Sailors! Be alert! Reading quizzes, like sharks, can strike at any time!
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(30)
2
(15)
3
(28)
4
(19)
5
(17)
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(20)
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(21)
9
(11)
10
(10)
11
12
(17)
13
(39)
14
(31)
Moby-Dick, or The Whale by Herman Meville
Weizer Readings 2015/16
1-4
Due
Meet Ishmael and find all the themes established in chapter one; “the great
T 12/22
flood-gates of the wonder-world [swing] open.”
7-9
Due
Go to church and listen to Father Mapple’s sermon. Gotta love Jonah and the
M 1/4
whale!
12-16
Due
Learn to love Queequeg; Eat some chowder, walk the streets of Nantucket,
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consider the Pequod
18-22
Due
Sign up for a voyage, be spooked by Elijah, stock the ship, and “blindly plunge like W 1/6
fate into the lone Atlantic”
26-30
Due
Meet Starbuck, the “revivified Egyptian,” and the boys—a floating microcosm
Th 1/7
36-40 (WOW)
Due.
Here’s where it really gets going . . . The doubloon chapters . . . Behold, Ahab.
F 1/8
“Swerve me? Ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves!”
41-42 (DOUBLE WOW)
Due
Meet Moby-Dick. These chapters are UN-BE-LIEVABLE. Ah, Moby, “ . . . the
M 1/11
monomaniac incarnation of malicious agencies”
50, 77, 78
Due
50: Meet Fedallah
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77-78: Poor Tashtego! Anyone notice any interesting imagery?
87, 93, 110
Due
The heart of the novel . . . Pip “saw God’s foot upon the treadle of the loom, and
W 1/13
spoke it,” and Queequeg has it tattooed all over his body, “devilish tantalization!”
94-96
Due
Heaven and Hell . . . and something else . . .
Th 1/14
GAM DAY! All read 53, and your assigned Gam: 52, 71, 81, 91, 100, 115, 128, or
Due
131 “Hast thou seen the white whale??”
F 1/15
106-109, 113
Due
Dark, Dark, Dark; sneeze, sneeze, sneeze; and a baptism of another kind
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117-119, 123-127, 130, 132 This is really dark stuff…
Due
Fedallah is the Parsee, FYI; Pip, a typhoon, a buoy and Macbeth
Th 1/21
133-end (WOWOWOW)
Due
The chase . . . A Nantucket sleigh ride for the ages. Don’t forget to read the
M 1/25
Epilogue. You’ll never stir punch again without seeing the “boiling maelstrom”
If you are absent the day a reading assignment is due, the day you return, you must be prepared to take a quiz on
the assignments that were due the day(s) you were absent AND that were due the day you return. If you miss a
day or more, you will be held accountable to be up to date on the reading upon your return.
The whole point of this exercise is to strengthen your reading fluency and deepen your ability to critically analyze.
Reading Sparknotes or anything like it prevents you from acquiring these much-needed skills, and kills class
discussion.
Reading Resources:
http://www.powermobydick.com // http://www.mobydickbigread.com
Sailors! Be alert! Reading quizzes, like sharks, can strike at any time!
Moby-Dick Assignments 2015/6
1.
The Paper (100 points)
You will write formal expository essay in which you explore how Melville develops one
motif within a group of chapters. You will be expected to choose the motif, the
chapters, and develop an original thesis. As we read/discuss the novel, be on the alert
for a motif of interest, and keep a log of possible important quotes. Melville sets up most
of his themes and motifs in chapter one…so read carefully!
Best case scenario…you do a little mental work early on, and then make good use of
class discussion to help build your thesis. This essay will be due one week after we finish
discussing the novel. (tentative due date February 5).
2. Chapter Presentations (20 points) My Partner
_________________
You and your partner will be assigned one of the chapter groupings. You will read and
discuss the chapters before their due dates, and, on the due date, bring to class
something (a poem? a news article? a piece of art? an object of some sort? a video?)
that connects in a meaningful way to a topic, theme, motif, or content of your chapters.
You will present this to the class and explain the connection. Both partners must be a part
of this presentation; although, you will have one item.
