Response Journal Week 2- Gabriel

When Ishmael first describes Queequeg, and the fear he has of him, I thought he was racist and narrow-minded however my views on Ishmael have quickly changed. He and Queequeg are now very good friends, and he talks about how people stare at them when they walk around together in public. The fact that Ishmael is not embarrassed to show his friendship with Queequeg in public shows how progressive he is, and how the race dynamic in Moby Dick is very different from other books I’ve read dealing with the same period. However what surprised me more than Ishamel’s views on race were Queequeg’s actions towards white people. Moby Dick was first published in 1851, and blacks were still slaves and second-class citizens at this time. Their primary purpose in America was to serve their white owners. Queequeg surprised me so much because he did not even come close to viewing himself as a second-class citizen. He in fact beats up a white person who makes fun of him on page 63. Queequeg’s freedom probably stems from the fact that he is Kokovoko royalty. He is not used to being degraded and ordered around the same way many African-Americans of the same time period were.

I was again surprised at the way Melville talks about religion. On page 74 he says of Captain Bildad, “He had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man’s religion is one thing, and the practical world quite another”. I interpreted this as him saying that one cannot uphold all the standards that religion promotes, and at the same time succeed in living a practical life. This surprised me because a devout Christian would say that one must be religious throughout one’s life to lead a religious life but Melville seems to think otherwise. I also really like the passage on page 79 where Ishmael basically says that Presbyterian Christians need to come of their high horses, and stop thinking they’re better than everyone else. I think it’s amazing how Ishmael is so religiously tolerant, and he in fact knocks his own religion more than he knocks other religions.

I also just wanted to point out a really interesting passage on page 102 where Starbuck says that in order to be on his boat one must fear whales because a fearless man is the most dangerous of comrades. I really like this quote because it embodies the respect that whalers have for whales, despite the fact that the try to kill them. The quote is also very interesting because Starbuck is very wise, and he makes an interesting point in saying that if one cannot fear, one is not good at estimating the encountered peril. I take this to mean that preparation and being aware of one’s surroundings are important in general. An ignorant person, who has a lack of fear and preparation is setting himself up for failure.