Melville's Moby Dick and Ishmael's Transition from
Land to Sea
Rachel D
Moby Dick offers a fresh perspective of a young sailor’s
experiences on land in contrast to the sea through the narrator,
Ishmael. Ishmael's journey as a sailor shows the psychological changes
necessary for him to adapt to this completely different lifestyle.
The transition from land to sea positively affected Ishmael's
perspectives on life and how he acts as the narrator of Moby Dick as a
whole. The first initial change was Ishmael's acceptance Queequeg, a
Native American. At first Ishmael saw Queequeg as a cannibal and
savage, but soon he began to know him as friend. “I’ll try a pagan
friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hallow
courtesy. I drew my bench towards him, and made some friendly signs
and hints, doing my best to talk with him meanwhile.” (p. 51). As
Ishmael accepts Queerpig he develops a more open mind allowing for
different interpretations of his experiences. While on the Pequod,
Ishmael begins to escape the center of attention and tells the reader
about the science and history of whaling in intense detail revealing his
passion for the subject. “According to a careful calculation I have
made, and which I partly base upon Captain Scoresby’s estimate, of
seventy tons for the largest sized Greenland whale of sixty feet in
length…” (p. 452). All of the information about whaling gives the
reader a different attitude towards Moby Dick because the plot less
present. Being disconnected from society he immediately questioned
his reasoning for joining the whaling crew. “Though I cannot tell why it
was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for
this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others were set down for
magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short easy parts in genteel
comedies.. “ “besides cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice
Land to Sea
Rachel D
Moby Dick offers a fresh perspective of a young sailor’s
experiences on land in contrast to the sea through the narrator,
Ishmael. Ishmael's journey as a sailor shows the psychological changes
necessary for him to adapt to this completely different lifestyle.
The transition from land to sea positively affected Ishmael's
perspectives on life and how he acts as the narrator of Moby Dick as a
whole. The first initial change was Ishmael's acceptance Queequeg, a
Native American. At first Ishmael saw Queequeg as a cannibal and
savage, but soon he began to know him as friend. “I’ll try a pagan
friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hallow
courtesy. I drew my bench towards him, and made some friendly signs
and hints, doing my best to talk with him meanwhile.” (p. 51). As
Ishmael accepts Queerpig he develops a more open mind allowing for
different interpretations of his experiences. While on the Pequod,
Ishmael begins to escape the center of attention and tells the reader
about the science and history of whaling in intense detail revealing his
passion for the subject. “According to a careful calculation I have
made, and which I partly base upon Captain Scoresby’s estimate, of
seventy tons for the largest sized Greenland whale of sixty feet in
length…” (p. 452). All of the information about whaling gives the
reader a different attitude towards Moby Dick because the plot less
present. Being disconnected from society he immediately questioned
his reasoning for joining the whaling crew. “Though I cannot tell why it
was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for
this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others were set down for
magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short easy parts in genteel
comedies.. “ “besides cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice
