Chapter 135 - The Chase - Third Day Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 135 - The Chase - Third Day
Why does Ahab order the Pequod to reverse course at the start of Chapter 135?
He realizes he has overshot the whale during the night. Moby Dick is now behind him, not ahead.
What does Ahab say about the wind in his masthead soliloquy?
He calls it noble and heroic because it can never be conquered, but also a coward because it strikes naked men yet has no body to receive a blow in return.
What is Starbuck's response when Ahab says some ships sail and are never seen again?
"Truth, sir: saddest truth."
What gesture passes between Ahab and Starbuck before Ahab lowers his boat for the last time?
They shake hands, and Starbuck weeps. Melville writes: "Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck's tears the glue."
What ominous sign appears as Ahab's boat pushes off from the Pequod?
Sharks rise from beneath the hull and snap at the oar blades, following Ahab's boat specifically.
What does Starbuck mean when he says "the first is the morning, the second the noon, and the third the evening and the end"?
In a three-day pursuit, the third day is the climax and conclusion. He senses the chase will end in death.
How does Moby Dick appear when he surfaces on the third day?
He rises trailing ropes, harpoons, and lances from the previous days, shrouded in a veil of mist, hovering in rainbowed air before crashing back into the sea.
What is found on Moby Dick's body during the final encounter?
The half-torn body of Fedallah the Parsee, lashed in coils of harpoon line wound around the whale during the night.
How does the discovery of Fedallah's body fulfill his prophecy?
Fedallah prophesied he would "go before" Ahab as his pilot. His corpse appears on the whale before Ahab dies, literally going before him in death.
What is the "first hearse" in Fedallah's prophecy?
Moby Dick himself, carrying Fedallah's corpse—a hearse "not made by mortal hands."
What is the "second hearse" in Fedallah's prophecy?
The Pequod itself. Ahab cries: "The ship! The hearse!—the second hearse! its wood could only be American!"
What is Starbuck's final plea to Ahab?
"Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!" He urges Ahab to desist even on the third day.
How does Moby Dick destroy the Pequod?
He turns and rams the ship's starboard bow with his forehead, breaching the hull. The crew hears water pouring through "as mountain torrents down a flume."
What are Ahab's most famous last words?
"From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."
How exactly does Ahab die?
The harpoon line runs foul, and when Ahab clears it, the flying turn catches around his neck and drags him out of the boat into the sea.
What is Stubb's reaction as the Pequod sinks?
He faces death with his characteristic dark humor, grinning at the whale and asking for "one red cherry" before dying.
What happens to Tashtego as the ship goes down?
He continues hammering Ahab's flag to the sinking mainmast. A sky-hawk gets caught between his hammer and the wood, and goes down with the ship.
What does Melville compare the sinking Pequod to?
Satan—"like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her."
What is the final image of the novel's main narrative?
"The great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago." The ocean closes over all evidence of the catastrophe.
What does Ahab's phrase "thou all-destroying but unconquering whale" mean?
The whale can kill Ahab but cannot break his will or spirit. Even in death, Ahab refuses to submit.
Who cries "O master, my master, come back!" from the cabin window?
A voice from the low cabin window—likely Pip, the Alabama boy who went mad and became devoted to Ahab.
What does the hemp in Fedallah's prophecy turn out to be?
The hemp harpoon line that catches around Ahab's neck and kills him—fulfilling the prophecy that "only hemp can kill thee."