Queequeg (original) (raw)

Queequeg is a character in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville. The son of a South Sea chieftain who left home to explore the world, Queequeg is the first principal character encountered by the narrator, Ishmael. The quick friendship and relationship of equality between the tattooed cannibal and the white sailor show Melville's basic theme of shipboard democracy as well as his fondness for Polynesians (see Typee, Omoo and Mardi). Once aboard the whaling ship Pequod, Queequeg becomes the harpooner for the mate Starbuck.