Don’t Call Me Ishmael

by

Michael Gerard Bauer

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Don’t Call Me Ishmael makes teaching easy.
Ishmael and Prue’s dad is a supportive parent, though Ishmael acknowledges his dad has his faults. Dad believes the story of how Ishmael got his name is something he needs to share with everyone, no matter how the listener feels about hearing it. Dad also thinks he’s very funny, so he regularly tells jokes that make Ishmael and others roll their eyes. Mom and Dad met in an American Literature class at university, in which they studied the novel Moby-Dick. This is why they decided to name Ishmael after the novel’s narrator: Dad loves Moby-Dick and all its film adaptations.

Dad Quotes in Don’t Call Me Ishmael

The Don’t Call Me Ishmael quotes below are all either spoken by Dad or refer to Dad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

“Ishmael? What kind of a wussy-crap name is that?”

What could I say? Up to this point in my life I hadn’t even known it was a wussy-crap name. No one had warned me that I had a wussy-crap name. Why would my parents give me a wussy-crap name in the first place? Was Herman Melville aware it was a wussy-crap name?

Related Characters: Ishmael Leseur (speaker), Barry Bagsley (speaker), Dad, Mom
Related Symbols: Moby-Dick
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

The second thing I decided to do was ask Dad if I could borrow his copy of Moby-Dick. “Aaarrgh, me hearty,” he said, rolling his eyes crazily, “ye be seeking the white whale!”

I wasn’t, though. I be seeking Ishmael.

Related Characters: Ishmael Leseur (speaker), Dad (speaker), Barry Bagsley, Kelly Faulkner
Related Symbols: Moby-Dick
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
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Don’t Call Me Ishmael PDF

Dad Quotes in Don’t Call Me Ishmael

The Don’t Call Me Ishmael quotes below are all either spoken by Dad or refer to Dad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Coming of Age Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

“Ishmael? What kind of a wussy-crap name is that?”

What could I say? Up to this point in my life I hadn’t even known it was a wussy-crap name. No one had warned me that I had a wussy-crap name. Why would my parents give me a wussy-crap name in the first place? Was Herman Melville aware it was a wussy-crap name?

Related Characters: Ishmael Leseur (speaker), Barry Bagsley (speaker), Dad, Mom
Related Symbols: Moby-Dick
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

The second thing I decided to do was ask Dad if I could borrow his copy of Moby-Dick. “Aaarrgh, me hearty,” he said, rolling his eyes crazily, “ye be seeking the white whale!”

I wasn’t, though. I be seeking Ishmael.

Related Characters: Ishmael Leseur (speaker), Dad (speaker), Barry Bagsley, Kelly Faulkner
Related Symbols: Moby-Dick
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis: