Name
Date
from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Reading Warm-up B
Read the following passage. Pay special attention to the underlined words. Then, read it again,
and complete the activities. Use a separate sheet of paper for your written answers.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the city of New Bedford
in southeastern Massachusetts was the whaling center of
America. In New Bedford, there were countless heroic
tales of captains, sailors, and ships that had won fame in
rough and challenging quests to hunt whales. It is hardly
surprising, then, that Melville makes this town the home
port of the Pequod, the whaling ship of the mysterious,
inscrutable Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick.
New Bedford was founded in 1652 by settlers from
Plymouth Colony. A century later, it had become a fishing community. The deepwater harbor was used by
American privateers during the Revolutionary War. These
ships would intercept and damage British vessels whenever they could. When the Americans ignored British
admonitions to stop these raids, the British sought
vengeance. In a haughty display of arrogance, they
burned New Bedford in 1778.
The town recovered swiftly, however, and by 1820 it
was one of the world’s most important whaling ports. In
Moby-Dick, Melville describes the magnificence of the
town’s private houses, gardens, and public parks. He
also gives a detailed, specific account of the Whaleman’s
Chapel, where sailors, as well as their wives and widows,
would gather for religious consolation. The vast ocean
must have seemed to them like a pagan universe, ruled
by no caring divinity but rather by the hostile forces of
nature. In the Whaleman’s Chapel, by contrast, they
could recover their faith and cherish the hope that their
dangerous journeys at sea would be successful and they
would enjoy a safe return. The Whaleman’s Chapel,
which is now known as the Seamen’s Bethel, may still be
visited today in New Bedford.
1. Underline the words in this
sentence that give a clue to
the meaning of heroic. Use
the word heroic in an original
sentence.
2. Circle the word in this sentence that gives a clue to the
meaning of inscrutable. What
is a synonym for inscrutable?
3. Underline the words in this
and the previous sentence
hinting at the meaning of
intercept. What is a synonym
for the word intercept?
4. Underline the words in this
sentence that give a clue to
the meaning of admonitions.
Use admonitions in a sentence of your own.
5. Circle the words in this and the
next sentence that give a clue
to the meaning of vengeance.
What are two synonyms for
vengeance?
6. Underline the words in this
sentence that hint at the
meaning of haughty. Use a
word meaning the opposite
of haughty in a sentence of
your own.
7. Underline the word in this sentence that gives a clue to the
meaning of specific. What are
two antonyms of specific?
8. Circle the words in this sentence that hint at the meaning of the word pagan.
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Name
Date
from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Literary Analysis: Symbol
In Moby-Dick, many elements take on symbolic meanings as the novel progresses. A symbol
is a person, place, action, or thing that also represents an abstract meaning beyond itself. In the
following passage, for example, the sharks may be symbols of Ahab’s destructive behavior or the
destructive response of nature to Ahab’s mad pursuit of the whale.
And still as Ahab glided over the waves the unpitying sharks accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck to the boat; and so continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged
and crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, at almost every dip.
DIRECTIONS: Read the following passages from Moby-Dick. On the lines provided after each
passage, identify one symbol that the passage contains and explain what the symbol might
represent.
1. “I came here to hunt whales, not my commander’s vengeance. How many barrels will thy
vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? It will not fetch thee much in
our Nantucket market.”
“Nantucket market! hoot! But come closer, Starbuck. . . .”
“Vengeance on a dumb brute!” cried Starbuck, “that simply smote thee from blindest
instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous.”
2. “The ship? Great God, where is the ship?”. . . Concentric circles seized the lone boat itself,
and all its crew, and each floating oar, and every lance pole, and spinning, animate and
inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of
sight.
3. A sky hawk that tauntingly had followed the main-truck downwards from its natural home
among the stars, . . . this bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing between
the hammer and the wood: and simultaneously feeling that ethereal thrill, the submerged
savage beneath, in his deathgrasp, kept his hammer frozen there: and so the bird of
heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole
captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which like Satan, would
not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her.
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Name
Date
from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Reading Strategy: Identify Relevant Details
To recognize and understand the symbols and theme of a work of literature, identify the
relevant details that the author uses. Such details can lead you to the essential message or
main idea of the work. Consider, for example, the following passage:
“Give way!” cried Ahab to the oarsmen, and the boats darted forward to the attack; but maddened
by yesterday’s fresh irons that corroded in him, Moby-Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the
angels that fell from heaven.
Here Melville connects Moby-Dick to a larger idea by comparing him to “all the angels that
fell from heaven,” or devils. This detail suggests that Moby-Dick might be a symbol of evil or of
the darker side of human nature.
DIRECTIONS: Read the following passage, which opens your textbook selection from Moby-Dick.
Then, on the lines provided, answer the questions about the passage.
One morning shortly after breakfast, Ahab, as was his wont, ascended the cabin gangway to the
deck. There most sea captains usually walk at that hour, as country gentlemen, after the same meal,
take a few turns in the garden.
Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as to and fro he paced his old rounds, upon planks so
familiar to his tread, that they were all over dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar mark of
his walk. Did you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow; there also, you would see
still stranger footprints—the footprints of his one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought.
But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark. And, so full of his thought was Ahab, that at every uniform turn that he
made, now at the mainmast and now at the binnacle, you could almost see that thought turn in him
as he turned, and pace in him as he paced; so completely possessing him, indeed, that it all but
seemed the inward mold of every outer movement.
