Plot Summary
Chapter 17 of Moby-Dick centers on Queequeg's daylong religious fast, which Ishmael loosely calls a "Ramadan." Ishmael respects his friend's devotion and leaves him alone in their room at the Try Pots inn for the entire day. When evening arrives and Ishmael attempts to check on Queequeg, he finds the door locked from within and receives no response to his calls. Growing alarmed, he enlists the chambermaid and then Mrs. Hussey, the landlady, who fears another suicide at her establishment—recalling the unfortunate case of one "Stiggs." After failed attempts with a spare key (Queequeg has bolted the door from inside), Ishmael charges the door and bursts it open.
Inside, he discovers Queequeg sitting perfectly still on his hams, the idol Yojo balanced atop his head, showing almost no sign of life. Queequeg refuses to speak, move, or acknowledge anyone. Ishmael concludes this rigid posture is part of the religious observance and resigns himself to waiting. He goes to supper, listens to sailors' stories, and returns to find Queequeg unmoved. After covering his friend with a bearskin jacket against the cold, Ishmael eventually falls asleep. At dawn, Queequeg rises stiffly but cheerfully, announces his Ramadan is over, and devours an enormous breakfast of chowders before the two set out to board the Pequod.
Character Development
This chapter deepens the bond between Ishmael and Queequeg while revealing the limits of Ishmael's tolerance. Ishmael presents himself as broad-minded, declaring that "we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable" toward other faiths, yet he cannot fully suppress his anxiety and frustration when Queequeg's devotion becomes physically extreme. His genuine concern for Queequeg's health—worrying about apoplexy and starvation—shows authentic friendship, while his impulse to lecture Queequeg on the irrationality of fasting reveals a paternalistic streak.
Queequeg, by contrast, emerges as quietly resolute and self-possessed. He endures hours of physical discomfort without complaint and greets the morning with cheerfulness. His "condescending concern and compassion" toward Ishmael after the lecture inverts the expected power dynamic: the so-called "savage" pities the civilized man's spiritual ignorance.
Themes and Motifs
The chapter's central theme is religious tolerance and its limits. Ishmael articulates a genuinely progressive position—that all religions contain "half-crazy conceits" and that no faith has a monopoly on truth—yet he contradicts himself by trying to argue Queequeg out of his beliefs. Melville uses Ishmael's inconsistency to expose how even well-intentioned tolerance can shade into cultural imperialism.
The motif of the body as spiritual battleground runs throughout, from Queequeg's self-imposed physical ordeal to Ishmael's argument that "fasting makes the body cave in; hence the spirit caves in." The memorable aphorism that "hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple-dumpling" wittily reduces theology to digestion, advancing Melville's skepticism toward organized religion.
Literary Devices
Melville employs dramatic irony in the door-breaking scene: readers sense Queequeg is simply meditating while Ishmael, Mrs. Hussey, and the chambermaid imagine the worst. Mrs. Hussey's comic monologue—ordering a "no suicides" sign while mourning her counterpane—provides dark humor that deflates the tension. The chapter uses satire extensively, as Ishmael's earnest theological lecture falls entirely flat with Queequeg, who "no doubt thought he knew a good deal more about the true religion" than Ishmael did. Melville also deploys cultural juxtaposition, placing Christian Lent, Islamic Ramadan, and Queequeg's Pacific Island rituals on equal footing to undermine any single tradition's claim to superiority. The cannibalism anecdote at the chapter's close serves as a comic shock, abruptly reminding readers of the vast cultural gulf between narrator and companion.