Chapter 116 - The Dying Whale Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 116 - The Dying Whale
What ship did the Pequod encounter the day before the events of Chapter 116?
The Bachelor, a cheerful homeward-bound whaler.
How many whales were killed the day after encountering the Bachelor?
Four whales were killed, one of them by Ahab.
What "strange spectacle" does Melville describe as observable in all dying sperm whales?
The turning sunwards of the head before expiring.
What does Ahab call the dying whale in relation to the sun?
A "most faithful, broad, baronial vassal of the sun."
What does Ahab mean when he says the whale "too worships fire"?
He interprets the whale's sunward turn as an act of fire or sun worship, mirroring his own reverence for flame.
What is the "dark Hindoo half of nature" that Ahab addresses?
The destructive, annihilating side of existence that rules through typhoons, drowning, and death.
What happens to the whale's body immediately after it dies, according to Ahab?
Death whirls round the corpse and it heads some other way, turning away from the sun.
What lesson does Ahab draw from the corpse turning away from the sun?
That faith and devotion are rendered futile by death, which negates the whale's sunward worship.
What does Ahab say the sun "only calls forth" but does not give again?
Life. The sun creates life but cannot restore it.
What kind of faith does the "darker half" of nature offer Ahab?
A prouder, if a darker faith than the sun's life-giving promise.
What geographic reference does Ahab use to describe the remoteness of these seas?
Stars that shine upon the Niger's unknown source.
What does Ahab say he is "buoyed by"?
Breaths of once living things, exhaled as air but now water.
What is Ahab's final declaration about his relationship to the sea?
Born of earth, yet suckled by the sea; the billows are his foster-brothers.
Where does Ahab say the wild fowl finds its only rest?
In the eternal tossings of the sea.
What literary device is Ahab's direct address to the whale, the sun, and the sea?
Apostrophe, a device in which a speaker addresses an absent or non-human entity.
What religious tradition is evoked by Ahab's reference to fire worship?
Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion that revered fire as sacred.
What land-breeze does Melville compare the dying scene's atmosphere to?
The Spanish land-breeze from the Manila isles, carrying vesper hymns.
What is the mood shift Ahab experiences in this chapter?
He is soothed again, but only soothed to deeper gloom.
What does the phrase "trebly hooped and welded hip of power" refer to?
The whale's immense physical strength, described in terms of forged metal.
What does the "rainbowed jet" refer to?
The whale's spout, which catches light and appears rainbow-colored.