Moby-Dick discussion questions Chapter 76: “The Battering-Ram”, Chapter 77: “The Great Heidelberg Tun”, Chapter 78: “Cistern and Buckets”
- What battering-ram does Ishmael here describe? Why is this possibly important for the plot of the novel?
- Why is this part of the whale important? What color is the inside of the case? What does it seem to suggest here?
- What is a cistern and how does it relate to the events in this chapter?
- What happens to Tashtego in this chapter? Could this be symbolic? Explain.
