Chapter 78 - Cistern and Buckets Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 78 - Cistern and Buckets
Who climbs onto the whale's head to begin harvesting spermaceti?
Tashtego, the Gay-Header (Wampanoag) harpooner, who mounts aloft and runs along the mainyard-arm to drop onto the summit of the Tun.
What is the "whip" that Tashtego carries aloft?
A light tackle consisting of two parts travelling through a single-sheaved block, used to hoist the bucket up and lower it into the whale's head.
What simile does Ishmael use for Tashtego searching the whale's head?
"Like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in."
What does the bucket look like when it comes up full of spermaceti?
"All bubbling like a dairy-maid's pail of new milk" — fresh, white, and frothy.
To what does Ishmael compare Tashtego standing atop the whale's head?
A Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower.
Approximately how many buckets are drawn before Tashtego falls?
About eighty or ninety buckets of spermaceti.
How does Tashtego fall into the whale's head?
He drops headfirst into the Tun — Ishmael compares him to "the twin reciprocating bucket in a veritable well" — and sinks out of sight with a horrible oily gurgling.
Who first responds to Tashtego's fall, and what does he shout?
Daggoo shouts "Man overboard!" and is the first to come to his senses amid the general consternation.
What goes wrong while Daggoo is on top of the whale's head?
One of the two enormous hooks suspending the head tears out, causing the massive head to swing violently and the ship to reel "as if smitten by an iceberg."
What does Stubb shout at Daggoo during the rescue attempt?
"Are you ramming home a cartridge there? — Avast! How will that help him; jamming that iron-bound bucket on top of his head?"
What happens when the second hook gives way?
The enormous head drops into the sea "like Niagara's Table-Rock into the whirlpool," carrying Tashtego with it.
What does Queequeg bring with him when he dives overboard?
A boarding-sword, which he uses to cut a hole in the bottom of the sinking whale's head.
How does Queequeg extract Tashtego from inside the head?
He cuts a hole near the bottom with his sword, thrusts his arm in, and hauls Tashtego out by the head — turning him around first from a feet-first to headfirst position.
Why does Queequeg turn Tashtego around inside the head?
When he first reached in, he grabbed a leg, but "well knowing that that was not as it ought to be," he performed a somersault on Tashtego so he would come out headfirst — the proper way for a "delivery."
What extended metaphor does Ishmael use for the rescue?
Childbirth / obstetrics — he calls it a "delivery" rather than a "deliverance" and praises Queequeg's "great skill in obstetrics."
What does Ishmael say should be taught alongside fencing, boxing, riding, and rowing?
Midwifery — "Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, riding and rowing."
Why does the whale's head sink despite spermaceti being lighter than seawater?
The case had been nearly emptied of its lighter contents, leaving mostly the dense tendinous wall, which is heavier than seawater and "sinks in it like lead almost."
What term does Ishmael use for the whale's innermost chamber?
"The secret inner chamber and sanctum sanctorum of the whale" — sanctum sanctorum meaning the holiest of holy places.
Who is the Ohio honey-hunter mentioned at the chapter's end?
A man who, seeking honey in a hollow tree, leaned too far in and was sucked down by the store of honey, dying "embalmed" — a parallel to Tashtego's near-death in spermaceti.
What philosophical question does Ishmael ask in the chapter's final line?
"How many, think ye, have likewise fallen into Plato's honey head, and sweetly perished there?" — asking how many have been fatally seduced by sweet philosophical ideas.
What does "Tun" refer to in this chapter?
The sperm whale's enormous case or head cavity that holds the spermaceti — named after a large cask or barrel.
What is the "Tun of Heidelburgh" alluded to in the chapter?
The Great Tun of Heidelberg, an enormous wine barrel in Heidelberg Castle, Germany — Ishmael uses it as a comparison for the vast capacity of the whale's head.