Name: ______Pd. ____

MOBY DICK ~ Reading Guide

Background Information

Epigraphs

  1. Of what do the epigraphs consist?
  1. Why do you think Melville included so many?
  1. Consider the narrator's reference to the “poor devil of a Sub-Sub” who has gone through the effort of collecting the references to whales. Why do you think the narrator sees him as a “poor devil”? (Hint: what do you think the Sub-Sub's intent was? Is he successful?)
  1. What kind of tone is set by this opening? Explain.

Chapter One: Loomings

  1. The narrative begins “Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely-- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world” (1). What implications does this greeting hold for our expectations of the narrator?
  1. Ishmael claims, “almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feeling towards the ocean with me” (1). How does he feel about the sea? What draws him to being a sailor?
  1. According to Ishmael, “when I go to sea, I go as a simple sailor” (4). Why does he do so? Why is going so both “simple” and not so “simple”?
  1. What other philosophical musings does Ishmael contemplate in this chapter?

Chapter Two: The Carpet Bag

  1. Ishmael arrives in New Bedford, Massachusetts the current capital of the American whaling industry, but for the sake of tradition, Ishmael is determined to ship in a Nantucket whaler as Nantucket was the original whaling center of New England and thus has to wait three days.
  1. The number three will become important in the novel. It is the third inn that appeals to Ishmael. What makes him reject the first two? Why does the third satisfy him?
  1. This chapter introduces the concept of racism. At this point what seem to be Ishmael's position on the subject? What evidence supports your position?

Chapter Three: The Spouter-Inn

  1. Name at least three parallels between the Inn and whaling.
  1. The painting Ishmael first observes upon entering the Inn (which by the way bares some similarities to a ship) is heavily symbolic. Summarize Ishmael's contemplations about this painting.
  1. Who is Bulkington? What about him attracts Ishmael's attention?
  1. When Ishmael requests a room, he is told he can have half a bed if he is willing to share with a mysterious harpooner. What initially unsettles Ishmael about this idea?
  1. After attempting and failing to craft another bed, Ishmael resigns himself to sleeping with the harpooner. However, when Queequeg arrives Ishmael becomes alarmed once again. What about Queequeg alarms Ishmael? (Be detailed)
  1. How does Ishmael's opinion of Queequeg change once he meets him?

Chapter Four: The Counterpane

  1. Ishmael tries to capture how strange he feels upon awaking trapped in Queequeg’s embrace by recounting a “supernatural” event in his childhood (26). Summarize this past experience and explain what similarities (and what difference) he finds between the events.
  1. Some modern literary critics have theorized that Ishmael and Queequeg’s relationship is sexual in nature. What do you think? What evidence supports your position?
  1. Though Ishmael’s flashback begins the chapter with a scary seriousness, things quickly become hilarious as Queequeg awakes and begins to dress. Ishmael states, “He was just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the strangest possible manner. His education was not yet completed” (27). Summarize Queequeg’s behavior in this section. What do Queequeg’s actions reveal about him? Conversely, how do Ishmael’s actions influence our understanding of him as our narrator?

Chapter 5: Breakfast

  1. Chapter Five focuses on the value of humor and on how preconceived assumptions can be misleading. Copy a quote dealing with each point.
  1. Why do you think the sailors are so quiet during breakfast?

Chapter 6: The Street

  1. New Bedford, and according to Ishmael all port towns, boasts a great variety of individuals. However, as interesting as the “nondescripts from foreign parts” and “actual cannibals” are, what sight does Ishmael find “still more curious [and] certainly more comical” (31)? What philosophical point does this help make?

Chapter 7: The Chapel

  1. How is the demeanor of this church different than the one Ishmael visits in Chapter Two (p.8).
  1. Why is Queequeg the only individual to notice Ishmael's entrance?
  1. Though Ishmael sympathizes with those mourning the lost of a love one he also contemplates the somewhat contradictory nature of their grief. Explain what Ishmael means when he says, “how it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead; wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city” (35).
  1. Explain why Ishmael harbor's no fear of death (35-36).

Chapter 8: The Pulpit

  1. Describe (or draw) the pulpit.
  1. Why is this architectural change an appropriate deviation from the norm? (two reasons)
  1. What symbolism does Ishmael see in Father Mapple's drawing up the ladder?

Chapter Nine: The Sermon

  1. Explain the paradox in Father Mapple's hymn: “And lift me deepening down to doom” (39). What other literary device is at play in this line?
  1. According to Father Mapple, what was Jonah's sin?
  1. How can man know the will of God?
  1. What convinces the Captain that Jonah is a fugitive? Why does he take Jonah onboard anyway?
  1. What object in his room causes Jonah agony? Explain why.
  1. Why is Jonah, according to Father Mapple, “a model for repentance” (45)? (the sermon's first lesson)
  1. What is the secondary lesson within the sermon?

