Study Questions
1. Why does Ishmael not begrudge the joke played on him by Peter Coffin?

2. What is the purpose of the marble tablets in the chapel?

3. Who sat near Ishmael in the chapel?

4. What was Father Mapple’s previous occupation?

5. Describe the pulpit.

6. How did Father Mapple get to it?

7. What biblical character is the subject of the sermon?

8. What was his sin?

9. What happened to him when he was cast into the sea?

10. In what way does Ishmael fulfill his Gospel duty?

Answers
1. Ishmael knows the value of good humor, that beneath it is something deeper.

2. The tablets memorialize those lost at sea.

3. Queequeg sat near Ishmael.

4. Father Mapple had been a harpooner.

5. The pulpit is a ship’s prow raised high above the congregation.

6. Father Mapple climbed a ship’s ladder to get to the pulpit.

7. Jonah is the subject of the sermon.

8. Willful disobedience was his sin.

9. He was swallowed by a whale.

10. Ishmael fulfills his Gospel duty by telling this story.