Chapter 42 - The Whiteness of The Whale Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 42 - The Whiteness of The Whale

What quality of Moby Dick does Ishmael say frightened him more than anything else?

  • The whale's immense size and destructive power
  • The whiteness of the whale
  • The whale's intelligence and cunning behavior
  • The legends of death surrounding the whale

According to Ishmael, whiteness strikes more panic to the soul than what other color?

  • The blackness that conceals hidden dangers
  • The yellowness of plague and pestilence
  • The redness which affrights in blood
  • The grey of storm clouds and tempests

Which two white animals does Ishmael cite as examples of whiteness intensifying terror?

  • The white dove and the white swan of legend
  • The white bear of the poles and the white shark of the tropics
  • The white stag of mythology and the albino snake
  • The white wolf of Siberia and the white raven

What is the French name for the white shark that Ishmael mentions, and what does it allude to?

  • Blanc-mort, alluding to the white death of winter storms
  • Requin, alluding to the Requiem mass for the dead
  • Phantome, alluding to the ghostly appearance of the fish
  • Spectre, alluding to the pale spirit of the deep

What had Ishmael NOT done when he first saw the albatross during an Antarctic gale?

  • He had not yet sailed south of the equator
  • He had not read Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner
  • He had not yet witnessed a whale hunt at sea
  • He had not spoken with any experienced sailors

What is the White Steed of the Prairies?

  • A carved figurehead on a famous whaling ship
  • A legendary milk-white wild horse of the American West
  • A constellation visible from the Great Plains at night
  • A white buffalo revered in Native American mythology

What does Ishmael find horrifying about the Albino man?

  • His unusual height and imposing physical stature
  • His pale eyes that seem to peer into the supernatural world
  • His all-pervading whiteness makes him hideous despite having no deformity
  • His inability to tolerate sunlight forces him into darkness

Why does Ishmael say the city of Lima is the "strangest, saddest city"?

  • Because its ancient temples were destroyed by foreign conquest
  • Because Lima has "taken the white veil" and whiteness keeps its ruins forever new
  • Because it was built on volcanic ash and perpetually grey skies
  • Because the Spanish colonizers painted every building uniform white

According to Ishmael, what does whiteness "shadow forth" about the universe?

  • The divine light that illuminates all of creation
  • The heartless voids and immensities of the universe
  • The infinite mercy of a benevolent Creator God
  • The cyclical renewal of nature through destruction

What does Ishmael say whiteness is, in terms of color theory?

  • The purest expression of a single wavelength of light
  • The darkest shade perceivable by the human eye at night
  • Not so much a color as the visible absence of color, and yet the concrete of all colors
  • A mixture of the primary hues blue, red, and yellow

What analogy does Ishmael use to explain instinctive, irrational terror?

  • A child frightened by shadows dancing on the bedroom wall
  • A Vermont colt panicking at the smell of a wild buffalo robe
  • A dog howling at the moon on a cloudless winter night
  • A bird refusing to land on a ship painted entirely white

What does Ishmael compare Nature to in the chapter's climactic passage?

  • A master painter whose canvas reveals divine truth
  • A harlot whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within
  • A kind mother sheltering her children from harsh realities
  • A magician performing beautiful tricks of pure light

What does Ishmael conclude about the visible and invisible worlds?

  • Both the visible and invisible worlds were formed in divine love
  • The visible world seems formed in love, but the invisible spheres were formed in fright
  • The invisible world mirrors the beauty of the visible one
  • Neither world has any underlying meaning or purpose at all

What is the final sentence of Chapter 42?

  • "And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol."
  • "Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?"
  • "The whiteness of the whale appalled me still."
  • "Thus ends the meditation on that which cannot be named."

What experience does the mariner find more terrifying than the roar of breakers at night?

  • Seeing St. Elmo's fire dancing on the ship's masts
  • Hearing the cries of drowning sailors in a distant wreck
  • Sailing through a midnight sea of milky whiteness
  • Watching a massive whale surface directly beneath the keel

Comprehension Quiz

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