Which best explains why melville begins chapter 28 of mobydick with a description of ahab’s physical absence above the ship’s hatches for several days?

to show that ahab has no real command over his ship
to make ahab’s eventual appearance on deck more dramatic
to show that ahab is no longer interested in the whale hunt
to make ahab’s eventual appearance on deck predictable

Melville begins Chapter 28 of Moby Di-ck with a description of Ahab’s physical absence above the ship’s hatches for several days to make Ahab’s eventual appearance on deck more dramatic.

One of the important theme in the novel “Moby Di-ck” is about the relationship between nature and man. The novel is about a man, Ahab, who goes out in the natural world to disturb the balance of nature by killing the animals. Though at the end of the novel, it is the nature who remains unchanged and the man has to witness a failure.  Ahab had a strong belief in the fate because of which he thinks that it is in his destiny to slay down the whale. The desire for revenge exists stands secondary for him. He combines his egoism with the feeling of revenge and moves on to destroy the whale. He ignores the prophecies about the destruction that will cause to his ship and himself if he moved on. In the end, he falls prey to his own destruction causing his identity to extinct.

- "chilles is sad and angry because hector, the trojan leader, killed his best friend patroclus. he seems angry with himself because he didn't or protect patroclus against the trojans."

21 balloons is the story of professor william sherman's travels.

in 1883, he set off from san francisco for a balloon ride over the pacific and was found a month later floating with 21 balloons in the atlantic ocean. this seemed an astounding feat and everyone wanted to know what had happened.    

professor sherman was loyal, however, and said he would tell his tale first to the western american explorers club in san francisco, of which he was a member. this built up suspense for several chapters before he began to tell of the wonders of his adventures and the amazing island of krakatoa, an island which had just been blown up by a volcano.  

the residents of krakatoa are all millionaires who live under a "gourmet government" of their own devising. we get to see all the incredible adventures that creative people with unlimited resources would create according to the author.