Irony.
Sperm
whales live in pods. Pods are made up of between three up to twenty whales. The pods are comprised of adult females and
young whales. The females help each
other in feeding and tending to the young and offering protection to the calves
of other mothers.
Young adult
males leave the pod at around six years of age. They then live singly with
other male whales. They return to the waters of their birth in their late
twenties. Even then it is only fleeting and the male forms no deep bonds within
the pod.
The whaling
society of Nantucket aped this life pattern, on the very animal on which they
hunted. The men were at home for three or four months, and then they went to
sea for anything between two to three years. The women tended the young and ran
the businesses and maintained the daily running of the community.
Both female
whales and women in Nantucket ran their affairs in the long term absence of
males.
No comments:
Post a Comment