6 .Character List
• Ishmael - The narrator, and a junior member of the crew of the Pequod. Ishmael doesn't play a major role in the events of the novel, but much of the narrative is taken up by his eloquent, verbose, and extravagant discourse on whales and whaling.
• --- The married life of Melville was more like that of Scott Fitzgerald than Mark Twains. Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of a wealthy judge. To support her and their growing family, he had to write for money.
• ---During the summer of 1850, Melville and Hawthorne met. They exchanged visits, meeting at least nine times, and wrote to one another often.
• ---Melville saw in Hawthorne the one American who was expressively aware of the evil at the core of American life. He found Hawthorne’s understanding of evil, that blackness of vision, unusually fascinating.