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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. Why is the captain of The Rachel appealing for help from the Pequod?
2. What do passing sailors say about the white whale?
3. Which of the characters keep watch on both the crew and the ocean?
4. What is the ship's carpenter assigned to do?
5. What danger does Ishmael say the whale wields in particular?
Short Essay Questions
1. Explain how Stubb uses his sense of humor to trick a French whaling ship into leaving a dead whale.
2. What conundrum does Ishmael pose about the whale's biological system?
3. What is the evidence that there is still a vestige of humanity left in Ahab?
4. Explain two instances that Starbuck interprets as signs that God does not support Ahab's revenge on Moby Dick.
5. Relate the sad story of Pip.
6. How does Ishmael show the further mental deterioration of Ahab?
7. How does Starbuck try to take advantage of Ahab's tears?
8. What is the change in the crew as they head out in search of Moby Dick?
9. What is happening to Queequeg's coffin?
10. What is so interesting about the perceptions of the Spanish doubloon nailed to the mast?
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 understanding other cultures. Begin with Ishmael's initial fear of Queequeg. Note how Queequeg did not seem so strange after Ishmael sees many other ethnic people on the streets of New Bedford. Discuss how Queequeg begins to see Ishmael as his brother. Finish with how religious prejudice like Bildad's tends to resist inter-cultural understanding.
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on life in a coastal town. Use the differences Ishmael notices between how people live in New Bedford and Nantucket from the way people live inland. Give your opinion as to what it is about coastal people that make them different from other communities. If you have personal experience with a coastal town, work those into your essay.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on how literature helps understand ages past. Use the sights, sounds, and customs of 19th century America as written about in the novel to describe what life was like then. Note in your essay the things like whale oil for lighting that are no longer necessary. Write your opinion about such things as room sharing at an inn and the communal meals in the dining room. Explain why you would or would not like to have lived during those times.
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This section contains 807 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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