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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. What benefit does the narrator get from his indulgence of Bartleby's eccentricities?

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

3. What surprises the narrator of "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo?" about the owner of the rooster?

4. What object does the lookout spot that takes Melville's ship to Norfolk Isle?

5. What do the Peruvian listeners force the storyteller to do to prove his story is true?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator respond the first time Bartleby answers a request with, "I would prefer not to"?

2. Why does the narrator say that pity turns into repulsion?

3. How does the creditor in "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" torment the narrator?

4. What was disrespectful about Radney asking Steelkilt to sweep the deck?

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

6. In "Rich Man's Crumbs," why is the narrator called a "graceless ragamuffin"?

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

8. What does Steelkilt demand to prevent a mutiny?

9. Why did the two remaining followers of Steelkilt each hope to be the first out of the hold?

10. What purpose does the circle of listeners serve in "The Town-Ho's Story"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Melville's use of time, switching back and forth between present and past tenses in the same story, is an unusual method to bring the reader a sense of immediacy. Select a story such as "The Two Temples" to analyze the effectiveness of this technique.

Essay Topic 2

Several of the stories in this collection deal with relationships between men and women. Using at least two stories as a basis, evaluate Melville's understanding of the status of women in his society and culture. Did he agree with, condemn, or remain neutral about the rights of women?

Essay Topic 3

Melville uses brief sketches to address large issues of social justice. Select two of the stories that work together, such as "The Paradise of Bachelors" and "The Tartarus of Maids," or "The Two Temples," to analyze the social issues addressed in those comparisons.

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