Queequeg

Queequeg is a fictional character presented in the 1851 novel "Moby-Dick" by U.S. author Herman Melville. He is the first principal character encountered by the narrator, serves as the chief harpooner aboard the "Pequod", and plays an important role in many of the events of the book, both in port and during the whaling voyage. Although a "savage" cannibal, he is described with great sympathy and much admiration by Ishmael, by whom he is befriended early in the book.

Description

Queequeg is a native of a fictional island in the South Pacific Ocean named Kokovoko or Rokovoko. The island is the home to his primitive tribe, who practice cannibalism, in particular devouring the flesh of enemies slain in battle. Queequeg claims that the only case of indigestion he has suffered was after a feast in which fifty slain enemies were eaten. He displays no shame regarding the practice, describing his people in a matter-of-fact fashion. In port he prefers a diet of rare red meat, but will settle for whatever is on the menu, such as clam chowder.

Although the son of the chief, he chose to leave his island out of curiosity to see more of the world and to experience and evaluate the civilization of the Christian world. At first rejected by the whaler that landed on his island, he skillfully jumped from a canoe and clamped to the side of the boat as it was leaving for the open sea, at which point the captain relented. At the opening of the novel, he is in the port in New Bedford, having returned from a whaling voyage. It is Ishmael who convinces him, based on their friendship, to ship on another whaling expedition with him. At the time of the novel, he has been away from his home island for many years, so long that it is possible that his father is dead and that he would become the chief if he returned.

He's a young man, in the prime of life, tall and powerfully athletic, an excellent swimmer who does not hesitate an instant to dive into cold water to save the life of a troublesome passenger aboard the ferry from New Bedford to Nantucket.

He practices a form of animism using a small idol named Yojo, for which he builds small ceremonial fires. As part of his religion, he practices a prolonged period of fasting and silence (which Ishmael calls his "Ramadan"), at one time locking himself in his room in Nantucket. Even after Ishmael enters the room, he keeps his fast and silence without acknowledging the presence of others. Nevertheless he spontaneously attends a Christian sermon of Father Mapple in New Bedford, although he slips out before the end.

He is unflappable and extremely easy-going among white society, never grudging an insult. He immediately takes to Ishmael and decides (based on advice from his idol) that Ishmael should decide on the ship for both of them together.

He is an extraordinary harpooner, impressing the money-tight owners of the "Pequod" so much that they immediately offer him a high 1/90 portion (ninetieth lay) of the ship's profit in exchange for his signing on as harpooner. In port he carries his sharpened harpoon with him at all times, unless prevented from doing so. He shaves with his harpoon as well. He smokes regularly from a tomahawk that he carries with him.

Although he fades in importance toward the end of the novel, he is ultimately responsible for saving Ishmael's life. After the "Pequod" is destroyed, Ishmael survives by clinging to the coffin Queequeg had built when he believed he was dying of fever.

Other appearances of the name "Queequeg"

*"Queequeg" was the name of Special Agent Dana Scully's dog on "The X-Files". It was named after the Moby-Dick character. The name was also taken as an email handle by Scully.
*The "Queequeg" is also the name of the submarine that the Baudelaire orphans board in the book "The Grim Grotto", in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events books. In the book, the crew of the "Queequeg" wear diving suits with the picture of Herman Melville on the front of them. It also appears as the name of a coffee shop in the novel Watch Your Mouth by the same author (as Daniel Handler).
*In "", QueeQueg is the name of a coffee shop chain. Interestingly, it competes with another coffee shop chain called Pequod's, also a reference to Moby-Dick (the name of the ship, "Pequod"). Both of these references might be because the coffee chain Starbucks is named after another character in Moby-Dick, First Mate Starbuck.
*Queequeg himself makes an appearance with Captain Ahab in the "Futurama" episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid". The one eyed heroine from the show, Turanga Leela, seems attracted to him and asks stupidly if there's a Mrs. Queequeg.
*"Queequeg's" is the name of a restaurant on Nantucket Island, MA.
*Mastodon's song Seabeast contains the lyrics "Dear Mr. Queequeg, you have been informed your life's been saved." The song itself is a reference to Moby-Dick with the sea beast being the whale.
*"Harpoon Fever (Queequeg's Playhouse)" is the name of a track on Man Man's album "Rabbit Habits" that was released April 05, 2008.
*Queequeg is also the name of a character in the "Voltron: the Third Dimension" subseries of the Voltron franchise. This character is a commander among the forces of Planet Doom.
*There is speculation that Herman Wouk based the name of Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny on Queequeg.
*Queequeg was the name of a 35 ft Trimaran built by Quen Cultra in the barnyard of his family farm in the late 1960s. The boat was launched in the Illinois River, traveled south down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico and around the world. This adventure is documented in the book titled "Queequeg’s Odyssey". Years later, Quen’s quest for adventure found him on a seven month circumnavigation of South America conquering the "Mount Everest of Sailing”, Cape Horn, aboard Queequeg III. This journey including a stormy rounding of Cape Horn, the hard way, 100 miles south of "The Rock". In September 2007, Quen Cultra set sail on the high seas once more on a second global circumnavigation aboard Queeequeg II, a 43 ft Catamaran he spent 12 years building in the same barnyard in Onarga, Illinois.
*"Queequeg" is the name of a Non-player character in the 1990 Wizardry-series game "Bane of the Cosmic Forge".

External links

* [http://www.mobydickthewhale.com/moby-dick/moby-dick-chapter-12.htm Moby-Dick: Chapter 12 - Biographical] - Queequeg's biographical information, as presented in Chapter 12 of Moby-Dick.