Depends on whether your teachers were prepared to tackle a book that has whole chapters on cetology in 10th grade English! ;) I didn't study Moby Dick until 19th Century American Literature in second year Uni. And even then, they had to get sneaky to make sure people read the whole thing. Also depends a bit on…

Glad to be of assistance! It comes of studying medieval literature. You always look for biblical references! They would have been better known in the time that older books were written.

It's also an interesting choice for an alternative name. Ishmael is the son of Hagar, Sarai's handmaiden, by Abraham. He is described, in the bible like this: "He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and
everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his
kinsmen."
So, he isn't…