Chapter 122 - Midnight Aloft.- Thunder and Lightning Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 122 - Midnight Aloft.- Thunder and Lightning
Where is Tashtego positioned during Chapter 122?
On the main-top-sail yard, high above the deck.
What is Tashtego doing aloft during the storm?
Passing new lashings around the main-top-sail yard to secure it.
What does Tashtego tell the thunder to do?
To stop. He says there is "plenty too much thunder up here."
What does Tashtego say he wants instead of thunder?
Rum. He says "We don't want thunder; we want rum; give us a glass of rum."
What sound does Tashtego repeat throughout his monologue?
"Um, um, um" — a muttering that conveys both complaint and the rhythm of his labor.
What narrative format does Chapter 122 use?
A dramatic or theatrical format, with a stage direction followed by a character's spoken monologue.
What literary device is created by the shift from sublime thunder to a request for rum?
Bathos — a sudden descent from the elevated or sublime to the commonplace or trivial.
Which mate does Tashtego serve as harpooneer?
Stubb, the second mate.
What is Tashtego's ethnic heritage?
He is a pureblooded Gay Head Indian from Martha's Vineyard.
What broader sequence of chapters does Chapter 122 belong to?
A sequence of short dramatic chapters (roughly 119–125) giving individual crew members brief soliloquies during the Pequod's final voyage.
What does apostrophe mean as a literary device, and how is it used here?
Apostrophe is directly addressing an absent person or abstract concept. Tashtego addresses the thunder as though it can hear him and obey his command to stop.
How does Tashtego's reaction to the storm contrast with Ahab's?
Ahab responds to storms with metaphysical defiance and rage against the heavens, while Tashtego responds pragmatically, dismissing the thunder as useless and asking for rum.