Chapter 56 - Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

by Herman Melville

Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 56 - Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes

How many published outlines of the great Sperm Whale does Ishmael say he knows of?

  • Two
  • Four
  • Six
  • Eight

Whose Sperm Whale drawings does Ishmael consider the best?

  • Colnett
  • Huggins
  • Frederick Cuvier
  • Beale

What does Ishmael criticize about J. Ross Browne's Sperm Whale drawings?

  • The contours are wrong
  • They are wretchedly engraved
  • They are too small
  • The coloring is inaccurate

What problem does Ishmael identify with Scoresby's Right Whale pictures?

  • They are anatomically incorrect
  • They are drawn on too small a scale
  • They are poorly engraved
  • They depict the wrong species

Who painted the works that Ishmael considers the finest whale art?

  • Scoresby
  • H. Durand
  • Garnery
  • Frederick Cuvier

In Garnery's first engraving, the Sperm Whale has just risen from the ocean. What is it carrying on its back?

  • A dead sailor
  • The wreck of stoven planks from the boat
  • Harpoons and lances
  • Barnacles and sea creatures

To what does Ishmael compare the Right Whale rolling in the sea in Garnery's second engraving?

  • A sunken ship
  • A mossy rock-slide from the Patagonian cliffs
  • A black storm cloud
  • A rolling barrel

To what gallery does Ishmael compare Garnery's whaling scenes?

  • The Louvre
  • The British Museum
  • The triumphal hall at Versailles
  • The Uffizi Gallery

According to Ishmael, what are English and American whale draughtsmen content with presenting?

  • Action scenes of whale hunts
  • The mechanical outline of things
  • Underwater views of whales
  • Detailed portraits of whalemen

What does Ishmael humorously suggest Scoresby should have procured for his Arctic snow crystals?

  • A better engraver
  • A sworn affidavit before a Greenland Justice of the Peace
  • A magnifying glass for readers
  • A Royal Society endorsement

What does the first H. Durand engraving depict?

  • A whale attack at sea
  • A quiet noon scene among Pacific isles
  • A whale being cut in
  • A storm at sea

What is rising from the ship in the second H. Durand engraving?

  • Signal flags
  • Smoke from boiling whale blubber
  • Steam from the engine
  • Sea spray from the waves

What primary literary device does Melville employ throughout this chapter?

  • Foreshadowing
  • Ekphrasis
  • Allegory
  • Stream of consciousness

What does Ishmael conclude about Garnery's background?

  • He was a famous naval officer
  • He was either practically conversant with whaling or tutored by an experienced whaleman
  • He had never seen a whale
  • He was trained at the Paris Academy

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