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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. How does Ishmael describe the possibility of mutiny on a whale ship?

2. What is Starbuck's disagreement with Ahab's purpose for the trip?

3. What is Queequeg's duty while the blubber is stripped from the back of the whale?

4. What part of the whale is the most valuable to the whalers?

5. What is Ishmael's evidence that sperm whales have knowingly and maliciously been destructive to men and their ships?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe how Ishmael becomes uneasy about Captain Ahab.

3. Detail the problems of holding a whale overnight tied to the side of the ship.

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

5. Describe the curious rumor about other fish and Moby Dick.

6. How does Ahab express his mission on this trip of the Pequod?

7. Explain the startling thing that Ishmael learns about his friend, Queequeg.

8. What behavior of whales works to the advantage of whaling ships looking for them?

9. Why does Ishmael soon lose his astonishment over Queequeg in New Bedford?

10. How does Queequeg determine which of them will select the whaling ship they take for their whaling adventure?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on the literary use of personification. Begin with how Ahab assigns human characteristics to Moby Dick, believing that the whale is a mortal enemy, conscious of a vendetta against him. Then go to children's stories where animal characters think and talk like humans. Discuss personification as a device to explain relationships between humans and animals.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on why we know so much more about whales now than Melville knew. Discuss the modern technology that allows whales to be observed in their natural underwater habitat. Mention modern photography that shows the whale as it is and not as an artist imagines it.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on Melville as a novelist. Mention the parts of Moby Dick that you found the most interesting. Discuss also some of the drier parts of the novel that tend to interrupt the flow of the story. Give your opinion about his use of language to paint a picture of life on a whaling ship.

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