Observations on Ishmael

The uniqueness of this novel that I'm drawn to is Ishmael as a narrator. We get see what he wants to tell us, yet at the same time there is so much one can read into with these selected observations. Most notably I'm fascinated by Ishmael's fascination with Queequeg. He writes, "Savage though he was, and hideously marred about the face-at least to my taste-his countenance yet had a something in it which was by no means disagreeable." We get to see what Ishmael wants to tell us, but we also see that his view is unique to him, and we as readers are removed from these observations by two degrees. With this in mind we must read the novel twice, once through Ishmael, and again through ourselves, powerful stuff, is it not.