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Who Is Ishmael In Moby Dick?

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Ishmael, the narrator of the story, boards a whaling vessel named the Pequod in Nantucket. Prior to boarding the ship Ishmael meets Queequeg at the inn. He must share a room with him. Queequeg is from a South Pacific island and is the son of a king. He is an expert harpooner. At first his exotic ways and appearance frighten Ishmael, but he is soon won over by the kindness of Queequeg. They board the old wooden vessel who is owned by Peleg and Bildad. The captain of the ship is Ahab. He is a large man looking to avenge the loss of his leg to the great white whale, Moby Dick. As the ship sets sail the captain arrives on deck. He announces his intent to find and kill Moby Dick and nails a gold doubloon to the wooden mast which will serve as the …show more content…

The ship sails into the Indian Ocean. They catch and kill several whales to use their blubber for oil but none are the great Moby Dick. The Pequod meets many other whaling ships in their travels and the captain requests information from the other crews as to the whereabouts of Moby Dick. At times the captain is warned of the doom they will face by prophets from the other vessels. In an ironic event one of the crew, Tashtego ,almost meets his demise when he falls overboard in the head of a slain whale, but thankfully is rescued by Queequeg. Some time later the crew meets Captain Boomer who also has survived an unfortunate encounter with Moby Dick as well ,losing his arm. Later Queequeg falls ill with a terrible fever and requests the ships carpenter build him coffin. Fortunately, Queequeg makes a full recovery and no longer requires the coffin but later in the story it becomes a life buoy for Ishmael as the ship sinks. Fedallah, one of the crew members, shares his visions with Captain Ahab regarding his predictions of his death, but the captain refuses to believe him and mockingly informs him he is to live

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To some this in an unneeded, extraneous line in the story that adds no real substance. To others, this provides insight into the characters of Nurse Ratched and Mr. McMurphy. The white whale refers to Moby Dick by Herman Melville. In Moby Dick, the whale wreaks havoc and is relentlessly pursued by Captain Ahab. In the end it can be argued that Moby, the whale, and the Captain are both defeated, paralleling the story with Nurse Ratched and Mr. McMurphy.

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According to chapters 20 through 24, the author develops Ishmael as an advocate of whaling. Specifically focused in chapter 24, Melville introduces Ishmael’s opinions, thoughts, and advocacy on whaling and the amount of respect whalers. For example, in the passage, Ishmael argues, “I am all anxiety to convince ye… of the injustice hereby done to us hunters of whales... one leading reason why the world declines honoring us whalemen, is this: they think that... our vocation amounts to a butchering sort of business…” This allows the reader to understand Ishmael’s determination for justice to whaling, developing him into a deeper character with personal views and opinion to create a realistic characteristic for him.

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The crewmates' actions, especially towards newcomers on the ship, show that our attitudes towards the world and others are affected by our own past experiences in life. Ishmael has shown his curiosity of whales throughout the whole book. In Chapter 1, Ishmael describes his desire to "see the world" and "learn

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