Jan 29 2010
Christianity and the Religion of the Savage
There are three chapters in a row – “The Chapel,” “The Pulpit,” and “The Sermon” – all dedicated to religion and Ishmael’s interaction with faith and church. We may learn more about Ishmael’s beliefs, however, from his reaction to Queequeg’s religious rituals. Queequeg is certainly what the white Christian American of the 1850’s would call a savage – his most frequent religious act is to worship a wooden Congo Idol baby. Ishmael tempers his unexpected affinity for Queequeg by persistently referencing his otherness – he is a “comely looking cannibal” (43), “just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the strangest possible manner” (47), and so on.
But instead of using religion as a trope to highlight a savage vs. civilized, pagan vs. Christian paradox that relegates “others” to sub-human status, Ishmael uses his religion to do the opposite. “I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy conceits on these subjects” (102). Not only does he equalize the “savage” Queequeg as a fellow-mortal, he says this is the good Presbyterian thing to do. This short passage was likely unsettling to readers who considered themselves good Christians and who looked down upon “savages” like Queequeg for their strange, exotic, violent, uncivilized behavior, along with their pagan rituals. Based on his relationship with a savage that started as his bed-mate, Ishmael rejects any hierarchical view of religion: “Heaven have mercy on us all – Presbyterians and Pagans alike – for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending” (102).
Even before his story has moved to the ship, Melville is making the argument that men of different backgrounds and religions can live as equals, and that “savages” are often not very different at all.
One Response to “Christianity and the Religion of the Savage”
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A very good analysis, Tyler, of Ishmael’s views on religion, which change as he is exposed to the “paganism” of Queequeg. He is certainly testing the conceits or received ideas of savagery as being coeval with paganism, or that Christianity=moral superiority. I wonder what you would make of the fact that Queequeg attends the Sermon in the Chapel with Ishmael? And what would you make of the Sermon itself? Is Father Mapple supporting Ishmael’s philosophies that Christians and pagans alike are all of a piece (that is to say, cracked?). See Julian Hassan’s post in the category of Narrator and Narration — he has interesting things to say about Ishmael-as-sermonizer. You guys might have an interesting blog conversation.