Chapter 17
The Ramadan
The Ramadan. As Queequeg’s Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall; for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody’s religious obligations, never mind how comical, and could not find it in my heart to undervalue even a congregation of ants worshipping a toad-stool; or those other creatures in certain parts of our earth, who with a degree of footmanism quite unprecedented in other planets, bow down before the torso of a deceased landed proprietor merely on account of the inordinate possessions yet owned and rented in his…
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Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"for we are all somehow dreadfully cracked about the head, and sadly need mending."
Context: Opening tolerance before Queequeg's all-day fast
Ishmael claims charity for all creeds while calling them cracked; sets up his later panic.
In Today's Words:
Ishmael admits everyone, Christian or pagan, is a little broken on religion. He sounds open-minded here, but the line also lets him judge other people's beliefs as cracked while still calling himself respectful, which sets up the panic when Queequeg's silence stops feeling comical and starts feeling fatal.
"there sat Queequeg, altogether cool and self-collected; right in the middle of the room; squatting on his hams, and holding Yojo on top of his head. "
Context: After Ishmael bursts the Try Pots door
Anti-climax of catastrophe. The emergency is disciplined ritual, not death.
In Today's Words:
After all the axe talk and broken plaster, Queequeg is fine, frozen in prayer with Yojo on his head. Silence plus a locked door can look like disaster to outsiders who do not know the ritual script, even when the person inside is doing exactly what they said they would.
"hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling; and since then perpetuated through the hereditary dyspepsias nurtured by Ramadans."
Context: Morning lecture against fasting and Ramadans
Comic philosophy. Ishmael reduces hell to indigestion to win an argument he loses.
In Today's Words:
Ishmael tries to prove fasting ruins body and soul and jokes that hell started as a stomachache from a bad dumpling. It is his clever Protestant case against Queequeg's rite, delivered right after the rite already ended without killing anyone, which is why the lecture lands as comedy rather than counsel.
"hopelessly lost to evangelical pagan piety."
Context: Queequeg's reaction to the religion lecture
Role reversal. The pagan pities the Christian lecturer as spiritually lost.
In Today's Words:
Queequeg listens, understands maybe a third, and looks sorry for Ishmael, as if the lecturer is the one who missed the point. After you try to fix someone's faith, being pitied back is its own kind of defeat and comedy at once, especially when you thought you were the civilized one in the room.
Thematic Threads
Tolerance and Panic
In This Chapter
Charity for pagans, then apoplexy, axe, and door burst
Development
Tests Ishmael's Ch. 10-16 friendship after signing the Pequod
In Your Life:
Respecting a practice until a locked door or odd silence triggers overreaction
Landlady Economics
In This Chapter
Stiggs counterpane, no suicides sign, chowder revenge breakfast
Development
Extends Mrs. Hussey's threshold rules from Ch. 15
In Your Life:
Hosts who fear property damage more than your friend's welfare
Failed Conversion
In This Chapter
Ishmael's religion lecture; Queequeg's condescending pity
Development
Reverses missionary assumptions about savage versus Christian
In Your Life:
Trying to fix someone's belief and being told you are the confused one
Ritual Stamina
In This Chapter
Ten hours squatting, mute, Yojo on head, sunrise release
Development
Shows Queequeg's discipline before the voyage
In Your Life:
Discipline that looks insane from outside and normal to the person doing it
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
This is not a test. Five prompts guide you through the chapter, from how it opens to how it closes, so you notice context and rhythm rather than facts to memorize. Sit with each question in your own words. When you see "One way to read it," treat it as a starting point, not the only answer.
- 1
Why does Ishmael wait until evening before checking on Queequeg?
analysis • surfaceOne way to read it
The Ramadan fast was to continue all day and Ishmael claims respect for religious obligations, however comical.
- 2
What makes Mrs. Hussey think of Stiggs when the harpoon is missing?
analysis • mediumOne way to read it
She tied a missing harpoon to suicide like the boarder found dead with iron in his side in her back room.
- 3
When have you mistaken someone's silence or routine for an emergency?
application • mediumOne way to read it
Like Ishmael's apoplexy panic, outsiders often read ritual stillness as stroke, snub, or crisis without asking.
- 4
How does Ishmael's morning religion lecture backfire?
application • deepOne way to read it
Queequeg understands little, thinks Ishmael lost to true religion, and looks pity while Ishmael shudders at the feast story.
- 5
Why does Queequeg eat a prodigious chowder breakfast before boarding?
reflection • deepOne way to read it
So Mrs. Hussey should not profit much from his Ramadan fast, then they saunter to the Pequod with halibut bones in their teeth.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Respect or Panic?
Write about a time you said you respected someone's practice (prayer, fast, holiday, language) until it inconvenienced or scared you. What did you do? What would pause have looked like?
Consider:
- •Did you ask before assuming apoplexy?
- •Whose property or comfort drove the crisis?
- •Did you lecture afterward?
Journaling Prompt
Describe a ritual you would not want interrupted, and how you would want a roommate to respond to silence.
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 18: His Mark
Fed and argued out, Ishmael brings Queequeg to Peleg and Bildad to sign the papers. The harpooner must leave his mark on the articles before the Pequod owns them both.
