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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Radney dislike Steelkilt?

2. With what alliteration does Melville describe the islands?

3. How does Merrymusk convince the narrator that he is a rich man?

4. What did the American ship, the Essex, see in the Encantadas?

5. What prevents Steelkilt from taking revenge on Radney?

Short Essay Questions

1. What superstition do sailors have about the tortoises in "The Encantadas"?

2. What do the sailors in "The Encantadas" do with tortoises?

3. In "The Happy Failure," what is the uncle's great invention?

4. Why does Melville come to believe that some buccaneers on the isle of Albermarle must have been gentlemen?

5. What verb tenses does Melville use in "The Two Temples" to bring immediacy to the story?

6. What are Turkey's shortcomings as a scrivener?

7. Why does Melville refer to Oberlus as "a creature whom it is religion to detest?"

8. Why is the direct route for an ocean voyage not always the fastest or best, according to Melville in "The Encantadas"?

9. What is Nippers's shortcoming as a scrivener?

10. What does the author of "Poor Man's Pudding" and "Rich Man's Crumbs" pray that Heaven will save him from?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Melville has a gift for inventing language: "The picturesque yields to the pocketesque." The government of the island was a "riotocracy." Find and analyze examples of invented language. Are the new words useful? Comprehensible? Effective? Discuss their effect on you as a reader.

Essay Topic 2

One recurring theme in Melville's stories is the fate of an innocent man in the grip of malice he does not comprehend. Compare two such protagonists, such as Steelkilt and Billy Budd.

Essay Topic 3

Setting is particularly important in Melville's stories. Select a story in which the setting is critical, such as the confinement of shipboard or the home as a center for domestic disputes. Analyze the use and power of the setting in the story you chose.

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