Ten of Swords

Meaning: Being pinned down by a multitude of things or situations. (Wikipedia)

Depiction: Queequeg lies in his coffin,  eyes closed but alive, cover closed. Ten lances pierce the wood.

Text: Chapter 110- Queequeg in His Coffin
Then crossing his arms on his breast with Yojo between, he called for the coffin lid (hatch he called it) to be placed over him. The head part turned over with a leather hinge, and there lay Queequeg in his coffin with little but his composed countenance in view. “Rarmai” (it will do; it is easy), he murmured at last, and signed to be replaced in his hammock.

Illustration from Moby Dick, Rockwell Kent (1930)

Comments: In the RWS card, the subject figure feels at least momentarily defeated, but there is always hope on the horizon, as seen by the sliver of bright sky. In Moby Dick, mirroring Ahab's sense of fatalism mingled with self-determination, Queequeg decides he cannot allow himself to die because there is something he has left undone on land.