Upon first becoming acquainted with Melville’s work, Moby Dick, the character Queequeg immediately sticks out as a compelling character who Melville establishes as somewhat of a social and cultural commentary, as even before the characters set sail. The first mention of Queequeg occurs when the innkeeper explains that he trades preserved human heads (31). This abhorrent livelihood immediately set me up to expect a lowly, despicable character, a depiction of the “other” as a lesser being.
At odds with my initial perspective on the character, no matter how savage and outwardly disturbing Queequeg’s behavior may be, there is a sophistication and eloquence in what he stands for; by and large, Queewueg is a symbol of cross-cultural perspective. For example, we initially see the character as a crude being and a perpetrator of despicable indecencies (i.e., selling human heads), but the result is, in disguise, more a criticism of western culture than a condemnation of indigenous or “savage” habits. When the innkeeper explains that Queequeg is out selling heads, he quips that “to-morrow’s Sunday, and it would not do to be sellin’ human heads about the streets when folks is goin’ to churches” (32). This statement becomes humorous in the implication that, from the innkeeper’s perspective, there may also be a right time to sell human heads on the street, so long as it doesn’t interfere with church services.
As disturbing as Queequeg’s behavior may seem, so too is the innkeeper’s own crudeness in this respect. The major difference here is that while trafficking of body parts may be part of Queequeg’s culture, it is certainly not a part of the New England culture of the mid-1800s, and the innkeeper does not acknowledge this. Later, Queequeg shows in fact more respectability when he risks his own life to save the man the who had been cruel to him (63). This selflessness is an indication of the point that “savagery” is a cultural construct. In terms of how he treats people, Queequeg is in this case much more culturally sophisticated than many of the New Englanders in this text.
You're right, Lukas; Queequeg's selflessness stands out in New England culture, especially given the mercantile spirit of those like the innkeeper.
ReplyDeleteI agree Lukas. It seems that whether or not the innkeepers words were meant as sarcasm towards the selling of human heads, it was a clever way for Melville to get the reader thinking about cultural norms and ethnocentrism. Just because something seems strange and foreign in one culture, doesn't make it universally strange and foreign. At the same time, when someone knows nothing of the outside world except what has been told of it by the very institutions that condemn them, one's viewpoints are skewed.
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