View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Ishmael's evidence that sperm whales have knowingly and maliciously been destructive to men and their ships?
(a) interviews with survivors of whale attacks.
(b) other ships that have had bad encounters with whales.
(c) stories printed in British and American newspapers.
(d) his own experience with whales while he was at sea.

2. What does Ishmael decide to do about Queequeg?
(a) to ask for another room.
(b) to become his friend.
(c) to keep his pistol loaded.
(d) to convert him to Christianity.

3. How does Ishmael recognize newcomers to whaling on the streets of New Bedford?
(a) They have on new Macintoshes.
(b) They do not know how to dress.
(c) They are carrying large carpetbags.
(d) They look dazed.

4. How does Ishmael describe the possibility of mutiny on a whale ship?
(a) he tells the story of the Nautilus.
(b) he tells the story of Steelkilt and Radney.
(c) he tells the story of Sinbad and Ali.
(d) he tells the story of the Bounty.

5. What habit of whales do the whaling ships use to find their prey?
(a) they way they always go to the same place to spawn.
(b) the way they head south in the winter.
(c) the way they follow certain routes to new feeding areas.
(d) the way they spout when finding schools of fish.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Ishmael and Stubb discuss about captains and whaling?

2. Where is Captain Ahab as the crew begins coming aboard the Pequod?

3. What is the subject matter of the sermon in the chapel?

4. What do Peleg and Bildad do once the Pequod is in the Atlantic Ocean?

5. To what does Ishmael attribute the hieroglyphic-like markings on the whale skin?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the behavior of the mates dining in the captain's cabin as they torment the cook who serves their meal.

2. What potential serious problem does Ahab ignore in order to talk to the captain of another whaling ship?

3. What is the function of Charity, Bildad's sister, in the preparations for the Pequod's journey?

4. What is the amusing account of Queequeg and the wheelbarrow?

5. Explain the function of the "monkey" on board a whaling ship.

6. How complicated is the process of harvesting the whale blubber?

7. Explain the mistaken identity that causes Ahab to order lowering of the boats.

8. Describe the appropriate text Father Maple uses in his sermon to the whalers in New Bedford.

9. What does Ishmael think about paintings and drawings of whales?

10. How does Ishmael inform the reader about the process of whale hunting?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 820 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample