Cultural And Social Differences In Herman Melville's Moby Dick

Narration is an important part of any novel, because it solidifies the relationship between the storyteller and the reader, and is the novel’s basis of time and events. The narrator of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is Ishmael, whose process of storytelling is very detailed and intricate. The character of Ishmael extracts from an extensive amount of material and often goes on rants as he discourses his telling from the actual events of the story. Ishmael forms many relationships with the other characters throughout the novel, but arbitrarily the most important is his relationship with Queequeg and its development over time. Cultural and social differences play a vital role in life, just as what is portrayed within the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael. Judgment can be passed when presented with the opportunity and that is evident in the beginning stages of Ishmael’s relationship with Queequeg. By not knowing who Queequeg is, Ishmael is hasty to make judgments by categorizing Queequeg when he says, “Depend upon it, landlord, that harpooner is a dangerous man” (Melville, 32). Ishmael finds comfort in knowing that even though he has yet to meet the character of Queequeg, …show more content…
If the initial idea were true then Queequeg’s time on the Pequod would have led to more hardships and pain, but Queequeg proved to be a savior when he saves the men of the ship by spearing a whale “and taking sharp aim at it, he darted the iron rod over Bildad’s broad brim, clean across the ship’s decks, and struck the glistening tar spot out of sight ”(Melville, 84). While Queequeg does not comprehend the prejudice he faces by the Nantucket ferry passengers, he demonstrates that he is not the dangerous devil that everyone wronged him of being when he saves the sailor who goes overboard. As Ishmael begins to learn more about Queequeg, his view of him begins to