The last question that needs to be asked relates to what would be changing about Queequeg if he were to be reborn. As Queequeg is likened to being between a caterpillar and a butterfly, it is important to examine what Queequeg’s caterpillar and butterfly could be. An answer may be discovered in Queequeg’s arm, as Ishmael describes it, “This arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure” (Melville 37). A labyrinth, on the surface, is something to escape – though it is not Queequeg’s arm itself that is the labyrinth, but the tattoos. While tattoos are permanently etched into skin, they are ultimately an addition to the usually unblemished skin of a newborn. In this, the thing that would seemingly change about …show more content…
Initially, it appears that Queequeg, in his rebirth, would move on from his past as a “savage” pagan. However, this reading ignores two key points: first, Ishmael tends to exalt Queequeg’s “uncivilized” ways as noble and morally superior; second, the Minotaur at the center of the Cretan labyrinth is, in fact, the baby of a bull and Minos’ wife. While a labyrinth may seem like something to escape, the object becomes altered when there is something to find. Furthermore, as it would be necessary for Queequeg to travel deeper into the labyrinth in order to find the baby – in other words, achieve rebirth – it would subsequently be necessary for Queequeg to embed himself in his past. Ishmael admires Queequeg’s savagery; the merits of this savagery can be seen implicitly in Ishmael’s previously mentioned embarrassment