Moby Dick Chapter 10 - 12

Chapter 10 - 12

A Bosom Friend/Nightgown/Biographical

Ishmael returns to the inn and finds Queequeg there alone. He watches as Queequeg leafs seemingly at random through a book and is moved by the simplicity of the cannibal's decent behavior. The two talk, and quickly become fast friends. The pair is sealed that night, when Queequeg splits his money equally between the two of them. Ishmael makes a token worship to Queequeg's idol, reasoning that the only worship of God that matters is a decency to one's fellow man, and the two get into bed.

Topic Tracking: Religion 4

The two men continue talking late into the night, and Ishmael learns Queequeg's history.

"Queequeg was a native of Kovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are." Chapter 12, pg. 46

He was the son of a king and the nephew of a High Priest, who took it into his head to see Christendom. Being of strong will, he forced his way onto a whaling boat, refusing to leave even if hacked to bits. The captain made him a whaleman. Although he finds Christendom to be less than promised, he has chosen to stay in this world, while maintaining his Pagan practices.

Ishmael and Queequeg decide to go to sea on the same whaling ship, and the two go to sleep.