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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 surprises Captain Delano when he first sees Benito Cereno's ship?

2. To what did Captain Delano attribute Benito Cereno's ineffectiveness as captain?

3. Why is Captain Delano glad he was not astute enough to recognize the mutiny?

4. Where do "'Gees" come from?

5. What first attracts the narrator of "The Piazza" to a building far in the mountains?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the chimney in "I and My Chimney" provide for the narrator on the second landing?

2. In "The Lightning Rod Man," why does the narrator pretend to mistake the salesman for the god Jupiter Tonans?

3. What haunts the narrator at the conclusion of "The Piazza"?

4. What seems odd about Benito Cereno's ship when Captain Delano first sees it?

5. What is Captain Delano's intention in boarding Benito Cereno's ship?

6. What does the narrator claim shows Jack Gentian's natural gentility?

7. How have the Knights Templar changed, according to Melville's observations, in "The Paradise of Bachelors"?

8. Why does the narrator of "The Lightning Rod Man" compare the salesman to a worm?

9. Why did the Spanish naval board of inquiry at first reject parts of Benito Cereno's deposition?

10. According to the deposition in "Benito Cereno," what would have happened to Captain Delano if he had suspected a mutiny aboard the San Dominick?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Melville's elegaic pieces about the Marquis de Grandvin and others make clear the qualities he most admires. In your essay, use examples from these writings to show what qualities Melville thinks make for human greatness.

Essay Topic 2

Melville's work is full of allusions to mythic characters and settings with which he expects his reader to be familiar. Select a story such as "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" or "The Two Temples" to find the references to mythology. Look up the characters or locations and explain in your essay how these references strengthen the story.

Essay Topic 3

Melville's purposes in writing are both artistic and moralistic. Select a story in which you see his purpose as basically one or the other, and give examples from the story in your essay that support your thesis.

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