Moby Dick Further Study Questions - Macmillan Readers

Further Study Questions Answer key Upper
Ahab
2 Describing Ahab
Mad: Ahab is not clinically insane. He is fully aware of the consequences of his decisions, but he is
driven. Sometimes he seems to want to stop the hunt but can’t. However, he is lucid and intelligent,
although his decisions may be described as ‘crazy’.
Superstitious: Ahab shows his superstition on more than one occasion, especially surrounding
his harpoon: he asks his harpooners to cool the harpoon with their blood; he baptises it with fire
during the typhoon; he insists on choosing his own team for his whaling boat and listens carefully to
Fedallah’s prophecies.
Charismatic: Ahab is very charismatic. He succeeds in filling his crew with enthusiasm for the hunt.
Even though they think he is crazy, they are willing to follow him. At one point he realises that he
could damage his relationships with the crew if he pushes them too far. They want to stop to repair
the oil barrels; he wants to continue the hunt. He senses the danger of insisting on having his own
way, and, for once, puts the crew’s feelings before his own.
Obsessed: He only thinks about the whale. Every conversation he has with every passing ship is about
Moby Dick. During these conversations he is only interested in finding out where the whale is and
where he’s heading. He does not stop to help the Rachel even though he knows the captain personally.
He dreams about the whale, but he also dreams about his own death. Hunting the whale is more
important to him than anything else in his life, more important than his own life.
Other possible adjectives to describe Ahab: stubborn, selfish, tortured, revengeful, destructive,
single-minded, strong-willed.
3 Ahab’s character within the book
Is Ahab a good captain? Does he look after his boat and crew? Does he think about the needs of
other boats at sea?
He is an efficient and effective captain. His crew obey and respect him. The whaling boat functions
efficiently and the crew seem content. In this way he is a good captain. But he is willing to put his
men and his boat in danger in order to get his revenge on the whale. Even when Fedallah is killed in
the hunt, he does not stop. On more than one occasion he is asked to help other ships, but he refuses,
because he can only think about Moby Dick. In this way, he is not a good captain.
Is he a good leader of men? How does he persuade the whalers to help him hunt down Moby Dick?
Think about how he uses the sailors’ fears and superstitions.
Ahab knows how to motivate his crew. Early in the voyage he calls all the crew on deck and he explains
the purpose of the voyage. He first uses competition to motivate and get them interested in Moby
Dick. He hammers a gold coin to the mast. The first sailor to see the white whale will win the coin. He
then explains the reason for the hunt and calls on his crew to support him:
‘To chase that white whale all over the earth until he spouts black blood and dies. Will you do
that?’
‘Yes, yes,’ shouted the harpooners. ‘Death to Moby Dick! Death to Moby Dick!’
Macmillan Readers Moby Dick 6
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