Chapter 114 - The Gilder Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 114 - The Gilder

Where is the Pequod hunting whales in Chapter 114?

  • Off the coast of Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope
  • In the Japanese cruising ground, deep in the Pacific
  • Near the Galapagos Islands in the eastern Pacific
  • In the Atlantic Ocean, approaching the English Channel

What animal simile describes the waves against the whale-boat?

  • They slap like playful dolphins breaching beside the hull
  • They hiss like serpents coiling around the keel of the boat
  • They purr against the gunwale like hearth-stone cats at rest
  • They growl like wolves circling a campfire on the plains

What danger does Ishmael say the ocean's "velvet paw" conceals?

  • A whirlpool that can swallow ships whole without warning
  • A remorseless fang -- the tiger heart panting beneath the surface
  • An approaching hurricane that will shatter the Pequod's masts
  • Hidden rocks and coral reefs that could tear the ship apart

To what landscape does Melville compare the sea as the distant ship moves through waves?

  • A vast desert with sand dunes rising and falling like waves
  • A rolling prairie, with the ship's masts like horses' ears in tall grass
  • A mountain range with peaks and valleys stretching to the horizon
  • A frozen tundra with ice ridges that glimmer in the pale sunlight

What phrase describes the merging of reality and imagination in the calm?

  • "Dream and daylight blur until the mind sees only shadows dancing"
  • "The eye deceives the heart and the heart consents to the deception"
  • "Fact and fancy, half-way meeting, interpenetrate, and form one seamless whole"
  • "What is real and what is wished for become indistinguishable at last"

What does the golden calm do to Ahab, according to the narrator?

  • It fills him with renewed determination to capture Moby Dick at once
  • It opens his "secret golden treasuries" but his breath proves "but tarnishing"
  • It puts him to sleep on the quarterdeck for the first time on the voyage
  • It reminds him of his wife and child and makes him weep openly

According to the meditation, what is "the common doom" of adolescence?

  • Rebellion against parental authority and social convention alike
  • Doubt -- the natural questioning that follows boyhood's thoughtless faith
  • Physical suffering and disease brought on by harsh working conditions
  • Romantic heartbreak that shatters all youthful idealism forever

What does "manhood's pondering repose of If" mean in the meditation?

  • A state of confident certainty about the future and one's place in it
  • Mature adulthood resting in permanent, unanswerable uncertainty and conditionality
  • The peaceful retirement that follows a lifetime of successful whaling voyages
  • A philosophical school of thought that Melville studied at Harvard College

What metaphor does the meditation use for humanity's unknowable origins?

  • Sailors lost at sea without maps, compasses, or any guiding star
  • Orphans whose unwedded mothers died in bearing them, the secret buried in the grave
  • Foundling birds pushed from the nest before they have learned to fly alone
  • Travelers arriving in a foreign country where no one speaks their language

What does Starbuck declare while gazing into the golden sea?

  • "I see the White Whale's shadow beneath these deceptive golden waters"
  • "Let faith oust fact; let fancy oust memory; I look deep down and do believe"
  • "This beauty is a trap and we must steer the ship away from danger"
  • "God grant that we may see our homes and families once more before we die"

How is Stubb described as he responds to the golden sea?

  • He kneels silently on the deck and prays for safe passage home
  • He curses the sea for hiding whales beneath its deceptive golden surface
  • He leaps up "fish-like, with sparkling scales" in the golden light
  • He carves a golden whale into the ship's rail as a good-luck talisman

How does Chapter 114 structurally mirror Chapter 99 ("The Doubloon")?

  • Both chapters are written entirely in dramatic dialogue without narration
  • Both present multiple characters responding individually to the same golden object
  • Both feature Ahab delivering a long speech to the assembled crew on deck
  • Both describe the Pequod encountering and failing to capture a white whale

What three philosophical stances do the chapter's final speakers represent?

  • Revenge, forgiveness, and indifference toward the White Whale's attacks
  • Scientific inquiry, religious orthodoxy, and superstitious dread of the deep
  • Existential anguish, quiet faith, and cheerful acceptance of life as it is
  • Political ambition, economic calculation, and artistic detachment from the world

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