Question

read the adapted excerpt from moby dick by herman melville about a giant white whale known as moby dick.

aside from those more obvious considerations touching moby dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any mans soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror about the whale, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that i almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. it was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. but how can i hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself i must, else all these chapters might be naught.

which sentence best identifies the main idea for a summary of the excerpt?
a. the narrator is amazed at the power and intensity of the whale.
b. the narrator considers the whale, moby dick, to be mystical.
c. the narrator is most alarmed by the white color of the whale.
d. the narrator tries to explain the horror of encountering the whale.

Explanation:

The excerpt first mentions general alarm about Moby Dick, then focuses on a vague, intense horror tied to the whale, specifically highlighting that its whiteness is what most appalled the narrator, and the narrator feels compelled to explain this feeling. Option A is too narrow (only mentions power/intensity, not the core focus of the whiteness-driven alarm). Option B only addresses the mystical aspect, not the central alarm. Option D focuses on the act of explaining, but the main idea is the source of the alarm. Option C captures the key point that the narrator's greatest alarm comes from the whale's white color, which is the highlighted core of the excerpt.

Answer:

C. The narrator is most alarmed by the white color of the whale.