Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Chapter 132 - The Symphony quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does Melville personify the air and sea at the opening of Chapter 132?

   • The air is described as angry and turbulent, while the sea is calm and forgiving
   • Correct answer: The air is feminine, pure and soft, while the sea is masculine, heaving with powerful swells
   • The air is described as cold and metallic, while the sea is warm and inviting
   • The air is dark and threatening, while the sea is bright and crystalline in the sunlight

   Melville describes the air as having "a woman's look," pure and soft, while the sea "heaved with long, strong, lingering swells, as Samson's chest in his sleep" -- distinctly masculine imagery.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What unprecedented thing does Ahab do as he leans over the ship's side?

   • He speaks kindly to a passing whale and lets it swim freely beneath the ship
   • He throws the gold doubloon into the ocean and renounces his hunt for Moby Dick
   • Correct answer: He drops a single tear into the sea, a rare moment of vulnerability and emotion
   • He calls out to the crew and apologizes for the hardships of the long voyage

   "From beneath his slouched hat Ahab dropped a tear into the sea; nor did all the Pacific contain such wealth as that one wee drop."

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3. 3

   Question 3. How long has Ahab been whaling, according to his confession to Starbuck?

   • Twenty years, since he inherited command of the Pequod from its previous captain
   • Thirty years, beginning as a common sailor before rising to become a ship's captain
   • Correct answer: Forty years, since he was a boy-harpooneer of eighteen years old on his first voyage
   • Fifty years, having gone to sea as a young child following in his father's footsteps

   Ahab says: "On such a day -- very much such a sweetness as this -- I struck my first whale -- a boy-harpooneer of eighteen! Forty -- forty -- forty years ago!"

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Ahab reveal about the day after his wedding?

   • He celebrated with his crew in Nantucket before setting out on a brief coastal voyage
   • Correct answer: He sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in his marriage pillow
   • He took his new bride aboard the Pequod for a honeymoon voyage around the Cape
   • He remained home for three months before the pull of the sea became too strong

   Ahab says he "wedded past fifty, and sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in my marriage pillow," calling his wife "rather a widow with her husband alive."

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which of these events actually happens in Chapter 132?

   • Correct answer: Starbuck passionately urges Ahab to abandon the hunt and sail home to Nantucket
   • Ahab agrees to alter the course and orders the helmsman to steer for home
   • Queequeg joins Starbuck in confronting Ahab about the dangers of pursuing the whale
   • Ahab destroys the compass and declares that fate alone will guide the ship

   Starbuck cries: "Away! let us away! -- this instant let me alter the course! How cheerily, how hilariously, O my Captain, would we bowl on our way to see old Nantucket again!"

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Ahab say about looking into Starbuck's eyes?

   • He sees nothing but the same emptiness and obsession that haunts his own reflection
   • Correct answer: He sees his wife and child reflected there, and calls Starbuck's eye a "magic glass"
   • He sees the White Whale lurking behind Starbuck's gaze, a sign of their shared fate
   • He sees the fires of the blacksmith's forge where his special harpoon was tempered

   Ahab says: "Let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky... this is the magic glass, man; I see my wife and my child in thine eye."

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7. 7

   Question 7. What simile does Melville use to describe Ahab when he rejects Starbuck's plea to turn home?

   • Like a great iron chain pulled taut by an unseen anchor in the deep ocean below
   • Like a lightning-struck oak that still stands but is charred hollow at its core
   • Correct answer: Like a blighted fruit tree that shook and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil
   • Like a weathered headstone in a cemetery, immovable and inscribed with forgotten names

   "But Ahab's glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil."

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8. 8

   Question 8. In Ahab's speech, what does the word "cozening" mean in the phrase "what cozening, hidden lord and master"?

   • Comforting or soothing, offering false reassurance to ease one's troubled mind
   • Correct answer: Deceiving or tricking, cheating by means of artful persuasion or flattery
   • Powerful or commanding, exercising authority through brute force and intimidation
   • Ancient or primordial, existing since before the beginning of recorded history

   "Cozening" means to deceive or trick through flattery or artful persuasion. Ahab uses it to describe the mysterious force that compels him against his own natural desires.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What philosophical question does Ahab raise in his soliloquy about the sun and stars?

