Chapter 66 - The Shark Massacre Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 66 - The Shark Massacre
Why does the crew delay cutting-in the whale captured at night?
The cutting-in process is exceedingly laborious, not quickly completed, and requires all hands. The custom is to lash the helm, take in sail, and send everyone to their hammocks until daylight.
What is an anchor-watch as described in this chapter?
A rotation of two-man pairs who mount the deck for an hour at a time during the night to ensure nothing goes wrong while the crew sleeps.
Why is the standard overnight plan dangerous in the Pacific?
Incalculable hosts of sharks gather around the moored carcass; if left for six hours, little more than the skeleton would be visible by morning.
What tool do the sailors use to fight the sharks?
Sharp whaling-spades: steel implements about the size of a man's spread hand, mounted on stiff poles twenty to thirty feet long, always kept razor-sharp.
What is the ironic effect of stirring the sharks with whaling-spades?
In some instances it only seems to "tickle them into still greater activity," making them more aggressive rather than driving them away.
What famous simile does Ishmael use to describe the sea full of sharks?
He compares the whole round sea to "one huge cheese, and those sharks the maggots in it."
Who takes the anchor-watch after Stubb's supper?
Queequeg and a forecastle seaman come on deck to stand watch and fight the sharks.
What do the two mariners suspend over the side of the ship?
They suspend cutting stages over the side and lower three lanterns to cast long gleams of light over the turbid sea.
Where do the mariners aim their whaling-spades on the sharks?
They strike the keen steel deep into the sharks' skulls, which are seemingly their only vital part.
What do the wounded sharks do when they cannot reach their attackers?
They viciously snap at each other's disembowelments, and like flexible bows, bend round and bite their own entrails.
What grotesque detail describes the sharks eating their own entrails?
Their entrails seem swallowed over and over by the same mouth, only to be "oppositely voided by the gaping wound."
What phrase does Ishmael use to describe the life force persisting in dead sharks?
"A sort of generic or Pantheistic vitality seemed to lurk in their very joints and bones" after individual life had departed.
What happens when Queequeg tries to handle a dead shark on deck?
The supposedly dead shark's jaw almost takes poor Queequeg's hand off when he tries to shut down its "dead lid."
Why was the dead shark hoisted on deck?
It was killed and hoisted on deck for the sake of its skin.
What does Queequeg say about the god who made sharks?
"De god wat made shark must be one dam Ingin" — meaning whatever deity created such a vicious creature must itself be savage or cruel.
What does "turbid" mean as used in this chapter?
Cloudy, murky, or opaque — describing the sea water churned up by the swarming sharks around the whale carcass.
What literary technique does Melville use when he says the spades "tickle" the sharks?
Understatement (litotes) and dark humor — the violent act of stabbing sharks is ironically described as merely tickling them.
What does "voracity" mean in the context of this chapter?
Extreme greediness or ravenous hunger — describing the sharks' insatiable appetite for the whale carcass.
What philosophical idea does the chapter explore through the dead sharks?
The idea that life force is not confined to individual organisms but pervades matter itself — a Pantheistic view that nature's violence persists beyond death.
How does Queequeg's final remark blend humor with theology?
It combines dark comedy with genuine theological questioning: if a benevolent god exists, how can such a vicious creature as the shark be explained? The humor softens a disturbing philosophical point.