Chapter 76 - The Battering-Ram Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 76 - The Battering-Ram
What does Ishmael compare the sperm whale's forehead to in the chapter title?
A battering ram, emphasizing its enormous destructive power.
What position does the sperm whale's head present to the water during normal swimming?
An almost wholly vertical plane.
Where is the sperm whale's mouth located relative to the head?
Entirely under the head, much like if a human's mouth were entirely under the chin.
Where is the sperm whale's spout hole located?
On the top of its head.
How far back from the front of the head are the whale's eyes and ears?
Nearly one third of the whale's entire length from the front.
What does Ishmael say the front of the sperm whale's head is?
A dead, blind wall, without a single organ or tender prominence of any sort.
How far behind the forehead must you go before reaching full cranial (bone) development?
Nearly twenty feet behind the forehead.
What does Melville compare the forehead's surface toughness to?
Horses' hoofs—"It is as though the forehead of the Sperm Whale were paved with horses' hoofs."
What materials do sailors place between two ships to absorb a docking collision?
A large, round wad of tow and cork, enveloped in the thickest and toughest of ox-hide.
Why is tow and cork used instead of iron or wood between docking ships?
Because its resilience absorbs the impact that would snap rigid materials like handspikes and crow-bars.
What hypothesis does Ishmael propose about the whale's honeycombed interior?
That the lung-celled honeycombs may connect to the outer air, allowing atmospheric distension and contraction of the forehead.
How does Ishmael describe the life force behind the whale's forehead?
A mass of tremendous life, estimated as piled wood is by the cord, all obedient to one volition as the smallest insect.
What hyperbolic feat does Ishmael say a sperm whale could accomplish?
Stove a passage through the Isthmus of Darien and mix the Atlantic with the Pacific.
What does Ishmael say you must do to avoid being "an infidel" about a coming event?
Satisfactorily settle in your mind the battering-ram power of the sperm whale's forehead.
What does Ishmael say "clear Truth" is only for?
Salamander giants to encounter—ordinary people (provincials) have little chance of facing it.
What classical allusion closes the chapter?
The story of the youth who lifted the veil of the goddess at Sais (Lais) and was destroyed by the revelation.
What real historical event does the chapter indirectly foreshadow?
The destruction of the Pequod by Moby Dick, and by extension the real sinking of the whale ship Essex in 1820.
What wraps the whale's body like a rind wraps an orange?
The blubber.
How does the head's blubber envelope differ from the body's?
It is not as thick but has a boneless toughness inestimable by any man who has not handled it.
What happens when a harpoon or lance strikes the whale's forehead?
It impotently rebounds. Even the sharpest lance darted by the strongest arm cannot penetrate it.