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Moby Dick
Herman Melville
to work on the Pequod, a whaling ship with a one-legged
captain called Ahab. After three weeks at sea, Captain
Ahab tells the crew that he wants to kill Moby Dick,
the white whale that bit off his leg. He offers gold to the
first man to see the whale. Everyone is happy except for
Starbuck, the first mate, who thinks that Captain Ahab’s
plan is crazy.
Chapters 4–6
About the author
Herman Melville (1819–1891) was born in New York.
His father became bankrupt and went insane, dying
when Melville was twelve years old. Melville worked as
a clerk, teacher, and farmhand before going to sea in
search of adventure when he was twenty. After working
as a cabin boy on a whaling ship, he joined the United
States Navy. During this time he had many adventures,
including living briefly among the Typee cannibals in the
Marquesas Islands. When he was twenty-five, he returned
to his mother’s house in the United States and began to
write books based on his adventures. His first two books,
Typee (1845) and Omoo (1847) were very successful. Moby
Dick, was published in 1850. It received mixed reviews at
the time it was published, and it did not sell as well as his
first two books. Melville’s later years were often difficult
and unhappy. His writing reflected increasing despair
and contempt for human hypocrisy. His last finished
novel, The Confidence Man (1857), was a harsh satire of
American life. After this he wrote only poetry and worked
as a customs inspector on New York docks. However,
when he died in 1891, an unfinished novel, Billy Budd,
was found in his desk. When it was finally published in
1924, it was hailed by critics as a great novel. But it is
for his masterpiece, Moby Dick, that Melville is mainly
remembered today.
Summary
Chapters 1–3
Ishmael (the narrator) wants to work on a whaling
ship. He arrives in Nantucket, an island off the coast of
Massachusetts, where he meets Queequeg, the son of a
Maori chief in Kokovoko who also wants to work on a
whaling ship. The two become good friends, and sign up
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Ishmael’s first encounter with a whale isn’t successful, but
he sees Captain Ahab’s men are only interested in Moby
Dick. The Pequod catches and kills many whales, but
Captain Ahab cannot forget Moby Dick. Even when the
Pequod meets other ships like the Albatross and the Samuel
Enderby, he only asks about Moby Dick. Captain Ahab is
determined to kill Moby Dick. One night, Fedallah, one
of the Captain Ahab’s men who can tell the future, sees
Moby Dick. Captain Ahab is happy, and he orders the
crew to follow the whale, but they lose it.
Chapters 7–8
Pip, a young cook boy, goes crazy after a whaling trip.
Now he worships Captain Ahab as God. One day, there’s
a problem with some of the barrels and they’re losing oil.
Starbuck accuses Captain Ahab of being obsessed with
Moby Dick. He is afraid that the men on the ship may
not go back to their families. After fixing the barrels,
Queequeg gets sick and he thinks he is going to die. He
asks the other men to make him a coffin. Ishmael and the
other men are very sad, but later on, Queequeg somehow
realizes that he cannot die now. They put his coffin away
with the barrels.
Chapters 9–10
Captain Ahab tells Fedallah about a bad dream he had
and Fedallah tells him that when he dies, he will not have
a coffin and will be killed by a rope. He also tells Captain
Ahab that he, Fedallah, will die first. Captain Ahab gets
more desperate to catch the whale. He throws away the
ship’s maps and threatens to kill anyone who tries to turn
the ship around. Starbuck has the chance to kill Captain
Ahab, but loses his nerve. Captain Ahab refuses to help the
captain of another ship, the Rachel, look for his missing
son because he learns that Moby Dick is nearby.
Chapters 11–13
The whale is sighted, and Captain Ahab leads his crew out
in small boats to fight the whale with harpoons, leaving
Starbuck to look after the Pequod. The fight with Moby
Dick lasts for three days. On the first day, Captain Ahab
hits the whale with his harpoon but his boat capsizes. On
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Moby Dick
the second day, Captain Ahab’s boat is capsized again,
he loses his whalebone leg and Fedallah is killed. On the
third day, Captain Ahab sees Fedallah’s body tangled up in
ropes on Moby Dick. Captain Ahab hits the whale with a
harpoon. Moby Dick hits the Pequod, which starts to sink.
