Study Questions
1. Why did Ahab need a new leg?

2. Before going on the voyage, how had Ahab been injured?

3. What mystery does this incident solve?

4. What are some of the skills of the ship’s carpenter?

5. What does Ishmael suggest happened to the carpenter’s brains?

6. Why would Ahab want his ideal man to have a skylight?

7. On what matter does Starbuck go to see Ahab in his cabin?

8. What answer does Ahab give Starbuck?

9. How does Ahab threaten Starbuck?

10. What warning does Starbuck give Ahab?

Answers
1. When Ahab hurriedly left the Samuel Enderby, he damaged his leg.

2. Ahab had fallen and the splintered leg had wounded him.

3. Ahab stayed in his cabin at the beginning of the voyage to recover from this wound.

4. The ship’s carpenter pulls teeth, makes soothing ointments, and crafts earrings from shark bone.

5. The carpenter’s brains must have oozed into his fingers.

6. The skylight allows for self-illumination.

7. The barrels are leaking in the hold.

8. Ahab tells Starbuck not to hoist the barrels.

9. Ahab aims his loaded musket at Starbuck.

10. Starbuck tells Ahab that he, Ahab, will cause his own destruction. “Ahab beware of Ahab.”