Twitter Summaries of Moby Dick, as recounted by one called Ishmael, Chapters 1-36:

1. I, Ishmael, weary of the damp, drizzly November in my soul, looks to escape the confines of New York and sail out for adventure.
2. I arrive in New Bedford but to, alas, miss the ferry to the true whaling capital of Nantucket, so I resign on finding a cheap and ominous-sounding inn to rest.
3. After much hesitation, I take a room at the Spouter-Inn, though I must lay with a dark-skinned cannibal that worships a piece of wood and smokes his tomahawk in bed.
4. I awake with Queequeg’s arm affectionately thrown around me, as if I were his wife, after which I observe his habits of hygiene.
5. I share a silent breakfast with my fellow sailor guests, who are, to my surprise, not enlivened with stories of their seafaring escapades.
6. I observe the unnatural scenery of New Bedford, with its docks and fancily-dressed women, which subsists due to the price whale oil fetches throughout the globe.
7. I stumble into the Whaleman’s Chapel, and discover it ironic how we mourn the dead so incessantly as they reside in the paradise of Heaven.
8. Father Mapple enters the chapel and dramatically climbs a roped ladder onto the pulpit, an act that I cannot help but feel lays deep symbolism within.
9. Father Mapple recalls the story of Jonah and his plight of being swallowed by a great fish, and insists on preaching Truth in the face of Falsehood.
10. I grow affection for my bosom friend, Queequeg; we share a smoke which symbolizes our union, do worship together, and rest as a cozy, loving pair.
11. Queequeg awakes in the night as we share another smoke, while nostalgia overcomes my companion as he recalls the story of his life as a savage.
12. Queequeg recounts his life on Kokovoko, of which he is prince, and the journey that taught him to rebuke Christianity and take on the harpoon in lieu of the scepter.
13. The townsfolk are repulsed by the friendship displayed by Queequeg and I, and Queequeg shows heroics by rescuing an overboard bumpkin that ridiculed him previously.
14. I recite a history of Nantucket and all of its idiosyncrasies, asserting that the island is only the center of its vast empire that is the seas.
15. We settle at the Try-Pots inn, and share a dinner that tastes of the ocean and the fish that surrounds us.
16. I seek out a ship for whaling, and stumble across the Pequod, owned by two Quakers, and negotiate my wages for joining the crew.
17. I return to Queequeg to find him unresponsive in his Ramadan, which causes much distress on the innkeeper, and I explain to him the fallibilities of his beliefs.
18. Queequeg is hired upon the Pequod, though the Quakers are weary of his paganism; Bildad tries conversion, but Peleg warns against pious harpooners.
19. We stumble across a skeptic named Elijah, who warns us against the exploits of Captain Ahab, but we shrug him off on the basis of insanity.
20. The ship is being provisioned for our voyage, and we learn of the improving health of our Captain Ahab.
21. I believe to see men boarding the ship only to find a single sailor aboard, while Elijah tried once more to persuade us with his insanity.
22. The Pequod sets sail on a cold Christmas, as Bildad and Peleg ship out of port before rowing back to shore, with no presence yet known of Ahab.
23. I introduce Bulkington, who steers the ship; I remark how he is a man fated to die at sea, and that such a death will leave him glorified as God.
24. I forcefully defend the business of whaling, retorting any questions and criticisms that may arise by those ignorant to the benefits of the trade.
25. I provide examples of the usefulness of whaling, reminding those Europeans that their very kings rely on the purity of whale oil for their coronations.
26. I introduce the careful and rational first-mate, Starbuck, and reflect upon the democratic dignity of the working man, even in the meanest mariners.
27. I shed light on the other officers, all white Americans, each with their own dark-skinned harpooner, contracting the “brains” and the “muscles”.
28. Ahab appears on deck, donned with a false leg carved from a whale’s jaw, and a white scar upon his face made from some elemental strife at sea.
29. Stubb dares to complain about Ahab’s pacing, his leg sending echoes across the ship, and Ahab calls him dog and advances upon him, sending Stubb into a fright.
30. Ahab longs to smoke, but the act can no longer sooth his nervous whiffs, so he hurls the pipe into the ocean and paces once more.
31. Stubb recalls a dream of being kicked by Ahab’s ivory leg, and a merman’s insistence of the honor of being kicked by a man as great as his captain.
32. I take time to explain cetology, or the science of whales, and revises the current classification of the creature into three books: Folio, Octavo, and Duodecimo.
33. I go on to discuss the workings of the whaling ship, from the role of the specksynder, to the comradery that often supersedes the hierarchy of the vessel.
34. I recall the etiquette of dinner in Ahab’s cabin, such as the order of the officers in their dining times, and avidity shown by the harpooners in terrorizing the cook.
35. I describe my experience on the mast-head searching for whales, daydreaming away, and realizing that romantic, melancholy, and absent-minded young men such as myself make terrible sailors.
36. Ahab explains his mission of hunting down the infamous Moby-Dick, and promises a gold doubloon to the man that is able to raise the whale.