Summary
This Chapter begins with the men harvesting from the Heidelberg Tun of the whale. The Heidelberg Tun is so called because of its vastness and the sheer amount of spermacetti that is found within it. An actual Heidelberg Tun, shown above, is an enormous barrel for holding ale and other liquids.The men harvest the oil from this by having one man stand atop the entrance to it and lower in a bucket, then pull it out when it is filled. This is a slow, tedious process, and it goes well until they are about halfway finished with the harvesting. Tashtego, the one doing the brunt of the work, falls headfirst into the Tun of the whale. Daggoo, another crewman, attempts to push the bucket back down and pull Tashtego out, but it doesn't work. Suddenly, the ropes holding the whale aloft break, and Tashtego is plunged into the water. The men fear that he is lost, but then Queequeg jumps down into the water. He cuts a hole into the side of the whale and pulls Tashtego out and swims back to the surface, saving Tashtego.
Quotes
"Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, riding and rowing."
This is just a humorous sentence, which I threw in simply because it made me laugh the first time I read it. The way that it likens the saving of Tashtego to the deliverance of a baby simply rendered itself too funny to not laugh, and I felt the need to share this.
"In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in."
This I chose because it is a great descriptive phrase to show the way in which Tashtego finds the best spot to pull the spermacetti from the Tun.
"Only one sweeter end can readily be recalled—the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who seeking honey in the crotch of a hollow tree, found such exceeding store of it, that leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed."
These little side stories are what make this novel as great as it is.
Vocab
Obstetrics: A branch of medicine and surgery related to childbirth
Allusions
"he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower."
The Muezzin is a man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret, or top, of a mosque.
"Almost in the same instant, with a thunder-boom, the enormous mass dropped into the sea, like Niagara’s Table-Rock into the whirlpool"
Table rock was a limestone ledge which hung over Niagara Falls until 1850 at which point it snapped off and fell into Niagara Gorge.
*Do you think that you have the level of bravery that it took for Queequeg to risk his own life to save Tashtego? Why do you think he was willing to do this for his shipmate?
This Chapter begins with the men harvesting from the Heidelberg Tun of the whale. The Heidelberg Tun is so called because of its vastness and the sheer amount of spermacetti that is found within it. An actual Heidelberg Tun, shown above, is an enormous barrel for holding ale and other liquids.The men harvest the oil from this by having one man stand atop the entrance to it and lower in a bucket, then pull it out when it is filled. This is a slow, tedious process, and it goes well until they are about halfway finished with the harvesting. Tashtego, the one doing the brunt of the work, falls headfirst into the Tun of the whale. Daggoo, another crewman, attempts to push the bucket back down and pull Tashtego out, but it doesn't work. Suddenly, the ropes holding the whale aloft break, and Tashtego is plunged into the water. The men fear that he is lost, but then Queequeg jumps down into the water. He cuts a hole into the side of the whale and pulls Tashtego out and swims back to the surface, saving Tashtego.
Quotes
"Midwifery should be taught in the same course with fencing and boxing, riding and rowing."
This is just a humorous sentence, which I threw in simply because it made me laugh the first time I read it. The way that it likens the saving of Tashtego to the deliverance of a baby simply rendered itself too funny to not laugh, and I felt the need to share this.
"In this business he proceeds very heedfully, like a treasure-hunter in some old house, sounding the walls to find where the gold is masoned in."
This I chose because it is a great descriptive phrase to show the way in which Tashtego finds the best spot to pull the spermacetti from the Tun.
"Only one sweeter end can readily be recalled—the delicious death of an Ohio honey-hunter, who seeking honey in the crotch of a hollow tree, found such exceeding store of it, that leaning too far over, it sucked him in, so that he died embalmed."
These little side stories are what make this novel as great as it is.
Vocab
Obstetrics: A branch of medicine and surgery related to childbirth
Allusions
"he seems some Turkish Muezzin calling the good people to prayers from the top of a tower."
The Muezzin is a man who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret, or top, of a mosque.
"Almost in the same instant, with a thunder-boom, the enormous mass dropped into the sea, like Niagara’s Table-Rock into the whirlpool"
Table rock was a limestone ledge which hung over Niagara Falls until 1850 at which point it snapped off and fell into Niagara Gorge.
*Do you think that you have the level of bravery that it took for Queequeg to risk his own life to save Tashtego? Why do you think he was willing to do this for his shipmate?
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