Thoughts on choice of narrator

After only briefly reading Moby Dick the novel, and without even meeting Ahab yet in the early parts of the novella, it becomes very clear the type of relationship he will have with Ismael, and the reason Ahab is not the narrator.  Much like in the novel Great Gatsby, the "plot driving character" is not the narrator.  Gatsby being my second favorite Fitzgerald novel, which is also my second favorite novel of any author, I love this move by Melville.  Gatsby and Melville are both incredible personalities, but what makes them so unique is there obsession; their pure passion, that consequently withholds them from being the Narrator.  They see so clearly the world they are in, that it would not be fair to the common reader to have to see the world through their eyes when the passion is lacking in the reader.  Although I think it would be extraordinary interesting to read a view from Ahab, it would be very skewed from my mindset.  The narrator is more like a normal person, which makes it understandable why he is so easy to like.  Melville wastes no time doing this, establishing a human to human relationship in the first line when he says, "Call me Ishmael."  This establishes a relationship of ease, and makes it easy to follow him, as if listening to a friend.  You can almost feel a breath of relief, as you relax and continue reading.  It is truthfully a beautiful move by Melville.  Similar to which, is the opening paragraph of the Great Gatsby, where Nick appeals to really all shapes and sizes by honestly letting his guard down and the reader inside.  Ahab and Gatsby have an unarguable more amount of charisma and character, but would not be able to let their guard down and leave the almost romantic world they live in.  The reader would feel uneasy and nervous, never really trusting the narrator, which in character driven novels as these, would make for a very difficult read.