Chapter 47 - The Mat-Maker Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 47 - The Mat-Maker
What are Ishmael and Queequeg doing at the beginning of Chapter 47?
Weaving a sword-mat, an additional lashing for their whaleboat.
What does Ishmael imagine the mat-weaving to represent?
The Loom of Time, with himself as a shuttle weaving at the Fates.
In Ishmael's metaphor, what do the fixed warp threads represent?
Necessity (fate) - the unalterable, unchanging course of destiny.
What does Ishmael's shuttle represent in the weaving allegory?
Free will - the ability to ply one's own shuttle between the given threads of necessity.
What does Queequeg's sword represent in the Loom of Time metaphor?
Chance - the unpredictable force that sometimes strikes slantingly, crookedly, strongly, or weakly.
According to Ishmael, which of the three forces has "the last featuring blow at events"?
Chance, though it is restrained by necessity and directed by free will.
What is the atmosphere aboard the Pequod at the start of Chapter 47?
Cloudy, sultry, dreamlike, and still. Sailors are lazily lounging or vacantly gazing at the lead-colored waters.
Who spots the first whale in Chapter 47?
Tashtego, the Gay Head Indian, stationed at the masthead in the cross-trees.
What is Tashtego's cry when he sights the whales?
"There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!"
How far away are the whales when Tashtego spots them?
About two miles off, on the lee-beam.
What type of whale does Tashtego spot?
A school of sperm whales. The narrator notes sperm whales blow "as a clock ticks" with reliable uniformity.
What does Ahab order Dough-Boy to do after the whale sighting?
To check and report the exact time, so Ahab can calculate when the whales will resurface.
What does Melville compare the three whaleboats to as they are swung over the sea?
Three samphire baskets over high cliffs.
What is samphire?
A plant that grows on sea cliffs, historically gathered by lowering baskets over cliff edges.
What "deceitfulness" of the sperm whale does the narrator describe?
When sounding with its head in one direction, the whale can secretly mill around and swim off in the opposite direction.
Who are the "dusky phantoms" that appear at the end of the chapter?
Five mysterious figures (Ahab's secret crew, led by Fedallah) who seem to materialize out of thin air around Ahab.
What breaks Ishmael out of his philosophical reverie about the Loom of Time?
Tashtego's wild, unearthly cry from the masthead announcing the whale sighting.
What three forces does Melville say are "no wise incompatible"?
Chance, free will, and necessity - all interweavingly working together.
How does Ishmael describe the sound of Tashtego's cry?
Strange, long drawn, musically wild and unearthly, dropping from the clouds like a wing.
What does Ishmael compare Tashtego to as he peers from the masthead?
A prophet or seer beholding the shadows of Fate and announcing their coming with wild cries.
What role does Ishmael play in the mat-weaving activity?
He serves as the attendant or page of Queequeg, using his own hand as the shuttle to pass the woof through the warp.
What are "shipkeepers" as mentioned in Chapter 47?
Crew members not appointed to the whaleboats who remain aboard the ship during a whale chase.