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Moby Dick Trivia Trivia Quiz

I've done quizzes on 'Melville sans Moby' and Whales and Whaling. Now I'm ready to take on the White Whale himself!

A multiple-choice quiz by tjoebigham. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
tjoebigham

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
33,351

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
25

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
15 / 25

Plays
1445

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 223 (6/25), Guest 172 (14/25), Guest 47 (24/25).

This quiz has 2 formats: you can play it as a or as shown below.
Scroll down to the bottom for the answer key.

1. ""_____
_____
_____."
What three words form the opening sentence of Moby Dick, perhaps the most famous of all?

Answer: (Three Words NO PUNCTUATION)

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2. Where does Ishmael's harpooner friend Queequeg come from? Hint

Marquesas Islands

Tahiti

Kokovoko

Hawaii

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3. What little wooden idol does Queequeg worship? Hint

Yojo

Omoo

Loki

Srendi Vashtar

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4. What American president does Ishmael compare Queequeg to? Hint

Washington

Lincoln

Jefferson

Jackson

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5. What is the pulpit of the Seaman's Bethel shaped like in the book? Hint

a figurehead

a ship's stern

a ship's prow

a whaleboat

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6. Who are the owners of the 'Pequod'? Hint

Powell and Pressburger

Mack and Meyer

Bildad and Peleg

Cooper and Schoedsack

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7. Where does the 'Pequod' sail from? Hint

Fairhaven

Martha's Vineyard

Nantucket

New Bedford

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8. Besides Starbuck, who are the other two mates? Hint

Fine and Howard

Hecht and MacArthur

Stubb and Flask

Maryk and Keefer

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9. Who are Queequeg's fellow harpooners? Hint

Tom and Jerry

Bud and Lou

Stan and Ollie

Dagoo and Tashtego

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10. What other characters are black besides Dagoo? Hint

Uncle Tom and Eliza

Bill and Russell

Amos and Andy

Pip and the cook

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11. What is the first ship the 'Pequod' meets? Hint

Albatross

Charles W. Morgan

Wanderer

Lagoda

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12. Which leg of Ahab's was lost to Moby? Hint

left

both

right

never specified

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13. What reward does Ahab offer for he who first sights the White Whale? Hint

the hand of his daughter

a bar of gold

a gold doubloon

a million dollars

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14. Who does Queequeg rescue from the head of a sperm whale? Hint

Starbuck

Tashtego

Ishmael

Ahab

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15. What does Stubb discover in the bowels of a killed whale? Hint

a jack-knife

a piece of scrimshaw

a harpoon

ambergris

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16. What was the French whaler the 'Pequod' visited?

Answer: (think Orson Welles)

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17. What unusual part of a whale's anatomy is hauled up on the 'Pequod'? Hint

its penis

its kidneys

its pancreas

its prostate gland

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18. Where does the 'Samuel Enderby' come from? Hint

England

Scotland

Ireland

Australia

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19. What does Queequeg have the ship's carpenter make for him? Hint

a handle for his harpoon

his coffin

a new sea chest

a wooden idol

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20. What does Ahab temper his new harpoon with? Hint

blood

whale oil

wine

ambergris

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21. Which whaleship is looking for its captain's lost son? Hint

the Rachel

the Delight

the Bachelor

the Fidele

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22. What do Ahab and the crew see during a storm? Hint

a tidal wave

Sheet lightning

St. Elmo's Fire

Heat lightning

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23. Who first sees Moby Dick? Hint

Pip

Starbuck

Ahab

Queequeg

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24. After Moby Dick destroys the 'Pequod' and kills Ahab and the rest of the crew, what saves Ishmael? Hint

a spar

Queequeg's coffin

a whaleboat

a fiendly dolphin

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25. What was the ship that rescued Ishmael? Hint

Samuel Enderby

Rosebud

Rachel

Albatross

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. ""_____ _____ _____." What three words form the opening sentence of Moby Dick, perhaps the most famous of all?

Answer: Call me Ishmael

Ishmael, of course, being the narrator of the tale and named after the outcast son of Abraham's servant Hagar.

2. Where does Ishmael's harpooner friend Queequeg come from?

Answer: Kokovoko

Though Melville's first book 'Typee' was about the Marquesas, he had Queequeg come from the fictional isle of Kokovoko, which is '...not down on any map. True places never are.'

3. What little wooden idol does Queequeg worship?

Answer: Yojo

'Omoo' was Melville's second book, Hector Hugh 'Saki' Munro created Srendi Vashtar(a ferret) and Loki is the Norse god of evil(ever read the Marvel Comics about Thor?)

4. What American president does Ishmael compare Queequeg to?

Answer: Washington

'Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed.' Frederic Ledebur, who played him in the John Huston version, most resembled Melville's description.

