [ON TV] You know,
really shitty for you to like,

I mean...[CRYING]
You could try a little harder,
Mark.[SNIFFLES]

SAMUEL: [ON TV]
Across the book,

you get characters
looking in the water,

and you are told what they see.

JANET: ...continue
to regret the lives
you could have had..."

SAMUEL: That reveals something
about the character.

Sometimes looking
into the water
is a mirror back to them.

MARK: "Too little, too late."

JANET: Did I really say that?

Oh, I'm really sorry
I put it that way.

I really am. I am.

BERGMAN: [ON TV] Strikingly,
toward the end of the book,

looking in the water,

is seeing Moby Dick rise up
to the surface.

JANET: Thereare times in life

when itis too late
to do something.

So, Happy Father's Day,
everybody!

[ALL LAUGHING]

TOM: And future fathers!
KRIS: We'll throw you
in there, too!

It's fish,
because of Moby-Dick.

-[ALL LAUGHING]
-How appropriate.

-RENATA: So aren't we supposed
to be criticizing the movie?
-[TABLEWARE CLINKING]

MARK: Yeah, what were the...
What were the themes
of the film?

-KRIS: Too many.
-[ALL CHUCKLE]

-First it's you...
-MARK: Mm-hmm.

KRIS: ...your relationship
with your wife,

-and then relationship
with your past.
-MARK: Mm-hmm.

And more?
Your relationship
to Herman Melville.

That's too many.

-MARK: Too many relationships?
-Yeah.

I mean, there's more than that.

You know,
there's more the inner city you.

"What if I grew up where I had
to worry about getting killed
when I went to school?"

So there's so many themes.
Like, you know...

MARTA: But documentaries
are different. It's not a movie.

KRIS: You said it
in the beginning.

"This is the book report
that I never gave."

And that did not feel at all
like a book report.

That felt like um,
a search for the self.

You said the right thing to him,
junior year. That was good.

There are times in life,

when it is too late
to do something.

And then you have
the Stanford professor

saying the same thing
I'm saying...

The kids just get
pushed along...

KRIS: It's too late for me.

I was programmed differently,

and you're still trying
to make me learn a way

that some people
know how to learn.

But yet I've never fit
in that groove,

and you're forcing me back
into that groove

that has scarred me
away from that.

You know?
And you're doing now
that to yourself.

You're trying to go back
into your past, like,

"Hey what happened to me
that year in high school

"that I totally blacked out

"and did not participate
in something

"that now I find fascinating?"

JANET: I thought the remark
of the young woman
in the teacher's class...

-MARTA: Yeah. The blonde girl.
-JANET: Yeah, the blonde girl,
who said...

Finding, like,
your own free will,
and whatever,

is, like hard,
and like confusing?

That life is confusing and,
you know,

finding meaning is like
a super-big challenge

and so, the act
of reading the book

is almost like
the journey through life

-and attempting to find meaning.
-But you don't have...

-KRIS: You don't need
two hours of that!
-Yeah.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]