Chapter 120 - The Deck Toward the End of the First Night Watch Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Where is Ahab standing when Starbuck approaches him in Chapter 120?

• At the bow, watching the horizon for whales
• At the helm of the ship
• In his cabin, studying sea charts alone
• On the quarterdeck, pacing back and forth restlessly

What problem does Starbuck report about the main-top-sail yard?

• The sail has torn in half from the wind pressure
• The band is working loose and the lee lift is half-stranded
• The yard has cracked and is about to split apart
• Lightning has scorched the rigging beyond safe repair

What does Ahab order Starbuck to do about the damaged rigging?

• Cut the yard free and let it fall overboard safely
• Strike (lower) it immediately before it causes more damage
• Lash (tie down) everything instead of striking any rigging
• Send the harpooneers aloft to inspect the mast damage

What does Ahab say he would do if he had sky-sail poles?

• Use them to replace the damaged main-top-sail yard rigging
• Sway (raise) them up immediately to carry even more sail
• Signal other ships for assistance during the dangerous storm
• Fashion them into a new harpoon for hunting the whale

Did Starbuck report that the anchors were working loose?

Did Ahab allow Starbuck to strike the main-top-sail yard?

In nautical terms, what does "strike" mean?

• To hit the deck with force during rough seas
• To lower sails, yards, or rigging on a ship
• To repair torn canvas using needle and thread
• To turn the ship sharply into the oncoming wind

To whom does Ahab unfavorably compare Starbuck?

• A fearful child clinging to his mother during thunder
• The hunchbacked skipper of a coasting smack (small vessel)
• A landlocked farmer who has never seen the open sea
• A minister preaching caution from a safe church pulpit

What does Ahab mean by "brain-truck" in this chapter?

• A storage compartment for navigational instruments and maps
• A metaphor for his mind, comparing it to a mast's highest point
• The wooden wheel used to steer the ship through storms
• A device mounted on the mast for spotting distant whales

How does Ahab dismiss the roaring storm at the chapter's end?

• He calls it merely the sea's breathing and nothing to fear at all
• He compares it to colic and tells the wind to "take medicine"
• He says the storm is Moby Dick's warning and welcomes the challenge
• He laughs and says he has weathered a hundred worse gales before

What literary form does Melville use for Chapter 120?

• A letter written by Ishmael to his family back in Nantucket
• An extended interior monologue from Starbuck's perspective alone
• A dramatic dialogue written like a play script with stage directions
• A detailed technical essay on typhoon navigation and ship safety

What does Ahab say about cowards and tempests?

• Cowards pray for calm seas but brave men welcome every storm
• None but cowards send down their brain-trucks in tempest time
• A coward dies a thousand deaths but a brave captain dies only once
• Cowards see omens in every wave while the brave see opportunity

Did Ahab sway up sky-sail poles during the storm?