“Call me Ishmael”, the story’s narrator, through whom we are regaled of the voyage to hunt the great white whale, Moby Dick. He is a young white male, prone to depression, desperately trying to relieve his woes. Therefore, Ishmael hires himself out as a sailor, believing that a whaling trip would provide some much needed relief; He ends up embarking on a voyage in search of this phantom whale, in an effort to turn away from “the pistol and ball”. Despite being both the main focus, and the narrator of the story, Ishmael is incredibly reluctant to discuss himself.
As the story progresses, it becomes evident that our narrator is quite intelligent. Although he never mentions attending college, Ishmael has had an excellent …show more content…
Far from a salvage, Queequeg is a native of Kokovoko, and the son of a High King. Initially he left his people in order to search for a way of bettering himself; It was Queequeg’s desire to bring happiness to his people by introducing them to the Christian way. He found his way off the island of Kokovoko by stowing away on a whaling ship that had stopped there. However, upon meeting and working with the Christians, Queequeg found them to be no happier, nor any less evil than his own people whom he abandoned. Ultimately, he decided that paganism was the more enlightened route to …show more content…
Admittedly, it is hard to picture Ahab as a family centric man, making one wonder why he even married, and decided to have a child. This aside, he has been described as a god-like man, ”cut away from the stake”. To go along with his god-like aura, Ahab has a blatant disregard for common sense when it comes to the whale. He behaves as though his actions will occur without consequence or effect on his final outcome.
Captain Ahab has two very obvious physical traits: first, "like a tree that has been struck by lighting". This description comes from a large white scar running down an unknown length of his body - starting from his face and disappearing below his collar. The scar is a symbol of his broken and fractured mind after his encounter with his specter the whale. Secondly, Ahab is characterized by his leg. Once living and warm, the limb is now a solid, cold, ivory whale bone; it serves as a reminder of what has driven this man to such focused