Chapter Ten: A Bosom Friend

  1. What does it mean that Queequeg considers himself “married” to Ishmael?
  1. What actions to do each Queequeg and Ishmael take to show their regard for the other?
  1. What does Queequeg’s monetary gift to Ishmael suggest?

Chapter Eleven: Nightgown

  1. How does this chapter illustrate the deepening nature of Queequeg and Ishmael's friendship?

Chapter Twelve: Biographical

  1. Explain how Queequeg’s history reinforces Ishmael's conception of him as a noble and worthy friend.
  1. Why did Queequeg leave his island? Why has he not since returned?

Chapter Thirteen: Wheelbarrow

  1. What do Queequeg’s two anecdotes (short amusing stories) teach Ishmael?
  1. How does Queequeg’s behavior onboard the Moss further establish his noble nature?
  1. Ishmael contemplates sea voyages and concludes: “Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort” (57). How does this apply to whaling expeditions? How does it apply in other veins of life?
  1. Ishmael compares existence on land to that on the water exclaiming, “How I snuffed that Tartar air! --how I spurned that turnpike earth! – that common highway all over dented with the marks of slavish heels and hoofs; and turned me to admire the magnanimity of the sea which will permit no records” (57). Restate this line and explain why Ishmael might feel this way.
  1. What do we learn from Ishmael statement: “From that hour I clove to Queequeg like a barnacle; yea, till poor Queequeg took his last long dive” (59).

Chapter Fourteen: Nantucket

  1. This chapter reflects a shift in writing style and moves from a narrative tale to a travelogue, which adds depth and realism to the story but does not actually contribute to the plot of the main narrative.
  1. What impresses Ishmael about Nantucket and its residents?

Chapter Fifteen: Chowder

  1. The name of the inn Queequeg and Ishmael are directed to by Peter Coffin is the Try Pots. The inn is named after the large cauldrons used to render the oil in whale blubber. Explain the parallels between this Inn and the Spouter-Inn in Chapter Three. (Hint: why is Ishmael simultaneous pleased and unnerved by the inns?) By the way, Tophet is a biblical city that sacrificed children by burning them alive and is often consider a form of hell on earth.
  1. Despite the somewhat ominous opening, scenes of hilarity quickly ensure at the Try Pots. Name one example of humor in this chapter.
  1. Describe one instance from this chapter when a character has to search (quest/ explore) in order to reach an answer/understanding.

Chapter Sixteen: The Ship

  1. What are the names of the three ships available for Ishmael to ship on? What does each name suggest?
  1. Name the owners of the Pequod and describe their personality differences. In what way is their behavior ironic considering their religion?
  1. According to Ishmael, the Pequod is “a thing of trophies” and “[a] noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy! All noble things are touched with that” (67). Explain how this is true of the Pequod.
  1. What does Ishmael learn about Captain Ahab? What is he never to refer to in Ahab's presence?
  1. What is a lay? What lay is Ishmael offered?

Chapter Seventeen: The Ramadan

  1. Describe Mrs. Hussey's reaction to Ishmael's news that he can't get into the room and Queequeg is not responding to his queries.
  1. What does Ishmael think about Queequeg’s Ramadan?

Chapter Eighteen: His Mark

  1. According to Peleg, Ishmael would do better to “ship as a missionary, instead of a foremast hand [as he] never heard a better sermon.” What “sermon” does Ishmael give? How does this expand our understanding of the word “sermon”?
  1. What lay is Quohog offered? Why?
  1. Why does Peleg try to dissuade Bildad from converting Queequeg to Christianity?

Chapter Nineteen: The Prophet

  1. Describe the individual that Ishmael and Queequeg meet as they leave the Pequod. What is his name? Why is this significant?
  1. Consider the line: “’He’s got enough, though, to make up for all deficiencies of that sort in other chaps,’ abruptly said the stranger, placing a nervous emphasis upon the word he” (89). To whom is the stranger referring? What does he mean?
  1. Why does Ishmael feel full of “all kinds of vague wonderments and half-apprehensions”? (91)

Chapter Twenty: All Astir

  1. Why does it take so long to outfit the ship?
  1. Who is Aunt Charity?

Chapter Twenty-One: Going Aboard

  1. For what does Elijah want Ishmael to search upon boarding the ship?
  1. Discuss the implications of Elijah's statement, “Goodbye to ye. Shan’t see ye again very soon, I guess; unless it’s before the Grand Jury” (95).

Chapter Twenty-Two: Merry Christmas

  1. Explain why this chapter is entitled “Merry Christmas.”
  1. How long does Peleg seem to expect the voyage will take?
  1. Name one example of how Peleg and Bildad fail to live up to the standards of their religion (aka how they are hypocritical).

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Lee Shore

  1. Summarize Ishmael's contemplations about Bulkington. (Hint: It may be helpful to know that apotheosis (noun) is the elevation of someone to define status.)

