"Moby Dick": Melville's Masterpiece Quiz

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

"Moby Dick" is ranked as one of the greatest symbolic novels written in English, as well as one of the greatest English works of fiction. It utilizes Melville's own experiences at sea, his intimate awareness of whaling, and his extensive knowledge of the Bible, Shakespeare, and Milton. Melville also employed: Owen Chase's 1821 "Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex", that details the true story about how a sperm whale rammed and sank the "Essex" (Chase was one of eight survivors); and "Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific; A Leaf From a Manuscript Journal" by Jeremiah N. Reynolds (published in "The Knickerbocker" in May, 1939) that tells of an actual white sperm whale and its many encounters with whalers.

Answer: 1851

It was published in 1851, first in Britain by Richard Bentley October 18, 1851, then in the United States by Harper & Brothers on November 14, 1851. (The two editions have several differences, a few significant but most minor.) Between its publication and September 28, 1891 when Melville died, only about 3200 copies were sold. It was a commercial failure.

Answer: Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the summer of 1850, Melville bought a home in Pittsfield, MA, a few miles from Hawthorne's home in Lennox. They met at a picnic and became friends. The dedication resulted. However, the friendship did not last and was effectively over by 1852 (for no definite reason).

Answer: Genesis

In Genesis 16:1-16, 17:18-25, 21:6-21, and 25:9-17 (RSV), is the story of the birth of Ishmael to Abram and the maid Hagar and their subsequent history after being cast out into the wilderness. Ismael ultimately becomes a wanderer, who, dying in the desert, is saved by a miracle when a well of water suddenly appears.

The Biblical Ishmael, thus, is the prototype of an outcast and wanderer. In "Moby Dick", Ishmael is a solitary wanderer who enters the "wilderness" of the vast ocean. He, too, escapes death by a "miracle" (when he is able to climb onto the coffin to escape the sea and the whale). [The analogy between the two is far more complex than this brief summary.]

Answer: I Kings 16

The story of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel is found in I Kings 16:29-22:40 (RSV). He is immediately portrayed as a symbol of evil: "And Ahab the son of Omni did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him" I Kings 16:30 (RSV). King Ahab is a greedy, egotistical, tyrant who, when he becomes obsessed with something will do anything to get it.

For example, obsessed with possessing a vineyard owned by Naboth, he becomes enraged when Naboth refuses to sell it; he and Jezebel then falsely accuse Naboth and have him stoned to death. Captain Ahab is an egotistical and evil tyrant who is obsessed with killing Moby Dick at any cost. Both characters bring on their own downfalls. [The relationships Melville draws between the two Ahabs are extraordinarily complicated.]

Answer: Queequeg

Before they ship out, both end up, unknown to each other, booked into the same room. Queequeg is from the South Pacific, a cannibal, who left home to see the world. Although on their first meeting Queequeg threatens to murder Ishmael, Ishmael remarks, "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." The next day, they awake and become friends.

Their friendship is the only real bond between humans who appear in the entire novel.

Answer: Moby Dick chomped off one of Ahab's legs from the knee down.

When Ahab first appears on deck after the "Pequod" goes to sea, he informs his crew that he will reward with a gold coin whoever sights the white whale first, telling them about his desire the avenge himself on the whale that caused him to have an artificial leg made out of a whale's jaw.

Answer: Starbuck

Starbuck wants to live to get back to his young family. Although he considers Ahab mad, he feels obligated to obey the Captain. Stubb, a pipe smoker and optimist, is the Second Mate in charge of a whaleboat. Flask is the Third Mate. Queequeg is the main harpooner.

Answer: A Native American tribe

The ship was apparently named for the Pequot tribe of the Algonquins. Some scholars think that the name of the ship suggests failure, because the Pequots did not survive the diseases brought by the Europeans. Others point out that two Pequot tribes still exist in Connecticut.

Answer: 1

In the final battle, Moby Dick destroys two whaling boats and, after Ahab harpoons him, tosses the sailors in a third boat into the sea. All get back in the boat, except Ishmael, and are dragged under by the whale. Moby Dick then attacks and destroys the "Pequod" killing all aboard. Ahab throws another harpoon, but gets entangled in the ropes and is carried away by the whale. Ishmael survives when the coffin built by Queequeg surfaces and he climbs on it.

He is later rescued by the "Rachel", another whaling ship.