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
Son of a Gun (Homicide: Life on the Street) "Son of a Gun" was the same character. The line spoken by Lewis, "Murderers lie because they have to, witnesses lie because they think they have to, and everyone else lies for the sheer joy of it", is almost a verbatim line from "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets". The line represents a three-rule theorem about police work Simon created after following a Baltimore Police Department homicide unit for one year while writing his book. "Son of a Gun" continues a common motif repeated throughout the first season of Crosetti discussing various conspiracy theories about the assassination of Abraham