1. Which details suggest that Ahab is a symbol?
2. With what abstract idea or ideas does Melville seem to connect him here?
3. Identify one more detail in the passage that might have symbolic significance.
4. Which details suggest that it is a symbol?
5. What abstract idea or ideas does it seem to symbolize?
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Name
Date
from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Support for Writing
As you think about writing a character study, think about why Captain Ahab seems to you
either mad or great. Also, think about the main events of the selection and what they reveal
about Ahab. Enter the information into the chart below.
Ahab’s Character
Main Events
First Part of Selection
Main Events
Middle Part of Selection
Main Events
End of Selection
My Opinion of Ahab/
Reasons for My Opinion
On a separate page, write a draft that gives your opinion about whether Ahab is mad or
great. Explain why you drew these conclusions or made these judgements about Ahab. When
you revise your work, be sure you have justified your opinion with examples from the selection.
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Name
Date
from Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Selection Test B
Critical Reading Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers
the question.
1. The name of the whaling ship that Ahab captains is the
A. Pequod
B. Quarter-Deck
C. Tashtego
D. Nantucket
.
2. The white whale against whom Ahab seeks vengeance
A. never appears.
B. treats the ship’s crew indifferently when he finally appears.
C. caused Ahab to lose his leg in a previous encounter.
D. is never seen by anyone but Ahab.
3. Ahab persuades his crew members to chase the white whale by appealing mainly to
their
.
A. patriotism
B. hunger
C. greed
D. loyalty
4. Ahab’s rambling monologues show that he is
A. practical
B. uneducated
C. vulnerable
D. single-minded
.
5. What is the chief significance of Ahab’s being drowned by his own harpoon line?
A. It stresses his inexperience as a sailor.
B. It stresses the idea that obsession and vengefulness are self-destructive.
C. It stresses the idea that manmade objects are more powerful than nature.
D. It stresses Ahab’s defiance.
6. One of the central themes conveyed in this selection is that
A. only the strongest survive.
B. revenge is justifiable.
C. whaling is indefensible.
D. human understanding is limited.
7. The selection portrays nature as
A. sympathetic and soothing.
B. violent but tamable.
C. majestic and elusive.
D. foolish and vengeful.
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Name
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8. As the ship is sinking, we see a crew member frantically nailing Ahab’s flag to the mast.
This detail exemplifies the larger theme of
A. the futility of human efforts to dominate nature.
B. the supremacy of American culture.
C. America’s loss of innocence.
D. nature’s essential evil.
9. In the following passage, what larger issue is related to Ahab’s footprints?
Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as to and fro he paced his old rounds, upon planks so
familiar to his tread, that they were all over dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar
mark of his walk. Did you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow; there also, you
would see still stranger footprints—the footprints of his one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought.
A.
B.
C.
D.
the decline in morale among the ship’s crew
footprints in the sands of time
the idea that we always kill the thing we love
Ahab’s obsession with Moby-Dick
10. Which of these aspects of nature does the white whale not symbolize?
A. destructiveness
B. immortality
C. spiritual comfort
D. beauty
11. To Ahab’s mind, Moby-Dick symbolizes a wall that
A. keeps the ship from its business of whaling.
B. protects Ahab from his own inner thoughts and desires.
C. must be broken through to reach the truth behind it.
D. has grown up between Ahab and his crew.
12. What behavior of Ahab most clearly symbolizes the restlessness and obsessive nature
of his thoughts?
A. his pacing up and down on deck
B. his offering mugs of grog to the crew
C. his nailing a coin to the mast
D. his being hoisted up the mast in a basket
13. What does the sea probably symbolize in this final sentence from the selection?
Then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it had rolled five thousand
years ago.
A.
B.
C.
D.
humanity’s power over nature
nature’s power over humanity
the goodness of nature
the changeability of nature
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Vocabulary and Grammar
14. Which of these characters would most likely be described as prescient?
A. a politician
C. a whaler
B. a dog catcher
D. a prophet
15. Which word has a meaning most nearly opposite that of maledictions?
A. blessings
B. lies
C. curses
D. pleas
16. In the sentence “The three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic
aspect,” which word is a participle?
A. mystic
B. quailed
C. strong
D. sustained
17. Identify an infinitive phrase in the sentence “Yon ratifying sun now waits to sit upon it.”
A. ratifying sun
B. now waits
C. to sit
D. upon it
Essay
18. Examine Ahab in his role as captain of the whaling ship. In what ways does he seem to be a
good captain? In what ways is he a bad one? Answer these questions in an essay in which
you support your opinions with details from the selection.
19. At one point Ishmael, the narrator, states, “For with little external to constrain us, the
innermost necessities in our being, these still drive us on.” Write an essay that shows how
this statement applies to one or more characters in this selection.
20. At one point in the selection, the members of the crew gather to hear Ahab describe his goal
and persuade everyone else to join him. Why do you think Melville felt that such a scene was
necessary? What are some things that the scene accomplishes? Address these questions in
an essay.
21. In this selection from Moby-Dick, the fate of the sky hawk at the end becomes a part of the
fate of Ahab and the men on the ship. Write a brief essay to discuss the symbolism of this
action and the way in which it is related to Melville’s theme of humankind versus nature.
22. Thinking About the Essential Question: What makes American literature American?
Is Ahab’s stubborn persistence, his determination to succeed at all costs, an especially
American trait or a universal human one? Develop your thoughts in an essay supported by
details from the selection.
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