“Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville (post 5): Narrative Structure of Multiple Personalities who have Memory Gaps for each other’s chapters

One of the most commented upon features of this novel is the inconsistency of its narrative point of view. For example, as noted in the previous post, one chapter may be first-person narration by Ishmael, while another chapter may be first-person by Ahab.

So far, Ishmael has been the most common narrator, and starting with the first sentence, “Call me Ishmael,” he often addresses himself to the reader. Indeed, explaining this and that to the reader, often at length, is what he does.

But Ishmael, who routinely acknowledges that this is a book with chapters, appears to be totally unaware that other characters have had their own chapters. He does not comment on what Ahab has said to the reader, because he is unaware of it. How can this be? What could account for it?

These multiple narrators are like multiple personalities, who have memory gaps for the periods of time that another personality had come out and been in control.

This narrative structure probably reflected how Melville’s mind worked.