Okay, so we breezed through the etymology, extracts, and the first three chapters with very few issues. Not bad! For this post, I want to focus on chapter 4.
Last week, we were introduced to the cannibal Queequeg in chapter 3. Ishmael is intimidated by his looks and his cannibalistic nature, and is outright terrified of him, believing that “ignorance is the parent of fear.” However, he is assured by his landlord that Queequeg is actually a nice guy, leading to the realization that he and Queequeg are just as human. Come Chapter 4, and the first sentences we read are… oddly intimate. Wasn’t Ishmael afraid of Queequeg before? What caused this drastic change in tone when it comes to describing his man-eating freak? As seen through Ishmael’s interactions with Queequeg, Herman Melville challenges the heteronormative view by establishing our beloved male character’s relationship with another man instead of the usual woman.
I should note that this intimacy begins right at the beginning of the chapter. After a night’s rest, Ishmael finds “Queequeg’s arm thrown over [him] in the most loving and affectionate matter,” addressing us readers (and us as the character) by saying we “had almost thought [he] had been his wife.” (Melville 28) Now, I want to pay close attention to the word choice in this paragraph. What does Ishmael mean when he said we’d think Queequeg would be his wife? We know Queequeg couldn’t possibly be his soulmate considering they only met for one night. However, the way he talks about Queequeg for the rest of the chapter does raise a few eyebrows.
Heteronormativity is the belief that heterosexuality is the “normal” sexuality, and that romantic relationships are between a man and woman. What Melville is trying to do here is invoke a certain image in the reader that goes against this belief. Close your eyes and imagine someone putting their arms over their lover in bed, if you will. If you saw a woman with a man, you saw it with a heteronormative approach; it is considered “normal” for a woman to put their hands around a man while they lie together in bed. Melville spins this assumption around by making the reader imagine a man sleeping with another man–in this case, Ishmael and Queequeg–which goes against what was considered normal at the time. Also, have you noticed how the chapter reads like a gay man swooning over his partner?
Another (small) thing to note is how the word “gay” was used when Ishmael talks about “the sound of gay voices all over the house” while lying in bed. (Melville 29) Gay people were nary a thing in the mid-1800s, and the word “gay” was used in place of “happy,” so it’d make sense to read this part as Ishmael hearing happy voices. Nowadays, gay people are recognized in most parts of the world, and it’s rare to see gay used as a substitute for happy.
I think it’s safe to say that Moby-Dick is an LGBTQ+ novel because there are parts where a man develops feelings for another man. Or–a crazy thought here–Ishmael is to Queequeg as Herman Melville is to Nathaniel Hawthorne, because Melville appreciated Hawthorne’s works so much it’s almost as if they were lovers.