How do you interpret the Pequod’s encounter with the Jungfrau (Virgin)?  Where is the ship from?  What do they know …

What do you make of Stubb’s believing that Fedallah is the devil in disguise?  At the end of ch. 73, …

What is the purpose of the monkey-rope?  How does it function as a metaphor for Ishmael?  How does the message …

Each of the other meetings with other ships reflects in some way upon the situation aboard the Pequod, presenting either …

What is Ahab’s attitude toward the successful whale kill in ch. 64?  We have already seen how Ishmael breaks down …

What color is the sperm whale that Stubb kills (p. 308 [230]).  How do you interpret the “pipe-smoking” images in …

Why is “the great Leviathan” the “one creature in the world which must remain unpainted to the last”? (p. 289 …

This is the longest chapter in the book and the only one Melville published separately, before Moby-Dick.  How does the …

These are the first two of nine meetings with other ships.  What is their function?  Do they help structure the …

How do you interpret the comparative disappearance of Queequeg in Ishmael’s narrative, given their intimacy at the beginning of the …