Chapter 130 - The Hat Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 130 - The Hat

What recent event has confirmed that Moby Dick is nearby as Chapter 130 opens?

  • Ahab spots a white shape breaching on the distant horizon at dawn
  • A vessel spoken the day before had actually encountered Moby Dick
  • The crew finds a broken harpoon with Ahab's mark floating in the sea
  • Fedallah enters a trance and declares the whale is within two days' sail

What image does Melville use to describe Ahab's purpose dominating the crew?

  • A lightning bolt that strikes the mast and splits the deck beneath them
  • An unsetting polar star sustaining its piercing gaze through the arctic night
  • A great iron anchor dragging the ship relentlessly toward destruction
  • A dark storm cloud gathering and blotting out all sunlight from the sky

What happens to humor aboard the Pequod in this chapter?

  • Stubb becomes more frantic in his jokes, trying to offset the rising tension
  • Flask begins making grim jokes that anger Ahab and provoke punishment
  • All humor vanishes: Stubb stops raising smiles, Starbuck stops checking them
  • The crew develops a dark, gallows humor that bonds them against Ahab

How does the crew perceive Fedallah in Chapter 130?

  • They admire him as a wise mystic whose counsel might save them all
  • They view him with contempt as a stowaway who contributes nothing useful
  • They look at him dubiously, uncertain whether he is mortal or a tremulous shadow
  • They fear him as a sorcerer who has placed Ahab under an evil spell

How does Ahab manage his watch on deck without sleeping in his hammock?

  • He ties himself to the mainmast with rope and dozes standing upright
  • He stands in the cabin scuttle with his hat over his eyes so the crew cannot tell if he sleeps
  • He takes brief naps on a bench by the helm during Starbuck's watches
  • He uses Fedallah as a relief watch and retreats to his cabin every few hours

How does Melville describe the relationship between Ahab and Fedallah as they stand gazing at each other?

  • As captain and loyal first officer united by a shared sense of military duty
  • As hunter and hunting dog, one commanding and the other tracking by instinct
  • As if in the Parsee Ahab saw his forethrown shadow, in Ahab the Parsee his abandoned substance
  • As two chess players locked in a silent contest of wills over the ship's fate

Which ship had the Pequod recently met before Ahab's distrust of his crew grew?

  • The Delight, which had lost five men to Moby Dick's jaws
  • The Rachel, which was searching for her captain's missing son
  • The Samuel Enderby, whose captain had lost an arm to the White Whale
  • The Bachelor, returning home full of oil and celebrating its success

Why does Ahab decide to hoist himself to the mast-head?

  • He wants to test the new rigging the carpenter has installed for safety
  • Starbuck suggests the captain should set an example of diligence for the crew
  • He grows distrustful of his crew's willingness to spot the whale and wants the first sighting himself
  • Fedallah prophesies that only Ahab's eyes can perceive the White Whale from afar

To whom does Ahab entrust the safety rope that holds his basket aloft?

  • Queequeg, the most physically powerful harpooner aboard the ship
  • Fedallah, his constant watchman and mysterious spiritual companion
  • Stubb, the easy-going second mate who always follows orders without question
  • Starbuck, the one man who has dared oppose him and whose loyalty he seemed to doubt

What kind of bird attacks Ahab while he is aloft?

  • A white albatross that swoops from the clouds and circles his mast perch
  • A red-billed savage sea-hawk that wheels and screams around his head
  • A great grey pelican that mistakes his hat for a fish and dives at him
  • A pair of black cormorants that nest on the mast and defend their territory

What does the sea-hawk steal from Ahab?

  • The gold doubloon that Ahab had pinned to his coat for safekeeping
  • A length of rope that unravels and nearly causes his basket to fall
  • His hat, which the bird snatches with its long hooked bill and carries away
  • His spyglass, which the bird mistakes for a fish and drops into the sea

Who warns Ahab about the approaching bird?

  • Starbuck, calling up from the deck where he holds the safety rope
  • Fedallah, who sees the bird's shadow before anyone else notices it
  • A Sicilian seaman posted at the mizzen-mast-head, standing behind and below Ahab
  • Stubb, who shouts a warning from his position at the ship's helm

What classical omen does Melville compare to the sea-hawk stealing Ahab's hat?

  • A raven sitting on Pallas's bust and croaking "Nevermore" as a sign of eternal loss
  • An eagle circling Tarquin's head and removing then replacing his cap, prophesying kingship
  • An owl appearing at Caesar's window the night before his assassination in the Senate
  • A dove descending on Aeneas's shoulder to guide him safely through the underworld

Why is the Tarquin omen relevant as a contrast to Ahab's experience?

  • Tarquin's eagle was white while Ahab's hawk is black, symbolizing opposed fates
  • Tarquin's omen was good only because his cap was replaced, but Ahab's hat is never restored
  • Tarquin ignored the eagle and lost his throne, while Ahab ignores the hawk and loses his life
  • Tarquin's wife interpreted the omen, but Ahab has no one to read signs for him

What ultimately happens to Ahab's stolen hat?

  • The hawk drops it on the deck of a passing ship that refuses to return it
  • It is last seen as a minute black spot falling from a vast height into the sea
  • The hawk carries it to a rocky island where the crew later finds it shredded
  • It lands in the ocean nearby and a sailor retrieves it, but Ahab refuses it back

Comprehension Quiz

Question 1 of 0
Score: 0 / 0
Read Chapter
← Previous Next →