Moby-Dick discussion questions Chapter 22 “Merry Christmas”: What does this chapter change in your impressions
What does this chapter change in your impressions of Bildad and Peleg? Why?
Describe the weather as the Pequod heads to sea. What mood does that provoke? Is it a good or bad beginning? Explain.
Melville writes that the Pequod “blindly plunged like fate into the lone Atlantic.” Why blind? Why like fate? Why is the Atlantic lone?
Furthermore, why does a gull “scream” overhead? Why do the two boats roll “wildly”? What effect does Melville achieve by referring to the boats as “hulls”?
