First Impressions

While reading Moby Dick I’ve been thinking about first impressions.  During the first few chapters that we have read so far in this class, I found it fascinating reading the reactions and attitudes of the people who meet Queequeg.  Specifically, I was really interested in the way people reacted towards Queequeg whether they are meeting him in person, like Ishmael, or even just passing him in the street. I found it interesting that their first reactions, including Ishmael, were very judgmental and viewed him in almost an un-human and savage way.  Though initially these first impressions of Queequeg were very negative, Queequeg still manages to win them over whether it be by being extremely nice to them like he was to Ishmael, or saving a man’s life like he did with Nantucket.  I think it is interesting how in a digital world, if we use it correctly, it gives people the opportunity to express their true individual identities. This gift of the digital world aids people in providing information to other people whom they may have never met before about them as a person and, unlike Queequeg, the digital world gives people a chance to define have an impact on the way people view and see them.  Though the digital world give people this incredible opportunity, I think that the opposite could also take place, where people could create this fake image that does not in any way represent who they are as a person or what they believe. Yet, regardless of the way people use the digital world to define themselves, ultimately I think that digital tools such as Twitter and Facebook do in some cases redefine what a first impression is and what it means.