#that... is queer ishmael

[correct-limbus-company]

Queemael (Queequeg x Ishmael)

ohhhh they make me so ill (positive)

GOD that scene where Queequeg asks for her name again and then we see them younger and how she described Ish's hair like a sunset and Ishmael's "Call me Ishmael, if you please..."

I HAD TO PAUSE THE DAMN VIDEO AND PROCESS MY EMOTIONS FOR A BIT CAUSE I WAS LIKE "WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME"

anyway, i like the ship, i think it's chill. makes sense to me.

[sl4sherselfie]

yeah

[queeringclassiclit]

Ishmael & Queequeg

from Moby Dick by Herman Melville

submitted by anon who said:

I’m reading it for the first time rn and side-eyeing them so hard lol

[probably-an-alien]

To anyone interested in queer interpretations of Herman Melville's Moby Dick I strongly recommend reading Emma Rantatalo's thesis "A Cosy, loving pair”? – The Elusion of Definitions of Queequeg and Ishmael’s Relationship in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

This text explores the intersections between queerness and race in the context of the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael and has some really interesting things to say both about how them being an interracial couple makes their relationship possible (within the context of the time and place it was written in and takes place) in the first place, while also exploring how that fact has lead to so many people arguing against interpreting their relationship as romantic or sexual.

In doing so the paper explores and critically examines, among other things:

how Ishmael's race is not often discussed, because society sees whiteness as the default

Queequeg's classification as an other, but simultaneous deviation from then common tropes about non-white characters like the myth of the noble savage

the link between homosexuality and cannibalism in 19th-century perceptions

the myths built around Herman Melville due to his posthumous classification as a "great American writer"

Rantatalo's paper was a very interesting and enlightening read and my hope is that this post will convince at least one other person to check it out.

[catihere]

Moby Dick is one of the most brilliant pieces of literature out there and not for the reasons you think. Sure, it’s a great analysis on the state of the human ego in relationship with nature, but it’s also an absolutely hilarious piece from top to bottom. I mean:

•The kickstarter of the story is that, one day, Ishmael, a relatively ordinary man, gets frustrated with his life and the best solution he finds is to give up on everything and go whale hunting on a ship in the middle of nowhere. 100/100, what a fucking mood

•Ishmael is not even his name. If I remember correctly (I haven’t opened this book in three years), he picked his name himself and it means outcast, reject. Really now, why are no transmascs out there naming themselves Ishmael??

•He’s not even the main character but he’s the only one I care about

•This book probably INVENTED the “there was only one bed” trope. It introduced Queequeg by literally making him lie in the same hotel bed as Ishmael. Peak strangers to lovers if you ask me

•That’s not even it. Ishmael, uncomfortable at first, wakes up surprised by how well he slept. And in a later chapter, they are described to lie together as compared to a husband and wife.

•Also, Queequeg is an enormous Polinesian man with Māori tattoos on his face, who BY THE WAY collects human heads. Yeah, that gave Ishmael a very fun first impression of him

•The author breaks the narrative every few chapters to info dump us about whales (sometimes inaccurately, there was no Google in 1850 so I don’t blame him). Oh, yeah, because Herman Melville accidentally embarked on a whale hunting expedition for few years, so Moby Dick is inspired from his experience. But that’s a story for another time.

•My favorite info dump/conspiracy theory that he has is presented right at the start of the book. It’s about how different heroes of mythology and history, including Hercules and Saint George, might have been actually whale hunters. Ishmael is such a dork I can’t-

And these are only the things that I can say off the top of head, with a faint memory of the book from three years ago, when I binge read it in two days, so please feel free to add on. I fucking love Moby Dick go read it right now

[iratuseris]

Sailor Lovers

Ishmael and Queequeg from Limbus Company!!

+ Ko-fi Comms +

Twitter | Bluesky | Linktree

[saranilssonbooks]

Sensing the possibility of a future friendship or falling in love?

[starberriemilk]

QUEERBUS COMPANY FSDFSFSD FINALLY FINISHED THISSSS, finally can share my headcanons, they're under the cut!

Outis: AMAB, she/her, transfem, bisexual Ishmael: AFAB, she/they, trans demigirl, sapphic Yi Sang: AMAB, he/it/they, trans agender, asexual heteroromantic Faust: AMAB, she/her, transfem, aroace Ryoshu: AMAB, she/her, transfem, butch lesbian Rodya: AMAB, she/her, transfem, pansexual Sinclair: AFAB, he/him, transmasc, gay Meursault: AMAB, they/him, nonbinary, mspec Gregor: AFAB, he/him, transmasc, bisexual Donqui: AFAB, she/he/they/it, trans catgender bigender xenogender nonbinary, abrosexual Hong Lu: Intersex, he/they/her, transmasc, gay Heathcliff: AFAB, he/him, transmasc, demiromantic omnisexual

[thatblewateverystrand]

Ishmael and Queequeg ❤

Y'all who for some reason didn't read Moby Dick, I want you to know that this is 100% canon. Melville went so far in making them a couple it barely qualifies as shipping anymore.

