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?
Answer
A
man’s ability to outsmart fate
B
man’s harmony with nature
C
man’s control over nature
D
man’s inability to alter fate
Explanation
Ishmael feels a foreboding before he sees Ahab, and then “Reality outran apprehension”: the feared event happens despite his unease. This suggests that people cannot prevent or change what fate brings, rather than outsmarting fate or controlling nature. The best choice is “man’s inability to alter fate.”
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