In a seemingly suicidal act, Captain Ahab throws another
harpoon at Moby Dick but gets tangled up in the rope
and goes down with the whale. The ship sinks, and only
Ishmael survives. He is rescued from the sea by the Rachel,
whose captain is still looking for his missing son.
Background and themes
Moby Dick is seen as an American classic – most American
students study it in school. Melville’s own experience as a
whaler was the most important inspiration for the novel.
Man vs Nature: Moby Dick is, in many ways, a traditional
adventure story about American pioneers but with a
different background: instead of the American West, there
is the sea, and instead of the search for gold, there is the
hunt for Moby Dick. The central conflict in the book is
between man and nature, but the battle between Ahab and
the whale is open to many interpretations. For example,
in John Huston’s 1956 film with Gregory Peck as Ahab,
he questions which one, Ahab or the whale, is the real
monster.
Superstition and Myth: A stranger in Nantucket warns
Ishmael and Queequeg against traveling with Ahab.
Fedallah predicts his own death and that of Ahab. A large
black bird takes Ahab’s hat just before the final battle with
Moby Dick. There are many signs and omens that predict
a tragic end. The purpose of these is to create a sense of
inevitability.
Contrast between civilizations: Ahab, a ‘civilized’ sea
captain, has primitive delusions of grandeur. He bases his
life on superstition and dreams. He is only kind to Pip,
the crazy cabin boy, because Pip worships him as a god.
He shows no respect or consideration for others. He is
prepared to sacrifice everybody’s life in the pursuit of his
own obsession. Queequeg, in contrast, is a tattooed Maori.
He, too, has superstitions and is superficially primitive,
but he is the most human, civilized person on the ship.
Discussion activities
Chapters 1–3
Before reading
1 Discuss: Talk about the front cover. Ask students to
look at the Word List in the book and the picture on
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the front cover. Ask them to see if they can find a
picture of the new words. Ask some students to come
to the board and write down the new words they
found in the picture. Then have students write some
sentences with the new words, describing the front
cover.
After reading
2 Role play: Put students into pairs. Ask them to have
this conversation.
Student A: You are Queequeg. You want to leave
home and work on a whaling ship. Tell your father
why.
Student B: You are Queequeg’s father. You want your
son to stay at home. Tell him why.
3 Discuss: Put students into small group and have
them discuss the following questions:
Will Ishmael and Queequeg be happy on the Pequod?
Why/why not? Who is right about whaling, Captain
Ahab or Starbuck? Why? Who is right about the sound
of men, Pip or Ishmael? What do you think?
Chapters 4–6
Before reading
4 Discuss: Talk about gold.
Have a whole class discussion using the following
questions:
Do you think Ishmael is going to get the gold? Who do
you think is going to get the gold? Is Captain Ahab right
to show the gold to the whalers? What do you think of
Captain Ahab?
After reading
5 Discuss: Put students into groups to discuss the
following questions. Later, ask each group to share
their opinions with the rest of the class.
Why are these things important to whalers: sharks, oil,
barrels, harpoons, maps, and the weather? Some say
that Fedallah can see the future. Is it possible to see the
future, do you think? Would you like to know your
future? Why/why not? Why is Captain Ahab angry with
Captain Boomer? Who is right? Why?
Chapters 7–8
Before reading
6 Discuss: Talk about the picture. Put students into
small groups. Have them look at the picture on
page 19 and discuss the following questions:
What’s happening? You are the person in the ocean. How
do you feel? You are the person in the ocean. What do
you say? What do you think will happen next?
Later, ask each group to share their opinions with the
rest of the class.
After reading
7 Role play: Put students into pairs. Ask them to have
this conversation.
Student A: You are Starbuck. You want Ishmael to go
out in a small whaling boat with Fedallah. Tell him
why.
