Chapter 108 - Ahab and the Carpenter Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

In what literary format is Chapter 108 written?

• A sermon
• A dramatic play with stage directions
• A letter from Ishmael
• An encyclopedia entry

What is the carpenter making for Ahab?

• A harpoon
• A coffin
• A replacement ivory leg
• A whalebone crutch

Which Greek mythological figure does Ahab compare the blacksmith to?

• Zeus
• Hephaestus
• Prometheus
• Hercules

True or False: Ahab orders the carpenter to have the blacksmith forge a complete, ideal man.

What medical phenomenon does Ahab describe to the carpenter?

• Seasickness
• Phantom limb pain
• Bone infection
• Night blindness

True or False: The carpenter fully understands and engages with Ahab's philosophical arguments.

What does Ahab conclude about things "made in fire"?

• They are indestructible
• They must properly belong to fire, making hell probable
• They are sacred gifts from Prometheus
• They lack souls

What does the word "cogent" mean as used in: "This is a cogent vice thou hast here, carpenter"?

• Rusty and old
• Powerfully compelling or forceful
• Poorly constructed
• Elegantly designed

What does Ahab wish he could do to escape "mortal inter-indebtedness"?

• Throw himself overboard
• Dissolve himself down to one small vertebra
• Kill the white whale
• Buy the entire world

True or False: The carpenter keeps sneezing because he is sick with a cold.

What does "dismasted" mean when the carpenter says "a dismasted man never entirely loses the feeling of his old spar"?

• A man who has lost his ship
• A man who has lost a limb, compared to a ship losing its mast
• A man who has been dishonored
• A man who has gone mad

Who does the carpenter quote in his final soliloquy when reflecting on Ahab?

• Ishmael
• Starbuck
• Stubb
• Queequeg

What small object does the carpenter almost forget to add to the finished leg?

• A metal buckle
• A leather strap
• An oval slate for figuring latitude
• A whalebone joint

What does "imprimis" mean when Ahab says "Imprimis, fifty feet high in his socks"?

• Importantly
• Impossibly
• In the first place
• Impressively