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Authors

John Snyder

Keywords

spiritual, traveling

Document Type

Essay

Description

Call me a vagrant. I think that's what Melville really wanted to say when he started Moby Dick. Conviction left him though , and he settled on "call me Ishmael," which is actually just another way of saying the same thing; if you are an Ishmael, likely you have been cast out and have little means of making a living. Whether for the original biblical figure or a Roger Williams , the situation can be difficult. ''He is a dangerous Ishmael," a leader of the Puritan community said of Williams after he had departed into the wilderness; "He turns all hands against us . ' '

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