Chapter 128 - The Pequod Meets The Rachel Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 128 - The Pequod Meets The Rachel
What is the first thing Ahab shouts when the Rachel approaches?
"Hast seen the White Whale?" He asks his obsessive question before the Rachel's captain can even hail the Pequod.
What does the Rachel's captain ask in return?
"Have ye seen a whale-boat adrift?" He is searching for a missing boat from his own ship.
Who is the captain of the Rachel?
Captain Gardiner, a Nantucketer whom Ahab recognizes.
How did the Rachel encounter Moby Dick?
While three of the Rachel's boats were chasing a shoal of whales, Moby Dick surfaced nearby. A fourth reserve boat was lowered in pursuit.
What happened to the fourth boat that chased Moby Dick?
It appeared to fasten onto the whale but then vanished. The Rachel searched all night using a fire in her try-pots as a beacon but found nothing.
What does Captain Gardiner ask Ahab to do?
He asks the Pequod to join the Rachel in a parallel search, sailing four or five miles apart to sweep a double horizon for the missing boat.
What does Stubb initially joke about the Rachel's captain?
That someone in the missing boat stole the captain's best coat or watch, which is why he's so anxious to find it.
Who is among the crew of the missing boat?
Captain Gardiner's twelve-year-old son, who had been sent to sea following the Nantucket tradition of initiating boys early into whaling.
What made Gardiner's situation doubly agonizing?
Another of his sons was in one of the other boats that also became separated, meaning Gardiner briefly feared both sons were lost.
How does Stubb react when he learns a boy is missing?
He immediately reverses his cynicism: "His son! oh, it's his son he's lost! I take back the coat and watch—what says Ahab? We must save that boy."
What appeal does Gardiner make to Ahab as a fellow father?
"For you too have a boy, Captain Ahab—though but a child, and nestling safely at home now—a child of your old age too."
What is Ahab's response to Gardiner's plea?
He refuses: "Captain Gardiner, I will not do it. Even now I lose time." He orders all strangers warned off within three minutes.
How does Melville describe Ahab while receiving Gardiner's plea?
He "stood like an anvil, receiving every shock, but without the least quivering of his own."
What does the Manxman say about the missing crew?
"He's drowned with the rest on 'em, last night. I heard; all of ye heard their spirits."
What Nantucket tradition is described regarding young boys?
Captains send sons as young as twelve on protracted voyages in other ships so their first whaling experience is not softened by a father's partiality.
What simile describes the Rachel's masts as she searches?
"Three tall cherry trees, when the boys are cherrying among the boughs"—an image that poignantly associates the search with childhood innocence.
What is the biblical allusion in the chapter's final line?
It quotes Jeremiah 31:15 / Matthew 2:18: "She was Rachel, weeping for her children, because they were not"—evoking inconsolable parental grief.
What dramatic irony connects the Rachel to the novel's ending?
The Rachel—whose plea for help Ahab refuses—is the very ship that rescues Ishmael in the Epilogue after the Pequod is destroyed.
How does Ahab physically react after refusing Gardiner?
"Hurriedly turning, with averted face, he descended into his cabin," suggesting he feels the weight of his decision but will not reverse it.
What does Gardiner offer Ahab in exchange for help?
He offers to charter the Pequod for forty-eight hours and "gladly pay for it, and roundly pay for it."