   • Whether the natural world is indifferent to human suffering or actively hostile to it
   • Whether God created the whale as a test of faith or as punishment for human pride
   • Correct answer: Whether his own actions are freely chosen or determined by an invisible external power
   • Whether the ocean belongs to man or to the creatures that dwell within its depths

   Ahab asks: "If the great sun move not of himself; but is an errand-boy in heaven... how then can this one small heart beat... unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I."

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10. 10

    Question 10. What metaphor does Ahab use to describe the relationship between humans and fate?

    • Humans are like ships tossed on an ocean whose currents are controlled by unseen tides
    • Correct answer: Humans are turned round and round like a windlass, and Fate is the handspike that turns them
    • Humans are like puppets on strings pulled by a cruel and invisible puppet master above
    • Humans are like sparks thrown from a forge, briefly bright before darkness reclaims them

    Ahab says: "We are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike." A handspike is the lever used to turn a ship's windlass.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these events does NOT happen in Chapter 132?

    • Ahab drops a tear into the sea while leaning over the ship's side in a rare display of emotion
    • Starbuck approaches Ahab carefully and the two share a deeply emotional exchange about family
    • Correct answer: Ahab orders the helmsman to change course and briefly steers toward Nantucket before reversing
    • Fedallah is found motionlessly leaning over the rail after Starbuck steals away in despair

    Ahab never actually orders a course change. Although Starbuck urges it and begins giving orders, Ahab's resolve reasserts itself and he launches into his soliloquy on fate instead.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the word "inscrutable" mean in Ahab's phrase "what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing"?

    • Extremely dangerous and threatening to anyone who encounters or approaches it
    • Ancient and forgotten, lost to the memory of all living human beings
    • Correct answer: Impossible to understand or interpret, utterly mysterious and impenetrable
    • Physically enormous and overwhelming, too vast for the human mind to grasp

    "Inscrutable" means impossible to understand or interpret. Ahab uses it to describe the mysterious force that drives him to pursue Moby Dick against all reason and love.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What happens to Starbuck at the end of the chapter?

    • He confronts Ahab angrily and threatens to take command of the ship by force
    • He returns to his cabin and writes a letter to his wife, resigned to his fate at sea
    • Correct answer: He is blanched to a corpse's hue with despair and steals away from Ahab silently
    • He remains at Ahab's side and vows to protect the captain during the final chase

    "But blanched to a corpse's hue with despair, the Mate had stolen away." Starbuck cannot bear Ahab's return to fatalistic obsession after the brief moment of hope.

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14. 14

    Question 14. Who does Ahab find when he crosses the deck after Starbuck leaves?

    • Stubb, who is whittling a piece of whale bone and humming a tune to himself
    • Queequeg, who gazes silently at the sea and offers Ahab a gesture of solidarity
    • Pip, the cabin boy, who follows Ahab everywhere and speaks in riddles about the deep
    • Correct answer: Fedallah, motionlessly leaning over the rail with two reflected, fixed eyes in the water

    "Ahab crossed the deck to gaze over on the other side; but started at two reflected, fixed eyes in the water there. Fedallah was motionlessly leaning over the same rail."

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15. 15

    Question 15. What is the structural significance of Chapter 132 within the novel?

    • It is the midpoint of the novel where the plot shifts from exposition to rising action
    • Correct answer: It is the last calm, reflective chapter before the three-day chase of Moby Dick begins
    • It is the climax of the novel where Ahab makes his irreversible decision to pursue the whale
    • It is an epilogue-like chapter that reflects on events already concluded in earlier passages

    Chapter 132 is the last chapter before "The Chase -- First Day" (Chapter 133). It serves as the final moment of emotional possibility and human connection before the catastrophic three-day pursuit of Moby Dick.

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