Chapter 67 - Cutting In Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 67 - Cutting In
On what day of the week does the cutting in process begin?
It begins on a Saturday night and continues into the Sabbath (Sunday), making all whalemen "ex officio professors of Sabbath breaking."
What does Ishmael compare the Pequod to during the cutting in?
A shamble (slaughterhouse), with every sailor a butcher, as if they were "offering up ten thousand red oxen to the sea gods."
What color are the blocks of the cutting tackles generally painted?
Green. They form a cluster that no single man can possibly lift.
Where are the cutting tackles lashed aboard the Pequod?
To the lower mast-head at the main-top, described as the strongest point anywhere above a ship's deck.
How much does the great blubber hook weigh?
Approximately one hundred pounds.
Which two officers perform the cutting with long spades?
Starbuck and Stubb, the first and second mates, who are suspended over the side on stages.
Where is the blubber hook inserted into the whale?
Just above the nearest of the two side-fins, after the mates cut a hole and make a broad semicircular incision.
What do the crew members do while heaving at the windlass?
They strike up a wild chorus, singing as they heave in one dense crowd.
What happens to the Pequod when the crew first heaves on the windlass?
The entire ship careens over on her side toward the whale, every bolt starts, and the mast-heads tremble and nod.
What fruit does Ishmael compare the whale's blubber to?
An orange. The blubber envelopes the whale as the rind does an orange and is stripped off by spiralizing it.
What is the "scarf" in the cutting in process?
The line along which the blubber uniformly peels off the whale's body, simultaneously cut by the spades of Starbuck and Stubb.
How high is the strip of blubber hoisted before the crew stops heaving?
Until its upper end grazes the main-top, at which point the men at the windlass cease heaving.
What danger does the hoisted blubber mass pose to the crew?
The prodigious blood-dripping mass sways to and fro, and it may box a man's ears and pitch him headlong overboard.
What weapon does the harpooneer use to sever the blubber strip?
A boarding-sword — a long, keen weapon used to slice through the swaying mass of blubber.
What is the severed upper strip of blubber called?
A blanket-piece. It swings clear and is ready for lowering below decks.
What is the blubber-room?
An unfurnished parlor below the main hatchway where nimble hands coil away the long blanket-piece like "a great live mass of plaited serpents."
How do the two tackles work together during cutting in?
They work simultaneously — one hoists and peels a new strip from the whale while the other is slackened to lower a completed blanket-piece into the blubber-room.
What simile describes the blanket-piece being coiled in the blubber-room?
"As if it were a great live mass of plaited serpents" — emphasizing the organic, almost living quality of the blubber.
What does the chapter's closing catalog of simultaneous actions include?
Whale and windlass heaving, heavers singing, blubber-room gentlemen coiling, mates scarfing, the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally.
What does "by way of assuaging the general friction" mean at the chapter's end?
The crew's swearing serves as a release valve for the tension and physical strain of the cutting in process — a darkly humorous final note.