NCHS AP English Language

chapter 16- Alissa davis

". . .this plan of Queequeg's, or rather Yojo's, touching the selection of our craft; I did not like that plan at all". Ishmael doubts that Yogo can make a decision about what ship they are supposed to get on because Ishmael rather likes to rely on his instincts.
The Pequod is a reference to the Indian fort that was attacked periodically by the Puritans and was eventually destroyed. This example of forshadowing in the name of the ship suggests a disastrous outcome. However, Ishmael chooses this ship not because of its name but because of its antiquity and attraction. http://www.pthompson.addr.com/moby/mason.htm

Captain Peleg also has a symbolic name. In the Bible, Peleg was recorded by Noah as the "division of the earth" in reference to the tower of Babel. This suggests that the crew will be divided in some way and a schism will occur. Captain Ahab refers to the king of Israel who built a temple and allowed idol worship in Samaria. Greed was Ahab's idol which he worshipped. He was doomed because of this character flaw. Captain Bildad is also a name from the bible who was known as the Shuite and took part each of the three controversies into which Job's friends entered with him. He will be the one accusing someone of being wrong, but in reality he will be the one who is incorrect and ingracious to someone he thinks is unworthy. http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/bildad.html
Both Peleg and Bildad are quakers. The Quakers came to the new world because they were dissatisfied with the church. Because their names are from the old testament, it suggests that the quakers are rooted in the tradition of the church and were not happy about the revolution in England. Queequeg and Ishmael relate to the quakers because although they are outsiders, they feel a bit of dissatisfaction about Christianity.

As I walked away, I was full of thoughtfulness; what had been incidentally revealed to me of Captain Ahab, filled me with a certain wild vagueness of painfulness concerning him. And somehow, at the time, I felt a sympathy and a sorrow for him, but for I don't know what, unless it was the cruel loss of his leg. And yet I also felt a strange awe of him; but that sort of awe, which I cannot at all describe, was not exactly awe; I do not know what it was. But I felt it; and it did not disincline me towards him; though I felt impatience at what seemed like mystery in him, so imperfectly as he was known to me then. However, my thoughts were at length carried in other directions, so that for the present dark Ahab slipped my mind. To Ishmael, there is a dark sense of foreboding but also enticement about Captain Ahab. But he doesnt really have time to think about what might happen.

Alissa Davis and Lindsay Miller

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