# Pip — Moby-Dick character guide

> Pip in Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** little Pip, Poor Pip, base little Pip, Black Little Pip

**First appearance:** 0093-xc-heads-or-tails

## Who they are

A young African American cabin boy who goes mad after being left adrift at sea during a whale chase.

## Relationships

### [Stubb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters/stubb)

_professional_

Pip is a young cabin boy and Stubb is the second mate, his superior officer who initially jokes with him but abandons him at sea.

### [Stubb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters/stubb)

_professional_

Pip is a young cabin boy and Stubb is the second mate, his superior officer who initially jokes with him but abandons him at sea.

### [Stubb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters/stubb)

_professional_

Pip is a young cabin boy and Stubb is the second mate, his superior officer who initially jokes with him but abandons him at sea.

## In the story

### [Knights and Squires](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xxvii-knights-and-squires)

Mentioned as the 'Poor Alabama boy' who 'went before,' foreshadowing his tragic fate on the forecastle and his eventual glorification.

### [Midnight, Forecastle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xl-midnight-forecastle)

Forced to play tambourine for the dancing sailors; expresses deep fear during the squall, connecting the storm to the white whale and Ahab's oath.

### [XCIII: The Castaway](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xciii-the-castaway)

Panics during a whale chase, jumps from the boat twice, is abandoned at sea, and suffers a mental break, returning with a 'mad' visionary insight.

### [XCIX: The Doubloon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/xcix-the-doubloon)

Watches the other interpreters and then offers a grammatically deranged, haunting chant ('I look, you look, he looks...') before declaring everyone, including himself, to be 'bats' and himself a 'crow,' highlighting his fractured sanity.

### [Queequeg in His Coffin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/cx-queequeg-in-his-coffin)

Appears in a state of madness, speaking to the dying Queequeg about the Antilles, his own cowardice, and beating a tambourine for a 'dying march'.

### [CXXV: The Log and Line](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/cxxv-the-log-and-line)

Hallucinates, tries to climb aboard, and is rescued by Ahab, who is deeply moved by the boy's madness and vulnerability.

### [The Deck](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/cxxvii-the-deck)

Follows Ahab and is sent away momentarily. Ahab declares he will return to talk with him, stating he 'suck[s] most wondrous philosophies' from the cabin boy.

### [The Cabin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/chapters/cxxix-the-cabin)

Exhibits desperate, childlike devotion to Ahab, offering himself as a replacement leg. After being left alone, he descends into a hallucinatory state, imagining himself hosting a party of officers in Ahab's cabin.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters/pip
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moby_dick_se/characters