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from someone telling stories.
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The stories then become part of Ambrose's own account of his own
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naming, an account of the origin of his identity.
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That name, "Ambrose His Mark," is a reference to Moby-Dick.
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In Moby-Dick, when Queequeg signs on to the
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Pequod, he makes a mark, because he is illiterate,
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in place of writing his name, signing his name, and in the novel
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it says "Queequeg, his mark."
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That's what's written underneath it on the contract.
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With that mark Queequeg signs on to the whole trajectory of Ahab's mad
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pursuit of the whale.
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We can think of that in another way, as well, though.