{"id":393,"date":"2010-02-01T11:36:36","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=393"},"modified":"2010-02-01T11:36:36","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T15:36:36","slug":"a-different-kind-of-romantic-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/?p=393","title":{"rendered":"A Different Kind of Romantic Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today it is increasingly difficult to find a book where romance does not play some role in the plot \u2013 in the worst cases it seems nothing more than an attempt to make a book sexy and appealing to readers.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps the lack of any hint of romantic interest within (at least the first twenty chapters of) the novel is one of the reasons modern readers find it hard to relate to <em>Moby Dick<\/em> and often label it \u201cboring.\u201d\u00a0 Of the few female characters we have met even briefly (Mrs. Hussey, Aunt Charity), none are described in any way other than domestic providers, for better or for worse. While in many adventure novels (and, indeed, in other works by Melville) the exotic and seductive female \u201csavage\u201d is a commonly found character, it is interesting that the role of savage is here embodied by a man, Queequeg.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMan and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning.\u00a0 Thus, then, in our hearts\u2019 honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg \u2013 a cosy, loving pair.\u201d (47)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ishmael and Queequeg\u2019s relationship is significant on many levels, not least of all because of the fact that they are two men who share close physical and emotional bonds.\u00a0 The above excerpt is particularly descriptive of this aspect of their friendship, to the point it is described more than once as a \u201cmarriage\u201d between the two of them.\u00a0 Ishmael proves to be surprisingly receptive to not only sharing a bed with this savage stranger, but also sharing with him ideas and cultural practices.\u00a0 Surprising also is the unexpected physicality between the pair; one passage describing how while sleeping together in bed they \u201crolled over from each other, this way and that, and very soon were sleeping\u201d seems almost sexually suggestive (51).\u00a0 While I do not necessarily think this was Melville\u2019s intention, it nevertheless prompts readers to reflect on these roles normally shared between man and wife.\u00a0 Of course, it is important to remember that the companionship Ishmael feels with Queequeg is paired with his persistent stereotyping of his friend\u2019s cannibalism and paganism.\u00a0 If we are to think of their relationship as a type of marriage, despite his obvious physical strength Queequeg\u2019s apparent ignorance and role as a certain kind of outcast in a man\u2019s world would perhaps make him what an ostensibly sexist writer like Melville would perceive as the \u201cwife.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the many themes of <em>Moby Dick<\/em>, gender is not one I would have thought featured prominently.\u00a0 However, as I read the novel it becomes more and more clear that the bonds of masculinity Ishmael perceives between the crew members of <em>Pequod<\/em> will be an important theme throughout.\u00a0 The general lack of female characters forces readers to think more deeply about the homosocial relationships found in <em>Moby Dick<\/em>, and in these first twenty chapters the bond Ishmael shares with Queequeg seems like it will be one of the most important.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today it is increasingly difficult to find a book where romance does not play some role in the plot \u2013 in the worst cases it seems nothing more than an attempt to make a book sexy and appealing to readers.\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps the lack of any hint of romantic interest within (at least the first twenty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/engl177\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}