Clifton Ingram

3/29/04

Analysis of American Graffito

This is the original graffito (see close ups for more detail)

“CALL ME

ISHMAEL …

Okay

Ishmael”

Description

This graffito was found on the wall of a bathroom stall on the second floor of Case College Center at Skidmore College. The text reads quite clearly “CALL ME ISHMAEL,” to which is apparently responded (seen by the different handwriting using lower case letters) with “Okay Ishmael”. This piece does not have any spelling or grammatical errors (except for the omission of the coma before the vocative in the response), but the letter shapes does allow us to discuss palaeography. The author of the initial statement “CALL ME ISHMAEL” made his graffito in capital letters. Although factors such as this are used to date graffiti, the epigraphy would be foolish to do so in this situation because of modern nature of the text (the Melville reference will be discussed below), as well as recent nature of the building itself. Some of these capital letters, such as the Ms, are oddly shaped, but they are stilled recognizable. The “response,” which seems to be written in a different hand, is not all in capital letters. In this case, the k in Okay is slightly disconnected and could be read as Olcay. This, however, does not make any sense in the English language. The I in Ishmael is also disconnected, which sets up a pattern that defines this author’s writing style. To the right of the text is a crude picture of men in a small boat following a swimming whale. There is a “stick” coming out of the whale’s head, possibly a harpoon or a horn (in which case the whale could be a Narwhal, although Moby Dick is a sperm whale in the novel). All the writing seems to be made by pencil.

Analysis

The location of this graffito (a bathroom where there were also many other pieces of graffiti) indicates that the audience could be anyone happening into the stall. However, recognizing the literary allusion proves useful in understanding this graffito. CALL ME ISHAMEL are the first words from Melville’s well known novel Moby Dick, in which Captain Ahab fanatically chases a white whale, a scene which is depicted by the accompanying picture. The author of this piece of graffiti was aware of Moby Dick, at least to a degree that they could recall the first few words. If the author had any greater intent besides quoting Melville, however, it is lost. Since the graffito was found at a college, it may be assumed that the audience probably would be experienced enough to recognize the author’s quotation and graphic depiction of Melville. Whether or not the author of the “response” recognized Moby Dick, the response could be read as an “intellectual” joke or simply an ignorant comment. If the author recognized the passage, they could have been simply documenting their knowledge (with a bit of humor), but, if they did not, they could have just been trying to be funny. In either case, humor was most probably at the root of the response. The absurdity of quoting Melville in a bathroom also seems to play into the humor of this piece of graffiti. The author probably intended this twist of irony, which is telling of our culture’s sense of humor. This graffito, however, demonstrates how an awareness of culture (like Melville’s Moby Dick) can aid in understanding what aspects a community values, such as knowledge, wit, or humor.