Ishmael (Moby-Dick) Ishmael (Moby-Dick) Ishmael is a fictional character in Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851). Ishmael, the only surviving crewmember of the "Pequod", is the narrator of the book. His importance relies on his role as narrator; as a character, he is only a minor participant in the action and the main protagonist is Captain Ahab. The Biblical name has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts. Because he was the first person narrator, most of the criticism of "Moby-Dick" either confused Ishmael with the author himself or overlooked him. From the mid-twentieth century onward, critics distinguished Ishmael from Melville, establishing the
Dumah (son of Ishmael) as "a fortress of Arabia", "situated in the desert", that was destroyed by Sennacherib's forces. Dumah (son of Ishmael) Dumah (; "Dūmāh"; Aramaic for "silence") was the sixth son of Ishmael, the son of biblical Abraham and Hagar. The generations of Ishamel are the ninth recorded in the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 21:18, the angel of God promises Hagar and Abraham that their seed will forge a great nation and in Genesis 17:20, it is recorded that Ishmael produced 12 sons, the forefathers of 12 tribes. Dumah is sixth son of Ishmael and is mentioned in Genesis 25:14 and