Chapter 111 - The Pacific Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 111 - The Pacific
What islands does the Pequod pass as it enters the Pacific Ocean?
The Bashee Isles (Batanes Islands, between the Philippines and Taiwan).
What does Ishmael say was answered when he first saw the Pacific?
"The long supplication of my youth was answered" -- he had longed to see the Pacific since childhood.
How does Ishmael describe the mystery of the Pacific?
He says there is "one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seems to speak of some hidden soul beneath."
To what does Ishmael compare the Pacific's undulations?
The fabled undulations of the Ephesian sod over the buried Evangelist St. John.
What does Ishmael call the sea-pastures of the Pacific?
"Wide-rolling watery prairies and Potters' Fields of all four continents."
What lies dreaming beneath the Pacific waves, according to Ishmael?
"Millions of mixed shades and shadows, drowned dreams, somnambulisms, reveries; all that we call lives and souls."
What causes the waves to roll unceasingly, according to Ishmael?
The restlessness of the dead souls and drowned dreams beneath the surface, "tossing like slumberers in their beds."
What kind of person must adopt the Pacific as his sea?
Any "meditative Magian rover" -- a thoughtful, wisdom-seeking wanderer.
How does Ishmael describe the Pacific's relationship to the other oceans?
It "rolls the midmost waters of the world, the Indian ocean and Atlantic being but its arms."
What two contrasting shores does the Pacific wash?
The new-built California towns, "planted by the recentest race of men," and the ancient coasts of Asia, "older than Abraham."
What floats between the Pacific's continental shores?
"Milky-ways of coral isles, and low-lying, endless, unknown Archipelagoes, and impenetrable Japans."
What metaphor does Ishmael use for the Pacific's central role?
It "seems the tide-beating heart of earth."
To what god must one bow when lifted by the Pacific's swells?
Pan -- the Greek god of nature and the wild.
How is Ahab physically described while standing at the mizen rigging?
"Like an iron statue at his accustomed place."
What two scents does Ahab simultaneously smell?
The sugary musk from the Bashee Isles (unconsciously) and the salt breath of the new sea (consciously).
What aside does Ishmael make about the Bashee Isles?
"In whose sweet woods mild lovers must be walking" -- a tender human world Ahab ignores.
What simile describes Ahab's lips as he nears the Pacific cruising ground?
"His firm lips met like the lips of a vice."
What physical detail shows Ahab's intensifying obsession?
"The Delta of his forehead's veins swelled like overladen brooks."
What does Ahab cry out in his sleep?
"Stern all! the White Whale spouts thick blood!"
What is the central thematic contrast in Chapter 111?
Ishmael sees the Pacific as mysterious, divine, and awe-inspiring, while Ahab sees only a hunting ground for the White Whale.