Chapter 134 - The Chase - Second Day Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville
Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 134 - The Chase - Second Day
Why is Moby Dick not visible when the crew mans the mast-heads at daybreak?
- The whale has dived deep and will not resurface for several more hours
- A thick fog obscures the ocean in every direction around the ship
- The whale has traveled faster than Ahab anticipated during the night
- The crew is looking in the wrong direction based on faulty compass readings
What skill does Melville compare to a pilot taking compass bearings on a known coastline?
- The harpooner's ability to throw his weapon accurately from a rocking boat
- The whaleman's ability to predict a whale's future course and speed when out of sight
- The navigator's ability to read the stars and determine latitude at night
- The captain's ability to judge wind patterns and adjust sail trim accordingly
How does Melville describe the crew's individual fears being overcome?
- They are washed away like sand before a rising tide on an open beach
- They are extinguished like candle flames in a sudden gust of cold wind
- They are routed like timid prairie hares scattering before a bounding bison
- They are buried like seeds beneath frozen ground during a harsh winter
What metaphor does Melville use to describe how the thirty crew members become unified?
- A river formed from many tributaries that merge into one unstoppable current
- A ship built of contrasting materials yet directed by one central keel
- An orchestra of different instruments producing a single harmonious sound
- A chain forged from separate iron links that cannot be broken apart
How does Moby Dick first reveal his presence on the second day?
- By spouting a calm, mystic fountain visible as a distant plume on the horizon
- By surfacing silently beside the ship and scraping his body along the hull
- By breaching -- launching his entire body from the water in a spectacular leap
- By charging directly at the ship's bow before diving under the keel at speed
What does Melville compare Moby Dick's spray to when the whale breaches?
- A volcanic eruption sending molten rock and ash cascading into the sky
- A glacier that intolerably glittered, then faded like a shower advancing in a vale
- A fireworks display that scattered golden sparks across the twilight sky
- A waterfall crashing down from a mountain cliff into a deep green pool
What tactical approach does Ahab plan when closing in on Moby Dick?
- To circle the whale at a distance and gradually tighten the ring of boats
- To approach from behind the whale's flukes where it cannot easily turn
- To pull straight up to the whale's forehead, which avoids its sidelong vision
- To split the boats in three directions so the whale cannot charge all at once
What causes all three harpoon lines to become entangled during the battle?
- The crews panic and cross each other's paths while trying to flee the attack
- Moby Dick deliberately crosses and recrosses through the lines in his evolutions
- A sudden storm whips the loose lines into tangles across all three boats
- Ahab orders the boats to converge, accidentally crossing the lines together
What happens to the boats of Stubb and Flask?
- They are dragged beneath the surface and lost entirely in the deep ocean
- They are dashed together like two rolling husks on a surf-beaten beach
- They are flipped into the air by the whale breaching directly beneath them
- They collide with each other while trying to evade the whale's charge
How is Ahab's boat destroyed?
- Moby Dick bites it in half with his massive jaws while the crew leaps overboard
- The whale's tail sweeps across the surface and shatters the boat lengthwise
- The whale surfaces beneath it, striking the bottom with his forehead and flipping it into the air
- The tangled harpoon lines pull the boat under the water as the whale dives
What physical injury does Ahab sustain during the second day's battle?
- His arm is broken by a loose spar when the boat flips over in the water
- His ivory leg is snapped off, leaving only one short sharp splinter behind
- His shoulder is dislocated when he is thrown from the overturned whaleboat
- His forehead is gashed by a flying harpoon that rebounds off the whale's hide
Who is discovered missing when Ahab musters the crew after the battle?
- Queequeg, the harpooner who was stationed in Starbuck's whaleboat
- Pip, the cabin boy who had been left aboard the Pequod during the chase
- Flask, the third mate who was last seen bobbing in the water after his boat sank
- Fedallah the Parsee, who was caught in the tangles of Ahab's harpoon line
What does Ahab mean when he says "I am the Fates' lieutenant; I act under orders"?
- He believes Starbuck is secretly giving orders that undermine his command of the ship
- He claims the entire chase is cosmically predetermined, not a matter of personal choice
- He is referring to orders from the ship's owners to hunt valuable sperm whales
- He suggests that Fedallah's prophecies are divine instructions he must obey literally
What omen about "drowning things" does Ahab apply to Moby Dick?
- Drowning things cry out three times before going silent beneath the waves forever
- Drowning things sink to the bottom and never rise again once the current takes hold
- Drowning things will twice rise to the surface, then rise once more only to sink for evermore
- Drowning things always surface on the third day as a sign of final judgment at sea
What does the crew do throughout the night after the second day's battle?
- They hold a solemn funeral service for Fedallah by lantern light on the main deck
- They sleep in exhaustion while only Ahab and Starbuck keep the night watch
- They rig spare boats and sharpen fresh weapons while the carpenter makes Ahab a new leg
- They debate mutiny in the forecastle while Ahab paces alone on the quarterdeck
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