Chapter 125 - The Log and Line Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 125 - The Log and Line
What navigational instrument does Ahab order the crew to use in Chapter 125?
The log and line, a device for measuring the ship’s speed by trailing a weighted log on a line behind the vessel.
Why has the log and line gone unused for most of the Pequod’s voyage?
The crew relied on other means of determining the ship’s position, and the log and line were left hanging unused until they rotted from exposure to rain, spray, sun, and wind.
What does the Manxman warn Ahab about before the log is heaved?
He warns that the line "looks far gone" and that "long heat and wet have spoiled it."
Where was the Manxman born?
The little rocky Isle of Man.
What happens when the log is heaved overboard?
The rotten line snaps under the strain, and the log is lost to the sea.
Name the three navigational tools Ahab has lost by Chapter 125.
The quadrant (smashed), the compass (needles reversed by lightning), and the log-line (snapped).
How does Ahab respond to the snapping of the log-line?
He declares "Ahab can mend all" and orders the carpenter to make a new log and the line to be repaired.
What does the Manxman mean by "the skewer seems loosening out of the middle of the world"?
He means that the fundamental order of things is coming apart—the ship is losing its connection to rational navigation and the natural order.
Who are the two seamen who assist with the log and line?
The golden-hued Tahitian and the grizzly Manxman.
How does Pip refer to himself when he appears on deck?
In the third person, calling himself "missing" and a "coward," and offering a reward for his own recovery.
What does Ahab offer Pip at the end of Chapter 125?
He invites Pip to live in his cabin, declaring "Ahab’s cabin shall be Pip’s home henceforth, while Ahab lives."
What does Ahab say Pip has touched?
"Thou touchest my inmost centre, boy; thou art tied to me by cords woven of my heart-strings."
What does Pip ask the blacksmith Perth to do?
Rivet Ahab’s hand and his own together so he will not let go.
How does the Manxman describe Ahab and Pip at the chapter’s close?
"Two daft ones—one daft with strength, the other daft with weakness."
What does the snapping of the log-line symbolize?
The complete collapse of rational navigation and conventional order aboard the Pequod, leaving it guided only by Ahab’s obsessive will.
What does Ahab say about the gods and mankind in his speech to Pip?
He accuses the "omniscient gods" of being oblivious to suffering man, while man, though idiotic, is still "full of the sweet things of love and gratitude."
What wordplay does Ahab make about the Isle of Man?
He puns on Man/man: "a man from Man; a man born in once independent Man, and now unmanned of Man."