The Phantom Narrator: Ishmael of "Moby Dick"

Before I start this entry I feel it only fair to point out that Melville was an amateur novelist,* so perhaps it is the inexpert hand of the writer that causes me to question his narrator along the following lines: Is this Ishmael guy even reliable?

Ishmael’s friendship with Queequeg, which has been hailed as a biracial bosom-friendship before its time, doesn’t seem as deep once they get on the Pequod, where Queequeg seems to blend into the rest of the ship’s crew…or rather, Ishmael ceases to be an active character and therefore can’t interact with Queequeg as a best friend any longer. He narrates the ongoing thoughts of Ahab and Starbuck among others, while he as a character is entirely passive, almost completely fading from the activity of the Pequod.

So, barring Melville’s awkward use of the novel genre, either Ishmael has some mental telepathy thing going on, or maybe he doesn’t really exist at all—that is, at least in the same way the other characters exist. Maybe he exists in a way that allows him to know everyone’s thoughts, like a phantom. 

The Mat-Maker scene could be interpreted along this line. While weaving a sword-mat, Ishmael says that he "kept passing and repassing" as Queequeg among others remained stationary in their tasks. Thus, like the shuttle of a loom, Ishmael is moving among the crew members of the Pequod, who act as the fixed threads. The fixedness could mean that everyone's fate is sealed, except Ishmael.Which would explain how "he alone survived"...he wasn't alive to begin with.

 


*But then, aren't we all?