[itsaventingmachine]

And the award for best homoerotic undertones in a piece of classic literature goes to…

[sl4sherselfie]

for this identity we gave ishmael the blicky

[tmblr-university]

Whale Weekly HW Dec 19th

Chapter 11: Nightgown

This was... just so gay. I was expecting a novel with ambiguous themes around love, getting to debate whether this bond was platonic or romantic, as I firmly believe platonic love can be just as deep and strong as romance. But Herman Ishmael ... that was gay man. Not even historians could call you besties.

Chapter 12: Biographical

Ishmael why are you complaining about him being a cannibal? You should be happy, you know he likes meat...

How does it feel reading the noble savagery? How does it make you think about other media you've read that depicts indigenous characters?

Chapter 13: Wheelbarrow

Queequeg replies with a short story about a foreigner being awkward with his customs when asked a question by Ishmael, but when we get dialogue from Queequeg, he speaks broken English. Is queequeg putting on a show? Or is Ishmael recounting it in his way of speaking?

Chapter 14: Nantucket

In this chapter Ishmael recounts a tale about why the Native Americans decided to settle there, instead of asking discussion questions for this chapter, I invite you to check out these links and learn about the Wampanoag Tribe and its history from it's members.

Chapter 15: Chowder

Ishmael is starting to become self aware about all the foreshadowing and omnious signs. In a comedy, this fourth wall break would be used for a joke. Does this feel like an element of comedy? If not, how does it compare when used in a more serious story?

Chapter 16: The Ship

What do you make of the description of Ahab? He shares the same name as the wicked king Ahab from the Bible. But at the end of the chapter one captain makes a point to comment he believes him to be harmless, that he has a wife and baby waiting for him. What do you make of this mysterious captain?

[literaryromps]

I feel like this is an important time to remind everyone that

Herman Melville

was in love with and dedicated Moby Dick to

Nathaniel Hawthorne

And they wrote letters back and forth to one another filled with

longing and love

even though Nathaniel was married and loved his wife

It’s a damn soap opera

Herman bought a

Yellow house

He couldn’t afford with money he didn’t have and moved his family there because it was only a few miles from Nathaniel’s house

After meeting him once

Once my friends

We should all aspire to simp so hard for someone

So when you wonder where he got all the juice for the dearest hearted queer love story in this brick of a book

It’s because of:

Nathaniel Hawthorne, got the brains and the booty

[burningvelvet]

36 chapters into moby dick. some thoughts:

- take a shot every time he expresses his love for nantucket or whaling trivia

- i know everyone said it was queer and usually i've come to expect that as hyperbole but this time they weren't joking

- CHILDE HAROLD REFERENCE?!?!?!?!?! BYRON QUOTED?!?!?!?! not surprised bc it is the romantic genre which byron & chp helped inspire & he was the best selling writer in early 19c usa & is noted for his oceanic refs & he & esp childe harolds pilgrimage esp are both noted on wikipedia's "nautical fiction" page but like. i had no idea they were immortalized in moby dick

- "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

- does gay cannibal tumblr know about queequeg & ishmael?

- utterly obsessed with captain ahab for numerous reasons but does anyone else notice how similar he is to captain flint from black sails? like he's literally him but a bit older & combined with silver's leglessness.

- the part where ahab calls stubb a dog lmao

- ishmael getting worried for queequeg when he couldn't find him omg...

- "Where's that girl ? — there, Betty, go to Snarles the Painter, and tell him to paint me a sign, with — 'no suicides permitted here, and no smoking in the parlor;' — might as well kill both birds at once." MRS. HUSSEY!!!!

- i'm sure that all the focus on queequegs spirituality & his consultation with his god yojo wherein he was informed that ishmael had to pick their boat bc yojo demaded it TOTALLY won't prove to have any prophetic and symbolic consequences later on or anything

- love how the chapters are nice and short but on the flip side that means theyre tricking me into thinking i have less to go than i actually do... as long as i get more ahab i'm good i guess

-melville, at random: and now we take a break from our regularly schedule programming to give you . . . WHALE FACTS! [whips out multiple books on the history of whales and whaling, begins to recite]

[kurtbrussels]

p sure i made this exact post about ishmael somewhere i just know it

my god theyre sluts

clint eastwood looking mighty whorish with that little bandana round his neck

[saranilssonbooks]

My greatest obsession: Moby-Dick

My great obsession: Captain Ahab

My greatest interest: analyzing the characters in Moby-Dick from a psychological point of view focusing on trauma.

My great mission: destroy every case of Moby-Dick queer denial I encounter.