Moby Dick

Moby Dick

Literary Analysis: Symbol

In Moby-Dick, many elements take on symbolic meanings as the novel progresses. A symbol is a person, place, action, or thing that also represents an abstract meaning beyond itself. In the following passage, for example, the sharks may be symbols of Ahab’s destructive behavior or the destructive response of nature to Ahab’s mad pursuit of the whale.

And still as Ahab glided over the waves the unpitying sharks accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck to the boat; and so continually bit at the plying oars, that the blades became jagged and crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, at almost every dip.

Open Ended

“I came here to hunt whales, not my commander’s vengeance. How many barrels will thy vengeance yield thee even if thou gettest it, Captain Ahab? It will not fetch thee much in our Nantucket market.”

“ Nantucket market! hoot! But come closer , Starbuck.... ”

“Vengeance on a dumb brute!” cried Starbuck, “that simply smote thee from blindest instinct! Madness! To be enraged with a dumb thing, Captain Ahab, seems blasphemous.”

Open Ended

“The ship? Great God, where is the ship?”. . . Concentric circles seized the lone boat itself, and all its crew, and each floating oar, and every lance pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried the smallest chip of the Pequod out of sight.

Open Ended

A sky hawk that tauntingly had followed the main-truck downwards from its natural home among the stars, . . . this bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing between the hammer and the wood: and simultaneously feeling that ethereal thrill, the submerged savage beneath, in his deathgrasp, kept his hammer frozen there: and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her.

Multiple Choice

In Moby-Dick, why does Captain Ahab seek vengeance against the white whale?

• The whale keeps escaping his harpoon.

• The whale has taken his leg in a struggle.

• The whale chases other whales away.

• The whale keeps attacking the Pequod.

Multiple Choice

How does Ahab persuade the crew to help him find the whale in Moby-Dick?

• He appeals to their pride.

• He appeals to their loyalty.

• He appeals to their skills.

• He appeals to their greed.

Multiple Choice

In Moby-Dick, what does the gold coin symbolize for the crew?

• Ahab’s fortune from his business

• their reward for finding the whale

• the Pequod’s profits from whaling

• Ahab’s wish to seem better than them

Multiple Choice

In Moby-Dick, who continually tries to make Ahab call off his mission of revenge?

• Stubb

• Queequeg

• Daggoo

• Starbuck

Multiple Choice

Ahab tells Starbuck, “Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me,” Of what larger theme is this a detail?

• Ahab sins by putting himself in place of God.

• The sun shines very intensely on the Pequod.

• Ahab does not like to be lectured to by his officers.

• Starbuck is jealous of Ahab’s power.

Multiple Choice

In Moby-Dick, what is the symbolic meaning of Ahab having his crew drink from their weapons?

• They are promising not to hunt while drunk.

• They are toasting Ahab’s great leadership.

• They are promising to find the white whale.

• They are cleaning their weapons for later use.

Multiple Choice

In Moby-Dick, what does the whale symbolize to Ahab in this passage? Retribution, swift vengeance, eternal malice were in his whole aspect... his forehead smote the ship’s starboard bow, till men and timbers reeled.

• a force of nature

• an important helper

• a strong god

• a powerful enemy