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Advocate

  1. What arguments does Ishmael make to “advocate” the glory of whaling?

Chapter Twenty-Five: Postscript

  1. What additional argument does Ishmael ofter about the grandness of whaling?
  1. This chapter is humorous all the way around. It's not enough for Ishmael (Melville) to have given us a list of facts in the previous chapter to prove his point; now he's going to try to convince us with a logical guess (aka a “not unreasonable surmise” - p107) because that would be sooo much more convincing, right? Moreover, he then compares this “royal” example to ordinary objects and actions, such as dressing “a head of salad” or lubricating the inners of a machine (107). Ishmael is not oblivious to the humor either; he ends the chapter by cheerfully exclaiming, “Think of that, ye loyal Britons!” rubbing the irony in the faces of those who would sneer at the whaling profession (108).

Chapter Twenty-Six: Knights and Squires

  1. Describe Starbuck both physically and mentally. What is his role upon the ship?
  1. Explain Ishmael's view of mankind.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Knights and Squires

  1. Describe Stubb both physically and mentally. What is his role upon the ship?
  1. Describe Flask both physically and mentally. What is his nickname? What is his role upon the ship?
  1. Describe the three harpooners. For which of the three mates does each harpooner work?
  1. Ishmael claims, “Islanders seem to make the best whalemen. They were nearly all Islanders in the Pequod, Isolatoes too....” (115). What does he mean by calling them Isolatoes?
  1. What do you think Ishmael means when his says, “Poor Alabama boy! On the grim Pequod's forecastle, ye shall ere long see him, beating his tambourine; prelusive of the eternal time, when sent for, to the great quarter-deck on high, he was bid strike in with angels, and beat his tambourine in glory; called a coward here, hailed a hero there!” (115)?

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Ahab

  1. Describe Captain Ahab.
  1. What does Ishmael's diction reveal as he describes Ahab? Choose at least one of the following quotes to explore in depth.
  2. He looked like a man cut away from the stake... His whole high, broad form, seemed made of solid bronze, and shaped in an unalterable mould, like Cellini's cast Perseus” (117).
  • “Yes, their supreme lord and dictator was there, though hitherto unseen by any eyes not permitted to penetrate into the now sacred retreat of the cabin” (115-116).
  • “There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable willfulness, in the fixed and fearless, forward dedication of that glance” (118).
  • “And not only that, but moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe” (118).
  • “...the clouds that layer upon layer were piled upon his brow, as ever all clouds choose the loftiest peaks to pile themselves upon” (118).

Note: By the way, the spring weather is supposed to indicate that it is now April/May, which means about six months have passed since the Pequod's Christmas departure.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Enter Ahab; to Him, Stubb

  1. Note the Shakespearean qualities of the chapter title. This shift to drama (play) form will become more pronounced shortly.
  1. What do you think Ahab means when he asks, “Am I a cannon-ball, Stubb” (120)? In what other way(s) is this diction apt?
  1. How does Stubb react to Ahab's calling his first a dog and then “ten times a donkey, and a mule, and an ass” (121)? What does this reveal both about Ahab and about Stubb?
  1. What do you make of Stubb's comment, “He's full of riddles; I wonder what he goes into the after hold for, every night.... Who's made appointments with him in the hold?” (121).

Chapter Thirty: The Pipe

  1. What does the pipe signify for Ahab? What does his action suggest?

Chapter Thirty-One: Queen Mab

  1. Queen Mab is a fairy from Irish folklore first referenced in English literature by Mercutio in Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.” Basically, she plants naughty dreams in your head while you are sleeping.
  1. Summarize Stubb's dream.
  1. What conclusions does Stubb reach about his dream/ Ahab?

Chapter Thirty-Two: Cetology (p. 125-129, 138)

  1. Consider the tone and the message of the second paragraph.

“It is some systematized exhibition of the whale in his broad genera, that I would now fain put before you. Yet is it no easy task. The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed. Listen to what the best and latest authorities have laid down” (125).

  1. What definition does Ishmael provide for what constituents a whale?
  1. How does Ishmael plan to set up his categorical system? What are the names of the hierarchies of his leveling system? What significance does this have for our reading of Moby Dick?
  1. In Ishmael's opinion what is the greatest of all whales? How does this whale get its name?
  1. In the section of the chapter I am permitting you to skip, Ishmael continues with his classification system. He embeds a number of jokes centering around the fact that whales are a great mystery and thus we can't expect to completely understand anything having to do with them (often including the logic for his classification system). The only other key details is this: Seeing a Grampus (a type of whale) may mean that there’s a sperm whale nearby, hint hint.
  1. Why do you think Ishmael choose to compare writing to building? (Hint: there is multiple reasons (shocking, I know). For one, consider the subject matter of the section I had you focus on and then the diction of this paragraph. Melville's got another lewd joke in here for you.)

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Specksynder