When I was reading the beginning of chapter 13, this line which Ishmael blessed us with made me curious. “As we were going along the people stared; not at Queequeg so much – for they were used to seeing cannibals like him in the street, – but at seeing him and me upon such confidential terms. But we heeded them not, going along, wheeling the barrel by turns,…” pg. 64. What could this mean for both men and how people view them both?

Was it so common in the US, during the 1830s or 40s, to see cannibals roaming the town streets? Were they minding their own business or were they sceaming and wanting to find their next victim to eat. The fact that the towns people were going about their days as normal seeing Queequeg if he was by himself strolling down the street. But then when both Ishmael and Queequeg were walking together down the road they stared and were most likely concerned for why Ishmael was with this cannibal.

Were cannibals known to be sole survivors of themselves and were not typically seen with other people or was it the fact that Ishmael was a normal looking man with this savage creature that was Queequeg. Were the people of the town racially profiling both men or were they just being cautious and wanting to make sure that Ishmael doesn’t end up being the next name in the obituary paper. From the time period which the book takes place I can see how this challeneged the norms of that time, especially seeing two men who are distincively different together like this.

Maybe people of the town had seen them both many times before walking around together or even eating together. The fact that they also shared a room at the inn would be skeptical too but both Ishmael and Queequeg just kept going through the streets of the town not caring what others might have been thinking of them. Their dynamic was not common and how close they had gotten so close, sleeping in the same bed and even Ishmael calling them “married” at one point. They have shared many moments together so far throughout the story and I wonder how thier dyamic will either stay the same or even change while being aboard the Pequod.