5. What is the pulpit of the Seaman's Bethel shaped like in the book?

Answer: a ship's prow

The Seaman's Bethel does exist in New Bedford today, as it did in Melville's time, and the ship's-prow pulpit there was inspired by Huston's film.

6. Who are the owners of the 'Pequod'?

Answer: Bildad and Peleg

'Mack and Meyer' was a live-action comedy series back in the 60s; the other two are movie directing teams: Cooper and Schoedsack did 'King Kong', Powell and Pressburger did 'The Red Shoes'.

7. Where does the 'Pequod' sail from?

Answer: Nantucket

True, New Bedford became the prime whaling port of the world, but Nantucket was first! Actually, Melville went whaling on a ship from Fairhaven, my hometown!

8. Besides Starbuck, who are the other two mates?

Answer: Stubb and Flask

You should know what the third wrong answer refers to, Hecht and MacArthur are best known for 'The Front Page', and the middle two are from Wouk's 'Caine Mutiny.'( Whether Queeg got his name from Queequeg, I don't know!)

9. Who are Queequeg's fellow harpooners?

Answer: Dagoo and Tashtego

Dagoo, the giant African, and Tashtego, the Gay Head Indian from Martha's Vineyaard.

10. What other characters are black besides Dagoo?

Answer: Pip and the cook

Ignore the wrong answers! The cook delivers a comic sermon to sharks trying to eat a killed whale. Pip is not to be confused with his white counterpart in Dickens' 'Great Expectations.'

11. What is the first ship the 'Pequod' meets?

Answer: Albatross

Named after the bird of ill fortune, it is the first of many bad omens for the 'Pequod'.

12. Which leg of Ahab's was lost to Moby?

Answer: never specified

Though in most illustrations and the movie versions, Ahab's missing left leg rests on a stump carved from a whale's jawbone, Melville never identified which leg was the missing one.

13. What reward does Ahab offer for he who first sights the White Whale?

Answer: a gold doubloon

Ahab only has a son! He nails the doubloon to the main mast.

14. Who does Queequeg rescue from the head of a sperm whale?

Answer: Tashtego

When the sperm whale's head is hauled on board, Tashtego slips and falls in and Queequeg saves him. Earlier in the book, he saved a man who taunted him on the ferry to Nantucket.

15. What does Stubb discover in the bowels of a killed whale?

Answer: ambergris

Ambergris is a fragrant substance formed in the intestines of ailing whales that was an important ingredient of perfumes of the time.

16. What was the French whaler the 'Pequod' visited?

Answer: Rosebud

It was actually the French 'Bouton-de-Rose' and an ironically stinking one for its name!

17. What unusual part of a whale's anatomy is hauled up on the 'Pequod'?

Answer: its penis

In the chapter 'The Cassock', the foreskin from a sperm whale's penis is worn by the mincer, who cuts up chunks of blubber for the try-works. '...what a candidate for an archbishoprick...were this mincer!' A phallic pun echoed in the book's title!

18. Where does the 'Samuel Enderby' come from?

Answer: England

The English captain was played in Huston's film by James Robertson Justice who co-starred with Gregory Peck(Ahab) in 'Captain Horatio Hornblower'.

19. What does Queequeg have the ship's carpenter make for him?

Answer: his coffin

Thinking he will die soon, Queequeg has the carpenter build a {coffin;} at the book's end it will have an ironic use indeed!

20. What does Ahab temper his new harpoon with?

Answer: blood

Specifically, the blood of the harpooneers. And Ahab howls over it, 'Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!'( I baptize thee not in the name of the Father, but in the name of the devil!)

21. Which whaleship is looking for its captain's lost son?

Answer: the Rachel

Of course the 'Rachel' will be seen again...and the 'Fidele' is the Mississippi steamboat from Melville's later 'Confidence Man'!

22. What do Ahab and the crew see during a storm?

Answer: St. Elmo's Fire

The crew is terrified by St. Elmo's Fire or the 'corposants'(static electricity, really), viewing it as an evil omen.

23. Who first sees Moby Dick?

Answer: Ahab

Tashtego says he spotted Moby first, but Ahab claims the coin for himself.

24. After Moby Dick destroys the 'Pequod' and kills Ahab and the rest of the crew, what saves Ishmael?

Answer: Queequeg's coffin

The coffin was turned into a lifebuoy, lucky for Ishmael!

25. What was the ship that rescued Ishmael?

Answer: Rachel

Still looking for the captain's son, the 'Rachel' '...only found another orphan.' Ishmael.

Source: Author tjoebigham

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Most Recent Scores

Sep 20 2023 : Guest 223: 6/25
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