Chapter 130 - The Hat Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 130 - The Hat
What has Ahab done to every other whaling ground before this chapter opens?
He has swept them all in a long, wide preliminary cruise, chasing Moby Dick into a final "oceanfold" to slay him more securely.
What image does Melville use to describe Ahab's purpose dominating the crew?
The "unsetting polar star" that sustains its "piercing, steady, central gaze" through the six-month arctic night.
What happens to humor aboard the Pequod in this chapter?
All humor, forced or natural, vanishes. Stubb no longer tries to raise a smile, and Starbuck no longer tries to check one.
How does Melville describe the crew's emotions being crushed?
Joy, sorrow, hope, and fear are "ground to finest dust, and powdered, for the time, in the clamped mortar of Ahab's iron soul."
How do the crew members move about the deck?
"Like machines," ever conscious that Ahab's despot eye is on them.
What is strange about Fedallah's behavior in this chapter?
He never sleeps, never sits or leans, and stands for hours with his "wan but wondrous eyes" that seem to say, "We two watchmen never rest."
How does the crew view Fedallah?
With increasing suspicion, half uncertain whether he is "a mortal substance, or else a tremulous shadow cast upon the deck by some unseen being's body."
How does Melville describe the Ahab-Fedallah relationship as shadow and substance?
"As if in the Parsee Ahab saw his forethrown shadow, in Ahab the Parsee his abandoned substance."
Where does Ahab stand or pace during his constant watch on deck?
Either in his pivot-hole, pacing between the main-mast and the mizzen, or standing in the cabin scuttle with his hat slouched over his eyes.
How does Ahab manage sleep during his vigil?
He stands in the cabin scuttle with his hat pulled over his eyes so the crew can never tell whether his eyes are open or closed. He never swings in his hammock.
What does Ahab's beard look like during his obsessive watch?
It grows "all gnarled, as unearthed roots of trees blown over, which still grow idly on at naked base, though perished in the upper verdure."
What does Ahab call out every hour from dawn to past twilight?
"What d'ye see?-- sharp! sharp!"
Which ship had the Pequod recently encountered before Ahab's distrust grew?
The Rachel, which was searching for her missing children (crew from a lost whaleboat).
Why does Ahab decide to go aloft himself?
He grows distrustful of his crew's fidelity and declares, "I will have the first sight of the whale myself" and "Ahab must have the doubloon!"
What device does Ahab rig to hoist himself to the mast-head?
A nest of basketed bowlines, raised and lowered with a rope through a single-sheaved block secured to the mainmast head.
To whom does Ahab entrust the rope that holds him aloft?
Starbuck, saying: "Take the rope, sir-- I give it into thy hands, Starbuck."
Why is Ahab's choice of Starbuck as his rope-handler considered strange?
Because Starbuck is the one man who has dared oppose Ahab and whose fidelity Ahab seemed to doubt -- yet Ahab freely gives his life into this "otherwise distrusted person's hands."
What kind of bird attacks Ahab at the mast-head?
A red-billed savage sea-hawk (also called a "black hawk").
What does the sea-hawk steal from Ahab?
His hat. The bird snatches it with its long hooked bill and flies away with the prize.
What classical omen does Melville compare to the hat incident?
An eagle flew thrice around Tarquin's head, removing and replacing his cap, which his wife Tanaquil declared meant he would be king of Rome. But that omen was good only because the cap was replaced -- Ahab's hat was never restored.