Moby-Dick Ch. 12: Biographical

Summary

Queequeg tells Ishmael his life story from their bed at the inn. His pipe is almost out when he finishes. Queequeg comes from Rokovoko, an island far to the west and south. Ishmael says true places never appear on maps. Even as a boy running wild with goats, Queequeg wanted to see more of the Christian world than the occasional whaler at his father's bay.

His father was a High Chief and king. His uncle was a High Priest. Queequeg had royal blood in his veins. When a ship from Sag Harbor came to the bay, he asked for passage to Christian lands. The ship was full and turned him down. Even the king's influence could not change their minds.

So Queequeg made a plan. He paddled his canoe alone to a narrow strait the ship had to pass through. He hid among mangrove trees with his canoe still in the water. When the ship glided by, he rushed out, sank his canoe with one kick, climbed the chains, and grabbed a ring-bolt on the deck. He swore he would not let go even if they cut him apart.

The captain threatened to throw him overboard and held a cutlass over his wrists. Queequeg did not move. He was the son of a king. The captain finally gave in and took him aboard. They made him a whaleman among the sailors. He never saw the captain's cabin.

Queequeg hoped to learn from Christians how to help his people live happier and better lives. He worked hard like a common sailor would. But the whalemen he met were miserable and wicked. They were worse than the people he knew at home. In Sag Harbor and Nantucket he saw how sailors wasted their pay. He gave up hope. He decided the world was wicked everywhere and he would die a pagan.

Queequeg still wears Christian clothes and speaks broken English, but in his heart he remains an idol worshiper. Ishmael asks if he plans to go home and become king. Queequeg says not yet. Time among Christians has made him unfit for his father's throne. For now his harpoon is his royal staff. He will sail the oceans first.

When Ishmael says he plans to go whaling from Nantucket, Queequeg vows to join him on the same ship, in the same watch, boat, and mess hall. Ishmael happily agrees. Queequeg will be a skilled harpooner for a man who knows merchant ships but not whaling. Queequeg hugs Ishmael, blows out the lamp, and they fall asleep.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Separating Teachers from Lessons

You can cross the world for wisdom and find the teachers unworthy without abandoning what you came to learn. Queequeg stowed away to study Christian arts for his people, then judged Christians worse than his father's heathens and chose to die a pagan.

Before you reject your whole journey because the hosts failed, ask what you still carry that they could not take.

Coming Up in Chapter 13

Partners bound for Nantucket, Ishmael and Queequeg must leave New Bedford Monday with a heavy harpoon in a borrowed wheelbarrow. Townsfolk stare at their confidential ease as they roll toward the Moss packet schooner on the wharf.

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Original text

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Chapter 12

Biographical

Biographical. Queequeg was a native of Rokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are. When a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a grass clout, followed by the nibbling goats, as if he were a green sapling; even then, in Queequeg’s ambitious soul, lurked a strong desire to see something more of Christendom than a specimen whaler or two. His father was a High Chief, a King; his uncle a High Priest; and on the maternal side he boasted aunts who were the wives…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

10 minutes

Map Your Disillusion

Write one place or group you entered hoping to learn or improve. Note one way it exceeded home and one way it failed the hope. Decide what you kept, what you rejected, and what you still owe the people you left behind.

Consider:

•Did Queequeg reject all of Christendom or the Christians he met?
•What does harpoon for sceptre say about postponed duty?
•When does staying pagan mean integrity rather than stubbornness?

Journaling Prompt

Write about a journey you took to learn from others and what you brought home that they never taught you.

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Biographical

Summary