Infodump about my Moby Dick theory about Queequeg and how it all ties back to the Essex
I often see Queequeg depicted as vaguely Māori (which I’m sure he does share some aspects as he’s kind of a grab bag of polynesian traits) but I’ve come to believe that a lot more of the textual and historical evidence points to him being from somewhere in French Polynesia, specifically the Marquesas Islands and/or the Society Islands (which includes Tahiti).
One of the most telling points for me is how his tattoos are described. The Māori Tā Moko lends itself to intricate geometric swirling/spiral/rounded imagery where Queequeg’s tattoos, in contrast, are described as “black squares” on both his face and body with the book stating:
“But at that moment he chanced to turn his face so towards the light, that I plainly saw they could not be sticking-plasters at all, those black squares on his cheeks.”
“As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark squares.”
While this description gives way to more intricate swirling patterns on his arms and legs in later chapters, overall the descriptions of his tattoo align far more with the striking and geometric Marquesan style, where large square/rectangle patches are filled in with black on both the body and the face (especially for men).
There are some other aspects of his description that make me lean more towards him being Marquesan as well, such as his hair style (similar to old depictions of people indigenous to the Marqueses), his filed teeth (while this is more of practice seen with Indonesian people groups, both Hawaii and the Marquesas practice a sort of tooth modification called ablation) as well as Yojo and his woodcarving skills, specifically how the designs reflect his tattoos (ornamental, figurine, and tiki carving with shared tattooed motifs are another thing the Marquesas are known for).
Besides the textual evidence I also believe there to be plenty of historical evidence for this connection too.
Firstly (and honestly least importantly) the Marquesas and Society Islands were a frequent stop for whaling voyages in the 19th century.
Secondly, Melville himself actually spent some time on the Marquesas islands, specifically Nuku Hiva (anywhere between 3 weeks to a couple of months though his book claims it was 4 months). During that time he stayed with the native population and his experience led to the writing of his first novel “Typee” (his most successful novel in his lifetime) which was part adventure fiction, part memoir, and part proto-ethnography where he takes a far more empathetic approach to his interactions with the native Marquesans than what would be expected of his time (don’t get me wrong it still has its issues, but it really could’ve been worse. he’s a little confused but he’s got the spirit). What Melville lacked in his own experiences and understandings he made up for with (uncredited yet accurate) research to fill in the gaps (like the travelogues of Langsdorff). After his time on the Marquesas he eventually made his way to Tahiti (where he then participated in a mutiny and was imprisoned) which led to his follow-up novel “Omoo.” He (at least in the book) had less interactions with the indigenous Tahitians there though and spoke of the oppression of their cultural practices such as tattooing. After that he escaped and made it to the island of Moʻorea and eventually joined yet another whaling ship to make it to Hawaii (somewhere either on Tahiti or Mo’orea he also spent about a month as a beach comber). All to say, he had some more intimate knowledge of that area of the world and the people that lived there, thus it makes more sense that he’d write what he knew rather than butcher a description from a secondary source (there’s an argument on the wikipedia page that Queequeg is based on the Māori Chief Te Pēhi Kupe because of an encounter he had with a book in 1850 and while there may be some inspiration there character-wise, I just don’t think the descriptions line up). Again I lean more towards Marquesan influence since that’s where Melville (allegedly) spent the most time, but there’s likely a degree of overlap. All to say, I think Melville was more likely to write what he knew and what he’d seen.
Finally, and I think the biggest reason I even bring all this up, is that a good deal of Moby Dick goes back to the Essex. For those who may not know the tragedy of the Essex is essentially the true story Moby Dick was based on, in which a whaling vessel gets attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in November of 1820. Unlike Moby Dick though, the Essex had a good deal of survivors (3 whale boats full). Stuck in the middle of the sea, the survivors had to make a decision, they could either go towards the Marquesas Islands (about 1,200 miles west), go towards the Society Islands (about 2000 miles west), or turn east back towards South America (about 2000 nautical miles east). Despite the relative nearness of the Polynesian islands, the survivors of the Essex ended up heading towards South America because they’d heard tale of cannibalism on the Marquesas and other Society Islands. As a result most of them died and, ironically, resorted to cannibalism.
The story of the Essex is something Melville was obviously aware of and it deeply affected him. Pair that with his own experiences on the Marquesas and Society Islands, it all points to this idea that your prejudices will get you killed. The survivors of the Essex were, in the end, no more “civilized” than the natives they avoided and they had taken the chance with the unforgiving ocean rather than take a chance on the idea that their prejudices might be unfounded (both the Marquesas and the Society Islands were friendly towards mariners at that time).
Melville speculated on their decisions, writing: "All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might, in all human probability, have been avoided had they immediately after leaving the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti, from which they were not very distant at the time. But they dreaded cannibals.”
I think it is anything but a coincidence that it’s ultimately Queequeg who indirectly saves Ishmael’s life. He is the epitome of every terrifying stereotype of Polynesia made human and made savior. There’s a lot more you could symbolically unpack there and throughout the novel in general (it’s the kind of book where everything means everything), but I digress. I know I’m probably not the first person to make these connections but I just needed to get it out and infodump or I would’ve exploded. Ultimately Queequeg is still, in many ways, a stereotype, but I think he’s a lot more nuanced than people think. Anywaysssss, thanks for reading this long ass post
(edited to add more details about Melville’s history, the Essex, and the influence of the Society Islands as well)
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