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Moby Dick
Student B: You are Ishmael. You want to go out in the
boat with Queequeg, not Fedallah. Tell Starbuck why.
8 Discuss: Put students into groups to discuss these
questions.
Why is Starbuck angry with Pip? Is he right? Why/why
not? Who is the most important man on the ship –
Ishmael, Starbuck or Queequeg? Why?
Chapters 9–10
Before reading
9 Discuss: Talk about the chapter title.
Start a discussion by asking students as follows:
The title of Chapter 9 is “Captain Ahab’s dream.” What
do you think his dream is like? Is it a good dream or bad
dream? What do you think happens in this chapter?
Have students work in pairs or small groups to
discuss, and then ask some students to report to the
class later.
After reading
10 Role play: Put students into groups of three. They
are whalers on the Pequod. Ask them to have this
conversation.
Student A: You think Ahab is a bad captain. You want
to kill him. Say why.
Student B: You don’t like Captain Ahab, but you
think that it is wrong to kill him. Say why.
Student C: You think that Ahab is a good captain.
You want him to stay. Say why.
11 Discuss: Put students into small groups. Ask them to
think about the feelings of the following characters.
Encourage them to give reasons why.
• Captain Ahab, after his conversation with Fedallah.
• Starbuck, in the bad weather.
• Captain Ahab, in the bad weather.
• Starbuck, after he leaves Captain Ahab’s room.
• Captain Gardiner, when he leaves Captain Ahab.
• Captain Ahab and Fedallah, when they watch the
ocean.
• Captain Ahab, when the bird takes his hat.
• The whalers, when the bird takes Captain Ahab’s
hat.
Chapters 11–13
Before reading
12 Discuss: Talk about the ending. Start a whole-class
discussion by asking students to guess if they think
the story has a happy or sad ending. Encourage them
to give reasons why.
After reading
13 Discuss: Put students into small groups. Ask them to
think how important the following things are in this
section of the story: birds, Captain Ahab’s whalebone
leg, ropes, a coffin, Captain Gardiner’s son.
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14 Pair work: Have students work in pairs. Ask them
who they feel or don’t feel sorry for. Have them think
why they feel that way.
Extra activities
15 Discuss: Put students into small groups to discuss the
following questions:
Many things happen in this story to warn people about
the future. What are they? What lessons can we learn
from this story?
16 Discuss: Have students work in pairs to discuss the
following questions:
Do these words describe a good or a bad captain of a
ship: afraid, evil, friendly, kind, old, strong, and wild?
Why do you think so? Someone pays you $100,000 to
work for a year on a whaling ship. Do you want the job?
Why/why not? How was killing whales more dangerous
100 years ago than today?
17 Describe: Write the names of characters on the
board: Ishmael, Queequeg, Elijah, Captain Ahab,
Starbuck, Stubb, Fedallah, Pip, etc. Put students into
small groups and assign a character to each group.
Ask them to describe the character and what he did or
what happened to him. When they are ready, ask each
group to report to the class.
18 Class survey: Ask students to walk around the
classroom to ask each other the following question:
Who is your favorite character? Encourage them to give
reasons. Students can keep a tally, and later on, ask
them to discover the top three. Ask some students to
report some reasons they heard.
19 Retell: Write the titles of the chapters on pieces of
paper and stick them on the board in jumbled order.
Ask students to arrange the chapter titles in the
correct order. Then put students into small groups.
In each group, each student should take turns to retell
the story chapter by chapter. Students can use the
pictures on pages 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 25 and 31 to help
them retell the story.
20 Research and discuss: Have students work in groups
to collect some information on whaling. You could
give each group a topic, e.g. history of whaling, why
people kill whales, which countries are whaling at the
present day, who is against whaling and why they are
against it, what the pros and cons are, etc. Encourage
students to gather information using books, the
Internet and newspaper/magazine articles. When they
are ready, ask each group to report to the class. Then
have a whole-class discussion by asking Is whaling a
good thing or bad thing? Why do you think so?
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.
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