Trick-Two497 t1_j0vx7d1 wrote
Reply to comment by Error8 in Pro-tip: If a well reviewed book has a Goodread's rating of around 3.5 then it's usually interesting by Proper_Cold_6939
If there was a gay marriage, I missed it, but I did not miss the discussion of whale penis skin.
Error8 t1_j0w1e6z wrote
I was making a bit of a joke, but it's in chapter 10.
"If there yet lurked any ice of indifference towards me in the Pagan's breast, this pleasant, genial smoke we had, soon thawed it out, and left us cronies. He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I to him; and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; meaning, in his country's phrase, that we were bosom friends; he would gladly die for me, if need should be. In a countryman, this sudden flame of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply."
Trick-Two497 t1_j0w2l93 wrote
Yeah, the author explains in this passage exactly what is means, and it doesn't mean marriage as a New Englander would mean marriage.
Error8 t1_j0w43l5 wrote
Hence the joke.
I only meant to take a lighthearted jab at our modern American conservative school boards threatening to remove all literature that even hints at homoeroticism. I understand Melville was making something of a joke of it himself, but the scene is undeniably homoerotic, and those are Queequeg's words.
BruceChameleon t1_j0xfl94 wrote
Melville had a penchant for it. His letters to Hawthorne read very romantically now.
Error8 t1_j0xr6pm wrote
We really lost a lot of male emotional connectivity in the last century. It's tragic how many men have grown lonely and then bitter in our atomized society.
Trick-Two497 t1_j0w67n1 wrote
I'm just explaining why I didn't remember there being a gay marriage in the book.
Error8 t1_j0w6lka wrote
Gotcha
AtraMikaDelia t1_j0w13mv wrote
There's some discussion of two characters who are friends, and one of them describes it as being similiar to being married. I forget the exact wording.
If you want to read into it, then it sounds like they are gay. If you don't, then it just sounds like they are good friends.
Error8 t1_j0w65lh wrote
The wording isn't similar, it is exact. Queequeg tells Ishmael that they are married while their foreheads are pressed together and Queequeg holds him. That said, Ishmael doesn't interpret the act as a western-style marriage and Queequeg doesn't mean it as one.
Queequeg is Polynesian; it's known that historically Polynesians had intimate partners of the same sex. The Maori word Takatapui was employed for such companions. Obviously, the idea of gayness as it is understood now cannot really be applied to people of that era and cultural context, but I think it's fair to say that it was a little gay.
Here's the exact wording, from chapter 10:
"If there yet lurked any ice of indifference towards me in the Pagan's breast, this pleasant, genial smoke we had, soon thawed it out, and left us cronies. He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I to him; and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married; meaning, in his country's phrase, that we were bosom friends; he would gladly die for me, if need should be. In a countryman, this sudden flame of friendship would have seemed far too premature, a thing to be much distrusted; but in this simple savage those old rules would not apply."
SufficientStudy5178 t1_j0wmxia wrote
Every culture historically, and currently, has/had members who 'had intimate partners of the same sex'?
That-Requirement-285 t1_j0xse1x wrote
They mean that the attitudes of specific Polynesian cultures towards homosexuality was less prejudiced and repressive.
Trick-Two497 t1_j0w2cot wrote
People weren't as homophobic back then as they are now, so they talked that way without feeling like anyone would judge them as being gay. I believe they're just saying they are close confidants, not gay.
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