When meeting someone new, perhaps the best thing to do is not to 'judge a book by its cover' but to not do it so that it is a possibility in the world. where we live? Not only relevant today, judgment based on physical attributes dates back to the 1850s, when slavery of Africans was justified by the lighter skin color of whites. Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick explores the theme of race and its connection to status. Melville expresses the hierarchy of society with whites at the top, expressing their superiority over non-whites, but simultaneously casts a positive light on non-whites, in some cases presenting them as more worthy of respect. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Moby Dick shows the ignorance of white people through the stereotypes they make of non-white people and their assumptions that all skin color deviates from color. white is considered “wild”. When Ishmael first meets Kokovoko native Queequeg, he relies solely on the composition of Queequeg's skin to determine whether or not he deserved to be roommates. Ishmael observes and determines: “Such a face! It was dark in color, purplish, yellow... covered with large blackish-looking squares... it is a terrible bedfellow; he fought… falling among the cannibals” (Melville 23). These three assumptions that Ishmael immediately made were based on a "story" he had heard from another man, and he was simply applying the same negative associations to a stranger having certain marks on his body. Soon enough, however, although at first somewhat skeptical of Queequeg's reliability, Ishmael considers this "former cannibal" as his "other half" and avoids clinging to his first impressions. This proves that not only did white people have strong opinions about non-white people, but that any man who overcame this barrier could have erred in the stereotypes. This also shows that a man's bodily features may not reflect his personality, but affect white men because they believe that slightness makes them more superior, actually affecting how non-whites are treated. In the novel, the actions of whites towards non-whites depict unconditional white superiority and non-white subjugation, and whites as reckless. The hierarchy of workers is determined by race; The Pequod is made up of men of many races, but the whites have sometimes abused their powers. For example, Stubb's cook was the negro Flask, and one night Stubb interrupted his sleep just to tell him that his shark dish was not cooked properly: "Stubb... cried... 'Cook, you cook!' - sail this way! The old black guy… woken up from his warm hammock… “don’t you think this steak is rather exaggerated?” (321). Stubb woke his boss over a small matter, and Flask couldn't do anything about it. This shows that non-white people believe they have the right to do anything to favor themselves, even if it involves violating non-whiteness or doing something inappropriate. Stubb maintains his right to "power" by ruling Flask simply for his own entertainment and exercising his own importance before Flask's. In the speech Flask gives to the sharks, he implies that Stubb is also in some ways similar to the shark and does not match Stubb's thoughts that he is exclusive in his abilities to do whatever he wants without being penalized. Additionally, the same man, Stubb, was given a black boy, Pip, who is scared and jumps.