Pretest Answers

Which best explains the symbolism behind Melville’s use of the word “brand” to describe the scar on Ahab’s body in Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick ?

Which best describes another comparison that Melville could have used to symbolize the rigid and unalterable character of Ahab in Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick ?

In Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick , which ailment of humankind is best symbolized by Ahab’s plight?

Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick . It had previously come to me that this ivory leg had at sea been fashioned from the polished bone of the sperm whale’s jaw. How is the fact that Ahab’s leg is made from whale bone significant to the novel’s theme of humans versus nature?

Which excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick best develops the theme of the novel concerning humankind’s insistence on manufacturing its own destruction?

Which best explains how Melville uses his description of Ahab in Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick to comment on the nature of people?

Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick . It was one of those less lowering, but still grey and gloomy enough mornings of the transition, when with a fair wind the ship was rushing through the water with a vindictive sort of leaping and melancholy rapidity, that as I mounted to the deck at the call of the forenoon watch, so soon as I leveled my glance towards the taffrail, foreboding shivers ran over me. What theme in the novel does Melville allude to with his use of the word “vindictive” to describe the movement of the ship in this excerpt?

Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick . It was one of those less lowering, but still grey and gloomy enough mornings of the transition, when with a fair wind the ship was rushing through the water with a vindictive sort of leaping and melancholy rapidity, that as I mounted to the deck at the call of the forenoon watch, so soon as I leveled my glance towards the taffrail, foreboding shivers ran over me. Reality outran apprehension; Captain Ahab stood upon his quarter-deck. Which of the novel’s themes is best developed in this excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby Dick?

Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick . It resembled that perpendicular seam sometimes made in the straight, lofty trunk of a great tree, when the upper lightning tearingly darts down it, and without wrenching a single twig, peels and grooves out the bark from top to bottom, ere running off into the soil, leaving the tree still greenly alive, but branded. Melville’s description of Ahab’s scar in this excerpt best develops which theme in the novel?

Read the excerpt from Chapter 28 of Moby-Dick . His bone leg steadied in that hole; one arm elevated, and holding by a shroud; Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship’s ever pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable willfulness, in the fixed and fearless, forward dedication of that glance. Which best describes the theme Melville develops in this excerpt from the chapter?