What opening line begins Herman Melville's 1851 American whaling novel 'Moby-Dick', introducing the narrator before his voyage aboard the Pequod under Captain Ahab?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. "Call me Ishmael."
- Step 1: Herman Melville's masterpiece explores obsession, fate, and natural power through the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod pursuing a great albino sperm whale.
- Step 2: The novel opens with the celebrated three-word sentence "Call me Ishmael.", introducing the observant sailor who survives the Pequod's sinking to narrate the epic tale.
Answer
"Call me Ishmael."
Why not the others: '"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."' This famous opening line begins Charles Dickens's 1859 historical novel 'A Tale of Two Cities'; '"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."' This philosophical opening line begins Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel 'Anna Karenina'; '"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed..."' This opening sentence begins Franz Kafka's 1915 novella 'The Metamorphosis'.
Practise more World Literature and Renowned Authors.
Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed General Knowledge mock tests.
More World Literature and Renowned Authors questions
- Which ancient Mesopotamian narrative poem, inscribed on clay cuneiform tablets, is widely recognized as the earliest surviving great masterp…
- Which 14th-century Italian poet composed 'The Divine Comedy' (La Divina Commedia), tracing a visionary soul's journey through Inferno, Purga…
- Which landmark 1605 Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes follows the comic and tragic misadventures of an aging nobleman obsessed with tales…
- Which Russian author wrote 'War and Peace' (1869), a monumental epic chronicling five aristocratic families against the backdrop of Napoleon…
- In Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 psychological novel 'Crime and Punishment', what is the name of the impoverished former student in Saint Petersb…
- Which 11th-century Japanese classical work, composed by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu during the Heian period, is celebrated worldwide as…