One morning shortly after breakfast, Ahab, as was his habit, ascended the cabin-gangway to the deck. There most sea-captains usually walk at that hour, as country gentlemen, after the same meal, take a few turns in the garden.
Soon his steady, ivory stride was heard, as back and forth he paced his old rounds, upon planks so familiar to his tread, that they were all over dented, like geological stones, with the peculiar mark of his walk. Did you fixedly gaze, too, upon that ribbed and dented brow, there also, you would see still stranger foot-prints—the foot-prints of his one unsleeping, ever-pacing thought—the whereabouts of the white whale.
But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark. And, so full of his thought was Ahab, that at every uniform turn that he made, now at the main-mast and now at the helm, you could almost see that thought turn in him as he turned, and pace in him as he paced; so completely possessing him, indeed, that it all but seemed the inward mold of every outer movement.
10)
Select the correct answer.
In the second and third paragraphs, what do the "dents" on Ahab's furrowed brow most likely symbolize?
A.
Ahab's concern about the condition of his ship and crew
B.
Ahab's lack of respect for the physical power of the whale
C.
the reckless disregard that Ahab has for nature and wild animals
D.
the impact that Ahab's struggle with the whale has had on him