Chapter 57 - Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville
Comprehension Quiz: Chapter 57 - Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars
What is the crippled beggar on Tower-hill holding?
- A harpoon from a famous whale hunt
- A painted board depicting the whale attack that took his leg
- A carved whale tooth showing his whaling voyages
- A wooden model of the ship he sailed on
What does Melville call the carved articles made by whalemen?
- Nautical handicrafts and maritime folk art
- Skrimshander articles carved from rough material
- Leviathan figures wrought from ocean bone
- Cetological specimens shaped by idle sailors
What materials are used for scrimshaw carvings?
- Driftwood from tropical islands and coral reef stone
- Sperm whale teeth and right whale bone
- Shark teeth and tortoise shell from the Pacific
- Walrus ivory and narwhal horn from the Arctic
What tool does Ishmael call "almost omnipotent"?
- The harpoon, the defining weapon of the whaler
- The sailor's jack-knife, used for all scrimshaw carving
- The compass, essential for ocean navigation at sea
- The try-pot, central to processing whale blubber
According to Ishmael, what does long exile from civilization do to a man?
- It drives him mad with loneliness and despair
- It restores him to savagery, the condition God intended
- It makes him more devout and faithful to religion
- It sharpens his intellect through constant observation
To which artist does Melville compare the whaleman's carvings?
- Michelangelo, for the grandeur and scale of design
- Albrecht Durer, for barbaric spirit and suggestiveness
- Rembrandt, for the dramatic use of shadow and light
- Leonardo da Vinci, for scientific accuracy and detail
What are the brass whales on old country houses used as?
- Decorative weathervanes on house rooftops
- Door knockers hung by the tail at road-side doors
- Garden ornaments placed beside walking paths
- Window latches shaped for good luck and protection
Where are the sheet-iron whales placed?
- On the bows of whaling ships as figureheads
- On church spires as weathercocks, too high to examine
- On harbor walls as navigation markers for sailors
- On tavern signs to advertise whaling-town businesses
What does Ishmael see in "bony, ribby regions of the earth"?
- Ancient whale skeletons partially buried in the sand
- Rock formations resembling petrified Leviathans in grass
- Fossil beds containing the remains of prehistoric whales
- Cave paintings depicting whale hunts by ancient peoples
Why is it difficult to find whale shapes in mountain ridges again?
- The weather constantly erodes and reshapes the peaks
- The exact latitude and longitude of the viewpoint is needed
- Mountain fog and clouds obscure the formations from view
- Local vegetation grows rapidly and changes the silhouette
Which constellation does Ishmael "board" to chase the starry Cetus?
- Orion, the great hunter of the northern sky
- Argo-Navis, the ship constellation in southern skies
- Pisces, the fish constellation of the zodiac band
- Aquarius, the water-bearer near the celestial equator
What does Ishmael imagine using as spurs to ride a whale into the sky?
- Whale teeth sharpened to gleaming razor points
- Fasces of harpoons bundled together as riding spurs
- Iron hooks salvaged from capsized whaling longboats
- Carved bone spikes taken from the whale's own jaw
What wordplay does Melville make about the Tower-hill beggar?
- He calls the beggar a "whale of a man" despite his small stature
- He puns on "stump" as both an amputated leg and a speech platform
- He jokes that the beggar's painting is worth more than whale oil
- He notes the beggar stands like a mast without any ship beneath
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