Chapter 98 - Stowing Down and Clearing Up Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 98 - Stowing Down and Clearing Up
What is the subject of Chapter 98, "Stowing Down and Clearing Up"?
The final stages of whale processing: decanting the rendered oil into casks, storing them in the hold, and cleaning the ship.
What size are the casks used to store the sperm oil?
Six-barrel casks.
What happens to the casks on the pitching deck?
They slide perilously across the slippery deck "like so many land slides" until the sailors man-handle them into position.
What does every sailor become during the casking process?
A cooper (barrel-maker), hammering hoops onto the casks.
Where are the sealed casks stored?
They are lowered into the bowels of the ship (the hold), which is then sealed "like a closet walled up."
What remarkable cleaning property does sperm oil possess?
A singularly cleansing virtue that makes the decks whiter than ever after an oil processing.
What is made from the ashes of burned whale scraps?
A potent lye used to clean remaining whale residue from the ship's sides.
What transformation does the Pequod undergo after cleaning?
It goes from a blood-soaked, oil-drenched, smoke-blackened whaling vessel to looking like a silent, scrupulously neat merchant ship.
What do the freshly washed sailors humorously discuss after cleaning?
Parlors, sofas, carpets, and fine cambrics; they propose matting the deck and taking tea by moonlight.
What cry interrupts the crew's brief period of cleanliness?
"There she blows!" — signaling another whale has been spotted and the entire cycle must begin again.
How many consecutive hours of labor does Ishmael describe the crew enduring?
Ninety-six hours (four straight days) of uninterrupted labor.
What does Ishmael exclaim about the repetitive cycle of whaling labor?
"Oh! my friends, but this is man-killing! Yet this is life."
What allegory does Melville draw from the whaling cycle?
That human life itself is a cycle of extracting value from the world, cleansing oneself, and being called to start over — an endless, Sisyphean pattern.
What biblical figures does Melville reference in describing the try-works process?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who passed unscathed through Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace.
What does Melville mean by "clean tabernacles of the soul"?
A state of spiritual or moral purity achieved after the hard work of living, paralleling the physical cleanliness of the scrubbed ship.
What is metempsychosis?
The transmigration of souls — the belief that a soul passes into a new body after death, associated with Pythagoras.
Why does Ishmael invoke Pythagoras at the end of the chapter?
To suggest that the cycle of labor and renewal extends across lifetimes, with the same souls repeating the same experiences eternally.
What does Ishmael imagine about Pythagoras?
That Pythagoras sailed with him on a previous voyage as "a green simple boy" whom Ishmael taught to splice a rope.
What simile does Melville use for the freshly washed crew?
"Fresh and all aglow as bridegrooms new-leaped from out the daintiest Holland" (fine Dutch linen).
What does the phrase "surtout" mean in the chapter?
A man's overcoat or outer garment; here it refers to the whale's skin/blubber, which becomes the property of the crew.