June 7, 2019 - Chapter Sixteen (pp. 64-73)

This chapter, entitled “The Ship,” provides us with introductions to some of the characters to appear in the novel, particularly Peleg and Bildad, the two owners of the Pequod. The two men are both Quakers, which is an odd detail, and this denomination is indicated to us as readers in their use of the “plain speech” (i.e., the archaic second-person pronouns thee, thy, and thou). The names are biblical, as Melville notes in the chapter, although they are obscure nevertheless. Peleg is one of the ancients listed in the Genesis genealogy of Abraham. Bildad is slightly more substantive – he’s one of the three friends of Job who try to comfort him in the aftermath of God striking him with tremendous misfortune, essentially on a dare.

It’s a bit of a mystery as to why Melville chose these names. On one religious point, however, he is less ambiguous. At the beginning of the chapter, Ishmael tell us that Queequeg’s household god, Yojo, says that Ishmael should choose the boat on which the two will go whaling. Given the negative outcome of the voyage, blame will almost certainly fall on Ishmael at some point.