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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. While Starbuck is talking, what is Ahab thinking?
(a) why Starbuck talks so much.
(b) where they will find Moby Dick.
(c) what his family is doing back home.
(d) why he must kill Moby Dick.

2. What is the first thing Moby Dick does when he is spotted?
(a) he swims away fast on the surface.
(b) he swims toward the Pequod.
(c) he sounds and disappears under the sea.
(d) he flukes and dives deep.

3. What happens on this first encounter with Moby Dick?
(a) Ahab finds his hat floating on the ocean.
(b) Ahab's peg leg is broken off and Fedallah is missing.
(c) one of the boats is destroyed.
(d) Moby Dick is harpooned but gets away.

4. What is the effect of Ahab's distraction on Starbuck?
(a) he walks sadly away.
(b) he hopes for the best.
(c) he shoves Ahab overboard.
(d) he continues to state his case.

5. When Tashtego accidentally falls into the oil-filled head of the whale, who rescues him?
(a) Starbuck.
(b) Queequeg.
(c) Flask.
(d) Ishmael.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to Ahab's hat as he perches atop the mast?

2. What does Fedallah say is the advantage of having the Right Whale on the other side of the ship?

3. What do they find in the corpse of the blind and crippled whale?

4. How does Ishmael become the only survivor of the wreck of the Pequod?

5. What does Fedallah's dream depict about hearses?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ahab change his attitude toward the leaking casks of whale oil?

2. What is the evidence that there is still a vestige of humanity left in Ahab?

3. What happens when Tashtego accidentally falls into the oil-filled head of the whale?

4. Explain how Stubb uses his sense of humor to trick a French whaling ship into leaving a dead whale.

5. Relate the sad story of Pip.

6. Describe the madness of Ahab that loses his humanity.

7. What is Ishmael trying to ascertain as he ponders fossil remains of whales he has read about?

8. Why does Ahab transfer onto the Samuel Enderby to hear its captain's story?

9. How does Starbuck try to take advantage of Ahab's tears?

10. What is foreshadowed by a dream on Ahab's whaling boat?

(see the answer keys)

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