Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Chapter 107 - The Carpenter quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does Melville describe mankind "in mass" at the beginning of Chapter 107?

   • A brotherhood of noble souls united by purpose
   • Correct answer: A mob of unnecessary duplicates, both contemporary and hereditary
   • A chain of laborers forging civilization link by link
   • A wilderness of competing individuals striving for mastery

   Melville writes that taken in mass, people "seem a mob of unnecessary duplicates, both contemporary and hereditary," setting up the carpenter as a notable exception.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Where is the carpenter's vice-bench located on the Pequod?

   • In the forecastle below the main deck
   • Correct answer: Lashed athwartships against the rear of the Try-works
   • Bolted to the quarterdeck near the helm
   • Mounted portside beside the main mast

   The bench is "securely lashed athwartships against the rear of the Try-works" whenever whales are not alongside.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the carpenter build for a stray bird that lands on the ship?

   • A nest of woven sailcloth and tarred rope
   • Correct answer: A pagoda-looking cage from whale bone and sperm whale ivory
   • A simple wooden box with holes drilled for ventilation
   • A perch carved from a spare belaying pin

   The carpenter makes "a pagoda-looking cage" from "clean shaved rods of right-whale bone, and cross-beams of sperm whale ivory."

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Stubb ask the carpenter to paint on his oars?

   • His initials and the ship's name in black ink
   • Correct answer: Vermillion stars on the blade of every oar
   • Blue waves along the shaft of each oar
   • The Pequod's whaling flag in miniature on each handle

   "Stubb longed for vermillion stars to be painted upon the blade of his every oar."

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does the carpenter deal with a sailor who flinches during a tooth extraction?

   • He gives the sailor rum to dull the pain first
   • Correct answer: He clamps the sailor's jaw in his wooden vice to hold it still
   • He refuses to continue and sends the sailor to the captain
   • He ties the tooth to a doorknob and slams it shut

   "Whirling round the handle of his wooden vice, the carpenter signs him to clap his jaw in that, if he would have him draw the tooth."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the carpenter consider men's teeth to be?

   • Signs of age and experience in a sailor
   • Correct answer: Bits of ivory, no different from his materials
   • Sacred objects not to be tampered with lightly
   • Trophies to be collected from willing sailors

   "Teeth he accounted bits of ivory; heads he deemed but top-blocks; men themselves he lightly held for capstans."

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7. 7

   Question 7. What term does Melville use to describe the carpenter's remarkable emotional blankness?

   • Calculated indifference toward human suffering
   • Correct answer: Impersonal stolidity that merged with the world's own blankness
   • Philosophical detachment born of deep contemplation
   • Deliberate coldness adopted as a survival mechanism

   Melville describes his "impersonal stolidity" that "shaded off into the surrounding infinite of things" and seemed "one with the general stolidity discernible in the whole visible world."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Melville mean by calling the carpenter a "pure manipulater"?

   • He cunningly manipulates the crew for personal advantage
   • Correct answer: His intelligence lives entirely in his hands and fingers
   • He handles materials with unmatched artistic sensitivity
   • He controls situations through subtle psychological tactics

   Melville says the carpenter is a "pure manipulater; his brain, if he had ever had one, must have early oozed along into the muscles of his fingers.”

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9. 9

   Question 9. To what common object does Melville compare the carpenter?

   • A grandfather clock with countless hidden gears
   • Correct answer: A Sheffield pocket knife containing many tools in one
   • A compass that always points true north without error
   • A lantern that illuminates without consuming itself

   Melville compares him to "one of those unreasoning but still highly useful, multum in parvo, Sheffield contrivances" that look like a pocket knife but contain screwdrivers, tweezers, awls, and more.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What Latin phrase does Melville use to describe the carpenter's all-in-one nature?

    • Carpe diem (seize the day)
    • Correct answer: Multum in parvo (much in little)
    • Tabula rasa (blank slate)
    • Deus ex machina (god from the machine)

    Melville calls the carpenter a "multum in parvo" contrivance, meaning "much in little" — many capabilities packed into one unassuming figure.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Despite being described as machine-like, what does Melville say the carpenter is NOT?

    • A skilled tradesman worthy of his station aboard ship
    • Correct answer: A mere machine or automaton devoid of all inner life
    • A man capable of understanding complex instructions
    • A reliable craftsman who can complete tasks independently

    Melville writes that "this omnitooled, open-and-shut carpenter, was, after all, no mere machine of an automaton" — some mysterious life-principle animates him.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the carpenter do constantly because of his mysterious inner life-principle?

    • He carves small figurines during his idle moments
    • Correct answer: He soliloquizes, talking to himself like a humming wheel
    • He whistles old sea shanties from port to port
    • He sketches blueprints of inventions he will never build

    The life-principle "kept him a great part of the time soliloquizing; but only like an unreasoning wheel, which also hummingly soliloquizes."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What metaphor does Melville use for the carpenter's body in relation to his soliloquizing?

    • A ship adrift on an ocean of unconscious thought
    • Correct answer: A sentry-box housing a guard who talks to stay awake
    • A furnace that burns fuel without producing useful heat
    • A hollow drum that echoes with every passing vibration

    Melville writes that "his body was a sentry-box and this soliloquizer on guard there, and talking all the time to keep himself awake."

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14. 14

    Question 14. Approximately how old is the Pequod's carpenter?

    • About thirty years old, a young but skilled craftsman
    • About forty-five, in the prime of his working years
    • Correct answer: About sixty years old or more, a lifelong wanderer
    • About seventy-five, the eldest member of the crew

    Melville refers to the carpenter's life-principle having "abided for now some sixty years or more."

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15. 15

    Question 15. What kind of humor does Melville attribute to the carpenter?

    • Sharp, satirical wit aimed at the ship's officers
    • Correct answer: Antediluvian, wheezing humorousness suited to Noah's ark
    • Gentle, warm-hearted joking that puts crewmates at ease
    • Dark, gallows humor reflecting years of dangerous voyages

    His stolidity was "oddly dashed at times, with an old, crutch-like, antediluvian, wheezing humorousness" fit for "the midnight watch on the bearded forecastle of Noah's ark."

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