How do the various characters interpret the doubloon? Does each interpretation shed more light on the subject or the viewer? …

To what is whale oil compared at the end of the chapter? What do the whalers do with it? What …

Explain the analogy in this chapter between Ahab and the Pequod. What passages suggest this most strongly? What are some …

What does Ishmael’s state of mind seem to be in this chapter? What puts him in that frame of mind? …

What about the final use of ambergris is ironic? How might the situation be interpreted, as Ishmael suggests, symbolically? What …

One might conclude that this chapter is about power, government, and laws. What does it suggest about those things? What …

What comparison does this chapter make between humans and whales? Does it seem fitting to you? What do you find …

In what way are the pirates chasing the Pequod analogous to the Pequod chasing the whales? What are the possible …

In several of the chapters of this book, Ishmael tries to help the reader understand whales and whaling on a …

Stubb compares the whale’s bloody spout to fireworks on the Fourth of July. How could that be read symbolically? How, …