Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Chapter 75 - The Right Whale's Head - Contrasted View quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Ishmael compare the general shape of the Right Whale's head to?

   • A Roman war-chariot with a broadly rounded front, suggesting power and grandeur
   • Correct answer: A gigantic galliot-toed shoe, described as bearing a rather inelegant resemblance
   • An enormous bass viol with apertures in its sounding-board for the spout-holes
   • The trunk of a huge oak tree with a bird's nest settled in its crotch

   Ishmael says "the Right Whale's head bears a rather inelegant resemblance to a gigantic galliot-toed shoe." The Roman war-chariot comparison belongs to the Sperm Whale.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What is the "crown" or "bonnet" on the Right Whale's head?

   • A smooth, polished dome of bone that gives the whale a regal profile when surfacing
   • Correct answer: A green, barnacled, comb-like incrustation on top of the head where live crabs nestle
   • A ridge of hardened skin that the whale uses to ram predators and rival males
   • A fatty deposit that stores nutrients for the whale during its long annual migrations

   Ishmael describes "this strange, crested, comb-like incrustation on the top of the mass—this green, barnacled thing" where live crabs nestle, called the "crown" by Greenlanders and "bonnet" by Southern fishers.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. How large is the Right Whale's lower lip according to Ishmael's measurements?

   • About ten feet long and three feet deep, yielding roughly 200 gallons of oil
   • Correct answer: About twenty feet long and five feet deep, yielding roughly 500 gallons of oil
   • About thirty feet long and eight feet deep, yielding roughly 800 gallons of oil
   • About fifteen feet long and four feet deep, yielding roughly 350 gallons of oil

   Ishmael describes it as "a sulk and pout, by carpenter's measurement, about twenty feet long and five feet deep; a sulk and pout that will yield you some 500 gallons of oil and more."

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What biblical figure does Ishmael reference when entering the Right Whale's mouth?

   • Noah, wondering if this was the kind of vessel that survived the great flood
   • Correct answer: Jonah, asking "is this the road that Jonah went?" upon sliding through the lip
   • David, comparing the whale's mouth to the giant Goliath's fearsome jaws
   • Moses, likening the parted baleen plates to the parting of the Red Sea

   Entering the mouth, Ishmael exclaims: "Good Lord! is this the road that Jonah went?" — referencing the biblical story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What does Ishmael call the baleen plates inside the Right Whale's mouth?

   • "Ivory curtains" because of their white color and the way they hang in rows
   • Correct answer: "Venetian blinds" because of their slatted arrangement hanging from the upper jaw
   • "Cathedral arches" because of how they curve symmetrically to form the mouth roof
   • "Prison bars" because they trap the small fish that the whale feeds upon

   Ishmael calls the baleen "those Venetian blinds which have elsewhere been cursorily mentioned," comparing the roughly 300 scimitar-shaped slats on each side to the slatted window coverings.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. How do some whalemen calculate the Right Whale's age?

   • By measuring the overall length of the whale from nose to tail against standard charts
   • Correct answer: By counting curious marks, curves, and ridges in the central baleen plates, like tree rings
   • By examining the wear patterns on the whale's teeth and the thickness of its gums
   • By weighing the blubber yield and comparing it to known age-weight correlations

   Ishmael says "there are certain curious marks, curves, hollows, and ridges, whereby some whalemen calculate the creature's age, as the age of an oak by its circular rings."

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. During which historical period was whalebone most fashionable, according to Ishmael?

   • During the Elizabethan era, when ruffs and elaborate collars required stiff supports
   • Correct answer: During Queen Anne's time, when the farthingale was the height of fashion
   • During the Victorian era, when tightly laced corsets demanded the strongest materials
   • During the Renaissance, when sculptural bodices required flexible yet rigid framing

   Ishmael states: "It was in Queen Anne's time that the bone was in its glory, the farthingale being then all the fashion."

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What modern item does Ishmael say is made from the same whalebone as corsets?

   • Walking canes, which require a flexible yet sturdy material for their shafts
   • Correct answer: The umbrella, described as "a tent spread over the same bone" used in fashion
   • Fishing rods, which benefit from the natural spring and flexibility of baleen
   • Eyeglass frames, which need a lightweight material that holds its shape firmly

   Ishmael notes the irony: "in a shower, with the like thoughtlessness, do we nowadays fly under the same jaws for protection; the umbrella being a tent spread over the same bone."

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does the Right Whale's mouth interior remind Ishmael of when he sees the rows of baleen?

   • The interior of a Gothic cathedral with its ribbed vaulting and soaring stone columns
   • Correct answer: The inside of the great Haarlem organ, with its thousand pipes methodically arranged
   • A Roman colosseum with its tiered seating rising symmetrically on every side
   • A ship's hull turned upside down, with the ribs of the vessel arching overhead

   Ishmael says: "would you not think you were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand pipes?" comparing the rows of baleen to organ pipes.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. How many external spout-holes does the Right Whale have compared to the Sperm Whale?

    • Both whales have a single spout-hole, but the Right Whale's is significantly larger
    • Correct answer: The Right Whale has two external spout-holes, while the Sperm Whale has only one
    • The Right Whale has one spout-hole, while the Sperm Whale has two smaller ones
    • Both whales have two spout-holes, but they are positioned differently on each head

    Ishmael states clearly: "the Right Whale has two external spout-holes, the Sperm Whale only one."

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. Which anatomical feature does the Right Whale LACK that the Sperm Whale possesses?

    • A huge hanging lower lip that measures approximately twenty feet in length
    • Correct answer: Ivory teeth and a great well of sperm (spermaceti) inside the head cavity
    • Baleen plates arranged like Venetian blinds along both sides of the upper jaw
    • Two f-shaped external spout-holes on the summit of the head

    Ishmael notes: "in the Right Whale's there is no great well of sperm; no ivory teeth at all; no long, slender mandible of a lower jaw, like the Sperm Whale's."

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. How does Ishmael describe the Sperm Whale's expression in death?

    • Full of fierce defiance, as if still ready to charge any vessel that approaches
    • Correct answer: Full of "prairie-like placidity" and "speculative indifference as to death"
    • Showing "enormous practical resolution" as if grimly determined to face its end
    • Appearing deeply sorrowful, with wrinkles that suggest years of oceanic suffering

    Ishmael says: "I think his broad brow to be full of a prairie-like placidity, born of a speculative indifference as to death."

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What philosophical labels does Ishmael assign to the two whales at the chapter's end?

    • The Right Whale is an Epicurean devoted to pleasure; the Sperm Whale is an Aristotelian naturalist
    • Correct answer: The Right Whale is a Stoic; the Sperm Whale is a Platonian who might have taken up Spinoza
    • The Right Whale is a Cynic rejecting society; the Sperm Whale is a Pythagorean mystic
    • The Right Whale is a Skeptic doubting all knowledge; the Sperm Whale is a Socratic questioner

    Ishmael concludes: "This Right Whale I take to have been a Stoic; the Sperm Whale, a Platonian, who might have taken up Spinoza in his latter years."

    Read the passage
14. 14

    Question 14. What does Ishmael compare the Right Whale's tongue to?

    • A massive slab of marble covering the floor of an ancient Greek temple
    • Correct answer: A carpet of "the softest Turkey" rug, glued to the floor of the mouth
    • A thick mattress of sea-foam that cushions the whale's feeding mechanism
    • A slippery slide of blubber that helps the whale swallow large prey whole

    Ishmael describes the tongue as "a rug of the softest Turkey—the tongue, which is glued, as it were, to the floor of the mouth. It is very fat and tender."

    Read the passage