Tag Archives: Queequeg

Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy

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Melville presents the readers with an aversion to Christianity, presented frequently throughout the text by the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael. Starting all the way back in Chapter 3 with the line, “Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian” (26), he spends much of the chapters proceeding it focusing on the kind of man that Queequeg is and the way that he treats Ishmael as well as others surrounding them. Despite having three chapters focused on the importance of religion and practices, they are still dotted with the presence of Queequeg and internal dialogue such as “but Faith, like the jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope,” (42). 

Christianity is painted as opportunistic, almost parasitic in the way that it prays on the fears, doubts, and hopes of the sailors and their families in New Bedford. “…few are the moody fisherman, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the (Whaleman’s Chapel). I am sure that I did not” (39). Each person is compelled to attend the weekly sermon, one way or another, and not even Ishmael is able to avoid it. Yet later, when he is observing Queequeg, he makes another startling statement: “I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy” (57). 

Perhaps there will be a time when we understand Ishmael’s continued heretical talk against the religion that he claims he was born into (58), but as of now Queequeg is painted as an innocent, sweet man who is alien to the culture he lives amongst yet willing still to respect and attempt to understand it – which is more than can be said of Christians in relation to religions outside of their own.

Ishmael foreshadows a prominent future event. 

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Throughout these chapters, what I noticed, or I believe to be a foreshadowing event is when Ishamel slowly woke up from a nightmare. The passage states, “At last, I must have fallen into a troubled nightmare of a doze; and slowly waking from it half steeped in dreams—I opened my eyes, and the before sun-lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness. Instantly I felt a shock running through all my frame; nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard.” (Melville 29). This passage is portraying a future event where Ishmael will be woken up from a nightmare, and instead of seeing his sun-lit room now wrapped in outer darkness, Ishamel will be seeing the vast ocean at night where darkness will completely swallow the whole ocean. He will experience the void of nothingness, where he felt shocked and trapped in the middle of nowhere. Ishmael’s dream of being the most promising port for an adventurous whaleman will be crushed due to the mysteries of the sea. We all know that every man who travels through the sea have hopes and dreams of being recognized due to their efforts, but once they experienced the true terror of the sea, they will realize that everything they have ever wished for were just a hoax, and that the terror is waiting for them on the other side of the earth. Another interesting point I wanted to make is that the way Ishmael and Queequeg act in front of each other is very suspicious. I feel like they both like each other, but at the same time, referring to themselves as ‘friendship’ feels a little off. My theory is perhaps back then, homosexuality was not recognized yet, so both Ishmael and Queequeg who liked each other’s company decided that it is just an intimate friendship, and that they were very close to each other. But the truth is they like each other, and want to spend time together like other couples do. Or perhaps I am completely wrong and my theory is literally me being delusional about it. I would love to hear everyone’s perspective on these chapters next week. 

Civilized Savages

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Oh Queequeg, our Bosom Friend. It’s hard not to be allured by his awkward civility, “neither caterpillar nor butterfly” (31). What’s great about him is that he’s just honest, more noble, and nowhere near as savage as some other so-called civilized characters. After his initial fears of Queequeg subside, we see Ishmael’s willingness to try this friendship out and we too are invited to change our minds (something hardly allowed and not easily done in the contentious, debate-brained climate we are plagued by). The passage I want to highlight is what I would say is the moment Ishmael, and us in turn, fully puts aside any differences and welcomes Queequeg with all his peculiarities:

“No more my splintered heart and maddened hand were turned against the wolfish world. This soothing savage had redeemed it. There he sat, his very indifference speaking a nature in which there lurked no civilized hypocrisies and bland deceits… And those same things that would have repelled most others, they were the very magnets that thus drew me. I’ll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but a hollow courtesy” (57).

In shutting down the preconceived notions of the savage which sits before him, Ishmael pushes us to reflect on the true savagery of our own “civilized” society. In resisting the tribalism so often pushed upon us, meant to divide and pit one against the other, we can reserve our splintered hearts and maddened hands. This soothing savage has reconstructed our entire view of the wolfish/savage world. Melville’s juxtaposition in the “soothing savage” is very powerful here as the contrast paints a new image for what a savage can be, breaking away from the fearful connotation of the title; it certainly doesn’t align with the “other “cannibal” title previously attributed to him.

Ishmael then goes further and deconstructs our perceptions of what “civilized” entails. This savage has no lurking ill intent. In fact, he’s often the first to act when people are in desperate need while the “civilized” men will stand by. It’s very intriguing knowing that this was written just before the civil war; Melville saw the hypocrisy of civilization, many that can be compared to current events. Why should we be the civilized ones when there’s no end to the hypocrisies and bland deceits on every level? Wouldn’t the countless acts of violence in our country make us savage? Are we not run by a savage whose condolences are naught more than hollow courtesy when the next words out of his mouth are more hateful and divisive rhetoric?