ABSTRACT
This eloquent commutative test shows how a seemingly minor change from the original “Call me Ishmael” in Moby-Dick, the narrator’s name, affects our perception. A male or a female name associated with the narrator immediately creates expectations. While it is natural for the male narrator of Melville’s novel to set out on high seas adventures, with the gender permutation, the reader is placed into hesitation as to the genre and tone of the narrative. Women are normally not expected to “sail about a little” when they have nothing better to do, and the reader cannot really be certain what the narrative has in store. The female voice does not match the connotation of the opening sentences.
