The exact words
Three words and a name
Moby-Dick opens its story with the shortest of sentences: “Call me Ishmael.” It comes after pages of etymology and extracts about whales, so a reader who has pushed through those arrives at a sudden human voice. The narrator does not say “My name is Ishmael.” He asks to be called that. Whether it is his real name, a chosen one or a label he wants us to use, Melville leaves open, and the book never settles it.
The name is also a hint. In the Bible, Ishmael is the son of Abraham and Hagar who is driven out into the wilderness, a figure of the outcast. Melville does not point to this in the opening paragraph, but the narrator is a man with little money and nothing to hold him on shore, a sailor in a ship where he is not in command.
The rest of the paragraph
The sentence that follows reads almost like an apology. “Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.” The tone is light, and it hides a darker reason, which the next sentences give. Going to sea, Ishmael says, is his way of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation, and he describes the mood that sends him there: “Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet.” When that mood grows strong enough, he says, it is high time to get to sea. “This is my substitute for pistol and ball.”
He adds a comparison that is easy to miss. “With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship.” The Roman Cato killed himself rather than live under Caesar. Ishmael chooses the ship instead, a quiet alternative to the same despair.
Why the line lasts
The opening works because it sounds like a man speaking to you directly. It is short, a little mysterious and slightly casual, and then it shows its seriousness. Many novelists have copied the move of opening with a voice rather than a scene, and “Call me Ishmael” is the usual example in writing classes.
It is also an unusually generous sentence. By asking the reader to use a name, Ishmael makes the reader a participant in the telling. Everything that follows, including the hunt for the white whale, is filtered through this one narrator, who survives while almost everyone else does not.
Quoting it
In an essay, the line is best used as a hook for what a narrator reveals and conceals. In a speech, the more useful part may be the next sentence, with its restless reasons for setting out. Name the book and the author, and avoid presenting the name as Melville’s: the narrator is the one asking to be called Ishmael.
What people get wrong
A slogan or a casual introduction with no further meaning.
The line is the start of a confession. Ishmael follows it by describing a low mood he says drives him to sea, and the phrasing “call me” leaves open whether this is his real name.
Timeline
- 1851Moby-Dick is published, first in London and then in New York, with “Call me Ishmael” as the first sentence of the story after a long section of whale quotations.
- Later in 1851The book sells poorly and reviews are mixed. Melville's reputation, and the novel's, recover only decades later.
- 20th centuryReaders and critics rediscover the novel and rank it among the great American books. The opening line becomes one of the best-known in English.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
What is the first line of Moby-Dick?
“Call me Ishmael.” It begins Chapter 1, “Loomings.” The novel opens with pages of whale quotations and etymology before that chapter.
Why does the narrator say “Call me” and not “My name is”?
Melville does not explain. The phrase asks the reader to use the name without promising it is real, which suits a narrator who tells the story while staying slightly out of view.
What does the name Ishmael refer to?
In the Bible, Ishmael is the son of Abraham and Hagar who is sent away into the wilderness. The name suggests an outsider, though Melville does not make the link explicit in the opening.
What is “a damp, drizzly November in my soul”?
Ishmael's phrase for a low, grim mood. He says that whenever he feels it, he goes to sea as a remedy.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.