From reading chapters 4-12, Ishmael’s affection for his roommate, Queepeg, grows strong because of his oddities and peculiarities that are not touched by societal conventions. In addition, his touch makes Ishmael question his identity and things from his past with his stepmother, yearning for reciprocation that he never had in terms of maternal care. It is interesting that Melville writes “stepmother”, emphasizing maternal care that is seemingly not real for the character, making us readers to also diagnose his freudian condition.

While Melville sets us up as behaviorial therapists, the book makes it clear that Ishmael registers information through the ego– through symbols he knows in his life to be true, but now reevaluates those same symbols. This egocentric mindset he has is present when othering Queepeg and the ways he carries himself.”He was just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the strangest possible manner”(Melville 31). Here, Ishmael senses that the way he operates is based outside the symbols and body languages he is often used to seeing, increasing his affinity for the unconventional Queepeg displays outwardly. Showing off his outlandishness in an odd way alludes to how Ishmael is secretly obsessed with wanting to break through the barrier of conventional he functions in, understanding that Queepeg is intelligent, but also a calculated cannibal. Ishmael’s secret obsession with Queepeg is instigated further when he attempts to other him through the same misunderstanding tone he conveys in the last text above. When reading the room, Ishmael notes: “Queepeg sat there…, it so chanced… To be sure I cannot say much for his breeding…(Melville 34)” This particular tone in the text is dehumanizing, but exposes how vulnerable Ishmael is about Queepeg’s presence. In a sense, it could be projection because Ishmael knows he is walking into danger with a powerful yet odd being. The imagery of them as roommates and Ishmael developing some unresolved feelings, with the fact that Queepeg is revealed as calculated paints the picture of who really is the prey being dehumanized as someone powerless. Besides Ishmael’s liking for Queepeg and their dynamic present in the book, the chapter names kind of sound like we are operating in Ishamel’s mind throughout the course of the events. At one point, the names go from “Breakfast” to “Street” to “Chapel”, and so on, as if we are moving along in his perspective, recording and capturing events. This type of perspective really emphasizes how we operate through common symbols and language, pointing out striking strange things in our line of sight throughout the day.