Moby Dick

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Ahab’s Last Letter”

In this activity, students will creative and critical thinking skills to compose a letter from Ahab to his family.

Channel your inner Captain Ahab, imagining that you are finally closing in on Moby Dick after a long wait. Recognizing the dangers of the battle that lies ahead, you draft a letter—ultimately your last letter—to your wife and son back home. What does this letter say? How does the tone and word choice convey subtext regarding your emotions, fears, and desires? As you write your letter, consider the following:

• What plans and hopes would Ahab want to tell his family about?
• Does Ahab recognize the danger he is in? Or will he hide any doubts he has from his family?
• What are some stories from the voyage Ahab might relay to his wife and son? What are some stories he might omit?
• Would Ahab tell his family about Moby Dick? To what extent would he detail the whale’s appearance, actions, and traits?

Present your letter or an excerpt of your letter to the class. As others read their letters, take notes on the ways in which phrasing, word choice, and connotation contribute to tone. Create a class discussion on the role of relationships and responsibility in the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: Students should attempt to imitate Ahab’s distinctive voice as they write their letters; one way to encourage this is through review of his speeches from the novel and taking note of his favorite vocabulary and themes. This activity might be introduced with a class discussion focused on the motif of communication with home in the novel (e.g., the role of other whale ships in carrying letters from one ship back home), or the idea recording one’s feelings or thoughts in writing (as when Ishmael writes his will).

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with musical interests and/or intelligences, a song or musical composition that represents Ahab’s emotions and overall condition in his final days might accompany the letter; students can explain to the class how the musical piece is representative. Students might also use photography or videography as creative ways to capture and describe this aspect of Ahab’s character.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Melville represents non-white, non-Christian characters such as Queequeg in important roles in the novel.

• How does Melville represent characters who are not white or Christian? (topic sentence)
• Choose 2-3 non-white, non-Christian characters from the novel (e.g., Queequeg, Fedallah, Tashtego) whose role contributes to plot, theme, suspense, foreshadowing, or other story elements. Analyze and discuss the ways in which these characters are described and characterized in support of your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate to what extent Melville overcomes the racist and Eurocentric stereotypes and biases of his time in portraying characters from other cultures and ethnicities.

2. On more than one occasion, Ishmael goes into long digressions on the scientific and cultural background of whales and whaling.

• What is the purpose of Ishmael’s digressions on whales and whaling? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss 3 of Ishmael’s digressions on whales and whaling, evaluating the role of these departures within the novel. Explore their location in the text, contribution to tone or mood, impact on the reader, and/or other points.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on what Ishmael’s digressions add to the story.

3. Within the novel, humor and levity are demonstrated by various characters.

• How is humor used in the novel and what is its purpose? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss at least 3 examples of humor from the novel in support of your topic sentence.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate with brief rationale whether Melville’s use of humor in the novel is ultimately effective or inappropriate.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Toward the end of the novel, Ahab and Pip develop a close bond, seemingly recognizing one another’s inability to grasp reality. In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, reflect on the larger role of mental and emotional health within the novel. What challenges do Ahab and Pip face? What is the purpose of their relationship, and what does it add to the story?

2. As he approaches his final battle with Moby Dick, Ahab asks himself: “Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm?” (Chapter 132). Why does Ahab continue to pursue his goal so relentlessly, when even he knows what the likely result will be? What drives Ahab on? In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, analyze and discuss the role of fate in Ahab’s story and the role of fate in the novel as a whole.

3. Over the course of the novel, the white whale comes to mean many things to many characters. Even for Ahab, the white whale is more than just Moby Dick: “That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him” (Chapter 36). In a 3- or 5-paragraph essay, explore some of the views that others acquire of the white whale in the novel. Which of these views do you think the book emphasizes the most? What is the impact of these views on the novel’s overall message and individual themes?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. When does Ishmael say he seeks work on a ship?

A) When he needs money for basic necessities

B) When he is running from the law

C) When he wants to experience the challenge of fishing

D) When he becomes alienated from everyday life

2. What makes New Bedford so wealthy?

A) The aristocracy

B) The discovery of petroleum

C) The fishing industry

D) The whale oil trade

3. What does Queequeg means when he says he and Ishmael are “married”?

A) That they are lovers

B) That they are close friends

C) That they are shipmates

D) That they have a similar fate

4. Why does Captain Peleg insist that whaling is not a good way to see the world?

A) Whaling crews usually see nothing but water.

B) Whale ships do not venture far.

C) Whaling voyages are usually brief.

D) Whale ships are very small.

5. Which of the following is NOT one of Starbuck’s characteristics?

A) Experience

B) Trustworthiness

C) Obsessiveness

D) Good instincts

6. Why does Ahab throw his pipe into the sea?

A) It no longer soothes him.

B) He thinks it will summon Moby Dick.

C) It is broken.

D) He associates addiction with weakness.

7. What is “cetology”?

A) A catalog of ships

B) The study of whales

C) A synonym for the whaling profession

D) The name of a whale species

8. Who is the only person who fears Ahab’s desire to capture Moby Dick from the beginning?

A) Queequeg

B) Ishmael

C) Starbuck

D) Fedallah

9. What does Ishmael mean when he tells the reader that every gallon of whale oil burned is a drop of human blood?

A) That whale oil contains a lot of blood

B) That whaling is dangerous

C) That whale oil is red

D) That whale oil is very expensive

10. Why is mirth an important part of whaling?

A) It distracts from the danger.

B) It offsets the boredom.

C) It encourages socialization between sailors.

D) It proves that whale oil is hallucinogenic.

11. What is done with a whale’s head after the carcass is stripped?

A) It is eaten.

B) It is thrown into the sea.

C) It is used as bait to catch sharks.

D) It is fastened to the side of the ship.

12. What literary device is Melville using when he writes, “There is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces” (Chapter 96)?

A) Personification

B) Alliteration

C) Metaphor

D) Rhyme

13. Who prophesies Ahab’s death?

A) Fedallah

B) Queequeg

C) Tashtego

D) Ahab

14. How does Moby Dick escape Ahab on the first day of the hunt?

A) He swims away very quickly.

B) He bites his boat in half.

C) He attacks the Pequod.

D) He dodges all of his harpoons.

15. What is Ahab’s hearse of American wood?

A) Queequeg’s coffin

B) The Pequod

C) The Rachel

D) His harpoon

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. What is Gabriel’s significance to the story, and how is he perceived by others? What is his opinion of Moby Dick?

2. Why does Ahab mourn his life as a whaler? How do his sentiments befit the concluding events of the novel?