3. In-Class Writing (50 points)
About three-quarters of the way through the unit (after we have had at least five class
chapter discussions), you will be given a short chapter to read in class and write a one
paragraph response. This response will earn full credit if your discussion is robust. Robust
means that the response identifies a thematic connection, hypothesizes Melville’s
purpose, and provides ample examples from the text that show how Melville develops
this connection.
4. Gam Day (20 points) You will be assigned a Gam. On Gam Day, the
Pequod will meet up with each of the eight ships. You and your “crew”
will be responsible for acting out what happens in your particular Gam.
5.
My ship:
_____________________________________
My shipmates
____________________ ________________________
____________________ ________________________
Class Discussions (20 points)
This book can be a lot of fun to tackle together, but only if everyone reads, and comes
to class prepared with questions and or comments. To that end, your meaningful
participation will be rewarded with Mobies. Mobies will be awarded during class, and the
more Mobies you accrue, the better your participation grade will be; however, if you
dominate discussion, or lower the quality of our class
discussion…no Mobies for you!
I am inscrutable!
I am unknowable!
Sailors! Be alert! Reading quizzes, like sharks, can strike at any time!
Moby-Dick: Chapter and Gam Groups
1
1-4
(30) Weizer
2
7-9
(15)
Gam: The Albatross (52)
3
12-16
(28)
Gam: Jeroboam’s Story (71)
4
18-22
(19)
Gam: The Virgin (81)
5
26-30
(17)
Gam: The Rose-bud (91)
6
36-40 (WOW)
(19)
Gam: The Samuel Enderby (100)
7
41-42 (DOUBLE WOW)
(20)
Gam: The Bachelor (115)
8
50, 77, 78, 87
(21)
Gam: The Bachelor (115)
9
93, 110
(11)
Gam: The Samuel Enderby (100)
10
94-96
(10)
Gam: The Rose-bud (91)
11
GAM DAY! All read 53, and your assigned Gam: 52, 71, 81, 91, 100, 115, 128, or
131 “Hast thou seen the white whale??”
12
106-109, 113
(17)
Gam: The Rachel (128)
13
117-119, 123-127, 130, 132
(39)
Gam: The Delight (131)
14
133-end (WOWOWOW)
(31)
Gam: The Virgin (81)
Due
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Due
M 1/4
Due
T 1/5
Due
W 1/6
Due
Th 1/7
Due.
F 1/8
Due
M 1/11
Due
T 1/12
Due
W 1/13
Due
Th 1/14
Due
F 1/15
Due
T 1/19
Due
Th 1/21
Due
M 1/25
NOTE: Only the two people whose names are joined by the ampersand (&) will work together to come
up with the object for the chapter even if there is another pair assigned to the chapter. All of the
names associated with a particular Gam will work together for Gam Day.
Sailors! Be alert! Reading quizzes, like sharks, can strike at any time!
The Long, Rewarding Reading of Moby-Dick:
Motifs, Symbols, Themes
This is a list of threads to anticipate as we read the novel. Please keep this in a safe place and bring it to
class daily. This list, like any list, is incomplete; however, it is strong foundation for our understanding of
Melville’s monstrous novel. Happy Reading!
1.
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Looms, weaving, and mats – both literally and figuratively (web of motifs)
Imagery of lines, interconnectedness, community
Water and man’s attraction to water: falling into it, crying into it, being saved by it
Ishmael’s curiosity about and tolerance for human motivation and desire
Drama, plays, acting – especially Ishmael as an actor in a drama that he did not create
Whiteness – blankness, innocence, lack of color – an abundance of associations
Foreshadowing the whale’s presence
Community v. isolation – solitude in both, the possibility of being an outsider
The quest/journey
Reading/understanding: interpreting, translating, making meaning
Madness and monomania
The relationship between God/the Infinite and Man
Finding and losing the self
Irony
Parallels between land and sea
Mechanical power v. power of natural world
Traditional image of the ship as a productive factory and microcosm of society
Civilization v. savagery (define, compare/contrast)
Biblical allusions, both individual instances and their presence as a whole
Circles, cycles
Death
Magnitude, scope, largeness
Portentous omens and how they shape our reading
Sermonizing
Time
Half-understanding, half-attainment – not quite whole, partiality
Heaping meaning v. having meaning
The novel as rejecting one genre but employing them all
Story-telling, and re-telling, and revising, and re-revising …
Duplicates, doubles, doppelgangers, compliments, foils