Moby Dick

In only the first 15 chapters of Moby Dick, Melville makes multiple biblical references. The most lengthy is the story of Jonah. Ishmael stumbles into a church and sits through a very lengthy sermon, all about Jonah’s flee from God. Since this passage is so long, I questioned its significance immediately: obviously the story involved a whale but Jonah’s story is important for another reason. Jonah, before getting swallowed by a whale, is running from something. He runs from God because he refuses to carry out God’s will. To escape this responsibility, Jonah leaves land on a ship that will hopefully “carry him into countries where God does not reign” (Melville 37). Almost immediately I connected this attitude of escaping, or running away, with Ishmael’s own description of himself in the beginning of the book.

Just as Jonah is running to sea to escape his religious expectations, Ishmael runs to sea to escape the alienation he often feels on land. Ishmael calls this alienation “a damp, drizzly November in [his] soul” (1). When he falls into spells of boredom and “nothing particular interests [him] on shore” (1), Ishmael takes off. The tendency to run away also parallels the history of Ishmael’s name in the Bible.

Ishmael is the name of Abraham’s first born son, who was born of Hagar, a servant, rather than Sarah, Abraham’s wife. In jealousy, Sarah exiles Ishmael and Hagar. Even though Ishmael is banished, he is still destined to do great things. Granted, Ishmael, in this story, is not running from something. But he is leaving his familiar world and about to embark upon a very enlightening journey, just like Jonah and Ishmael (in Moby Dick).

After assessing the significance of Ishmael’s name and the story of Jonah, I have decided that going to sea replaces religion on Ishmael’s life. When feeling down and without a purpose, a common remedy is faith. When seeking enlightenment, religion is a common path. Ishmael goes to sea for these exact reasons. The reader can tell Ishmael isn’t very satisfied by his religious faith in the way he speaks of the church. He negatively portrays the worshipers as “islands of men and women” that are “purposely sitting apart from the other” and “steadfastly eyeing marble tablets” (30). All of these descriptions make the churchgoers seem empty and emotionless, furthermore separating them from our narrator.

Assuming sailing (and soon whaling) serve as Ishmael’s religious replacement, I expect that the voyage will provide him with very enlightening and adventurous events. In a way, the churchgoing event could serve as a method of foreshadowing, since the sermon is all about Jonah and his flee from land. It helps the reader predict that Ishmael will find something bigger than himself while at sea.