Chapter 132 - The Symphony Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville
Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 132 - The Symphony
How does Melville personify the air and sea at the opening of Chapter 132?
- The air is described as angry and turbulent, while the sea is calm and forgiving
- The air is feminine, pure and soft, while the sea is masculine, heaving with powerful swells
- The air is described as cold and metallic, while the sea is warm and inviting
- The air is dark and threatening, while the sea is bright and crystalline in the sunlight
What unprecedented thing does Ahab do as he leans over the ship's side?
- He speaks kindly to a passing whale and lets it swim freely beneath the ship
- He throws the gold doubloon into the ocean and renounces his hunt for Moby Dick
- He drops a single tear into the sea, a rare moment of vulnerability and emotion
- He calls out to the crew and apologizes for the hardships of the long voyage
How long has Ahab been whaling, according to his confession to Starbuck?
- Twenty years, since he inherited command of the Pequod from its previous captain
- Thirty years, beginning as a common sailor before rising to become a ship's captain
- Forty years, since he was a boy-harpooneer of eighteen years old on his first voyage
- Fifty years, having gone to sea as a young child following in his father's footsteps
What does Ahab reveal about the day after his wedding?
- He celebrated with his crew in Nantucket before setting out on a brief coastal voyage
- He sailed for Cape Horn the next day, leaving but one dent in his marriage pillow
- He took his new bride aboard the Pequod for a honeymoon voyage around the Cape
- He remained home for three months before the pull of the sea became too strong
Which of these events actually happens in Chapter 132?
- Starbuck passionately urges Ahab to abandon the hunt and sail home to Nantucket
- Ahab agrees to alter the course and orders the helmsman to steer for home
- Queequeg joins Starbuck in confronting Ahab about the dangers of pursuing the whale
- Ahab destroys the compass and declares that fate alone will guide the ship
What does Ahab say about looking into Starbuck's eyes?
- He sees nothing but the same emptiness and obsession that haunts his own reflection
- He sees his wife and child reflected there, and calls Starbuck's eye a "magic glass"
- He sees the White Whale lurking behind Starbuck's gaze, a sign of their shared fate
- He sees the fires of the blacksmith's forge where his special harpoon was tempered
What simile does Melville use to describe Ahab when he rejects Starbuck's plea to turn home?
- Like a great iron chain pulled taut by an unseen anchor in the deep ocean below
- Like a lightning-struck oak that still stands but is charred hollow at its core
- Like a blighted fruit tree that shook and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil
- Like a weathered headstone in a cemetery, immovable and inscribed with forgotten names
In Ahab's speech, what does the word "cozening" mean in the phrase "what cozening, hidden lord and master"?
- Comforting or soothing, offering false reassurance to ease one's troubled mind
- Deceiving or tricking, cheating by means of artful persuasion or flattery
- Powerful or commanding, exercising authority through brute force and intimidation
- Ancient or primordial, existing since before the beginning of recorded history
What philosophical question does Ahab raise in his soliloquy about the sun and stars?
- Whether the natural world is indifferent to human suffering or actively hostile to it
- Whether God created the whale as a test of faith or as punishment for human pride
- Whether his own actions are freely chosen or determined by an invisible external power
- Whether the ocean belongs to man or to the creatures that dwell within its depths
What metaphor does Ahab use to describe the relationship between humans and fate?
- Humans are like ships tossed on an ocean whose currents are controlled by unseen tides
- Humans are turned round and round like a windlass, and Fate is the handspike that turns them
- Humans are like puppets on strings pulled by a cruel and invisible puppet master above
- Humans are like sparks thrown from a forge, briefly bright before darkness reclaims them
Which of these events does NOT happen in Chapter 132?
- Ahab drops a tear into the sea while leaning over the ship's side in a rare display of emotion
- Starbuck approaches Ahab carefully and the two share a deeply emotional exchange about family
- Ahab orders the helmsman to change course and briefly steers toward Nantucket before reversing
- Fedallah is found motionlessly leaning over the rail after Starbuck steals away in despair
What does the word "inscrutable" mean in Ahab's phrase "what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing"?
- Extremely dangerous and threatening to anyone who encounters or approaches it
- Ancient and forgotten, lost to the memory of all living human beings
- Impossible to understand or interpret, utterly mysterious and impenetrable
- Physically enormous and overwhelming, too vast for the human mind to grasp
What happens to Starbuck at the end of the chapter?
- He confronts Ahab angrily and threatens to take command of the ship by force
- He returns to his cabin and writes a letter to his wife, resigned to his fate at sea
- He is blanched to a corpse's hue with despair and steals away from Ahab silently
- He remains at Ahab's side and vows to protect the captain during the final chase
Who does Ahab find when he crosses the deck after Starbuck leaves?
- Stubb, who is whittling a piece of whale bone and humming a tune to himself
- Queequeg, who gazes silently at the sea and offers Ahab a gesture of solidarity
- Pip, the cabin boy, who follows Ahab everywhere and speaks in riddles about the deep
- Fedallah, motionlessly leaning over the rail with two reflected, fixed eyes in the water
What is the structural significance of Chapter 132 within the novel?
- It is the midpoint of the novel where the plot shifts from exposition to rising action
- It is the last calm, reflective chapter before the three-day chase of Moby Dick begins
- It is the climax of the novel where Ahab makes his irreversible decision to pursue the whale
- It is an epilogue-like chapter that reflects on events already concluded in earlier passages
Comprehension Quiz
Question 1 of 0
Score: 0 / 0