Call me Ishmael.

Brilliant and memorable, to those who have not even read Moby Dick should have already known Melville's famous line,"Call me Ishmael." "Call me Ishmael" invites the reader into the story and it is as if the narrator is speaking directly to the reader. This makes the reader interested and somewhat curious, or at least it made me curious. I was curious at the fact why Melville and the narrator, Ishmael, chose to use the two words "Call me" rather that "I am." This gives a curiosity into thinking if Ishmael's name really "Ishmael." Or if it's a name he would rather prefer over his real name. The reader never knows since the book never mentions it, nor has it ever even mentioned Ishmael's name by other characters. Perhaps Melville and the narrator chose this name to create an introductory to the story as being biblical, since the story contains an excessive use of unnecessary biblical allusions in Moby Dick. In biblical terms, "Ishmael," is the son of Abraham and his wife's servant, Hagar. Abraham is promised by God that he and his sons will be the father of many nations, and to carry this on, there would need to be descendants of Abraham. There is only one problem, Sarah, Abraham's wife, had difficulties being able to reproduce, so they turned to Hagar. Abraham and Hagar created a child named Ishmael who was going to be 'the father of many nations' until Abraham and Sarah finally had a son named Isaac. Since Isaac was born, Ishmael and his mother were banned. This relates to Moby Dick by giving the narrator, Ishmael, a sympathetic feeling from the reader, since he was an outcast, as the biblical Ishmael was. Moby Dick's Ishmael is new to whaling and does not exactly fit in with the shipmates and has no importance in the story as well. Although he is the narrator of the novel, he is not the protagonist.