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David Ives, Moby-Dude, Or: The Three-Minute Whale

David Ives, Moby-Dude, Or: The Three-Minute Whale

Read Moby-Dude, Or: The Three-Minute Whale and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.

1. Why does the narrator deliver this monologue?

to prove to his teacher he’s done the reading

to audition for a play

to make fun of Melville’s novel

to help his friend cram for a test

2. How does he interpret the relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg?

Their meeting recalls a story in the Odyssey.

They symbolize good and evil.

They satirize political figures of Melville’s time.

They represent Western and Eastern culture.

3. Why does he stop to tell Captain Ahab’s backstory?

It makes him a more sympathetic character.

Ahab has the same experiences as Ishmael.

He is trying to kill time.

It explains Ahab’s obsession with the whale.

4. Which of the following does the narrator NOT suggest as a possible symbolic meaning for Moby Dick?

white people

the past

truth

monarchy

5. If Ahab’s motive is idealism, what is first-mate Starbuck’s motive for pursuing the whale?

capitalism

adventure

revenge

science