Ishmael (Moby-Dick) Biblical in origin: in Genesis 16:1-16; 17:18-25; 21:6-21; 25:9-17, Ishmael was the son of Abraham by the servant Hagar. In 16:11-12, the most significant verses for Melville's allegory, Hagar was cast off after the birth of Isaac, who inherited the covenant of the Lord instead of his older half-brother. Melville shapes his allegory to the Biblical Ishmael as follows: And so the name points to a Biblical analogy that marks Ishmael as the prototype of "wanderer and outcast," the man set at odds with his fellows. Wright says that all Melville's heroes—with the exception of Benito Cereno and Billy Budd—are
Ishmael Day of Ishmael Day". There is also a modern fictional account of his life by William R. Bell. Ishmael Day Ishmael Day (March 20, 1792 – December 27, 1873) was a supporter of the Union during the American Civil War who made a famous stand against Confederate raiders attempting to remove the Union flag outside his property. Day is remembered in poems and ballads of the Civil War era. Born on March 20, 1792, in Baltimore County and christened June 16, 1793, at Saint James Protestant Episcopal Parish, Baltimore, Maryland. Ishmael Day was the son of Edward and Mary Day in