The Master and Margarita, Chapter 15: Nikanor Ivanovich's Dream quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. During questioning, what does Nikanor Ivanovich insist about Koroviev?

   • Correct answer: That he is the devil and must be caught at once
   • That he is a nephew lodged there without papers
   • That he is a foreign official with a valid pass
   • That he left Moscow for Yalta the night before

   Nikanor Ivanovich cries that Koroviev is the devil, an unclean power lodged in apartment No. 50, and begs them to catch him.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What do the searchers find when they go to apartment No. 50?

   • Koroviev asleep at Berlioz's desk in the study
   • Correct answer: No Koroviev, and the study's seals still unbroken
   • Bedsornev hiding more dollars in the ventilation
   • A black cat sitting alone beside the bookcases

   No one in the house knows any Koroviev, the apartment is empty, and the wax seals on the study bookcases are unbroken.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What is unusual about the audience in the dream theatre?

   • They are women in ball gowns in gilded boxes
   • They are chairmen of house committees standing
   • Correct answer: They are bearded men sitting on the floor
   • They are foreigners who speak through interpreters

   The audience is all male and all bearded, and since the theatre has no seats they sit on the polished floor.

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4. 4

   Question 4. On-stage, whom does Nikanor Ivanovich blame for the four hundred dollars?

   • His secretary Bedsornev, who hated him
   • A tenant who wanted Berlioz's empty rooms
   • His wife, who alone kept the privy key
   • Correct answer: The checkered interpreter, an unclean power

   He says unclean powers, 'the checkered interpreter,' stuck him with the dollars, and the house roars with indignation.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which of these happened before Nikanor Ivanovich reached the clinic?

   • Nikanor Ivanovich admits taking bribes in Soviet money.

     Happened

     Under questioning he admits he took money to register people, but insists it was Soviet money and never currency.

   • Nikanor Ivanovich cries that Koroviev is grinning behind the bookcase.

     Happened

     He jumps up from his knees roaring that Koroviev is there behind the bookcase, grinning, and begs them to spray the room with holy water.

   • Koroviev is found and arrested in apartment No. 50.

     Didn't happen

     When they visit apartment No. 50 they find no Koroviev there, and no one in the house knows or has seen him.

   • The secretary Bedsornev leaves Sadovaya with the searchers.

     Happened

     After the visit to apartment No. 50, the perplexed and dispirited secretary Bedsornev departs from Sadovaya with the visitors.

   • Nikanor Ivanovich confesses that he hid the dollars himself.

     Didn't happen

     He insists he never laid a finger on the currency and blames Koroviev, offering to eat dirt to prove he did not do it.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Where had Dunchil kept the dollars and the diamond necklace?

   • In a locked safe at the state bank
   • Correct answer: In his mistress's apartment in Kharkov
   • In a candy tin in his aunt's cellar
   • In the ventilation of his own flat

   The artiste announces that the treasure was kept in Kharkov in the apartment of Dunchil's mistress, Ida Herkulanovna Vors.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Which work does the actor Kurolesov perform excerpts from?

   • The opera Evgeny Onegin
   • The fables of La Fontaine
   • Ivan Homeless's poem about Jesus
   • Correct answer: Pushkin's The Covetous Knight

   Kurolesov performs excerpts from The Covetous Knight by the poet Pushkin, and the actor dies on-stage crying 'Keys! My keys!'

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8. 8

   Question 8. According to the master of ceremonies, what can never conceal the truth?

   • Correct answer: The eyes
   • The tongue
   • The voice
   • The hands

   He says the tongue can conceal the truth, but the eyes never: the truth leaps into them when a sudden question is put.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does Kanavkin's hesitation give away?

   • That he had given a false name on-stage
   • That his wife knew the hiding place
   • Correct answer: That his aunt has hidden currency too
   • That he had kept back more gold pieces

   When asked whether the aunt also has some, Kanavkin wavers, and the artiste reads the answer in his eyes; Kanavkin then cries 'She has!'

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10. 10

    Question 10. What happens to the fat cook who offers Nikanor Ivanovich soup?

    • He turns into Koroviev in a cracked pince-nez
    • Correct answer: He turns into the nurse Praskovya Fyodorovna
    • He drags Nikanor Ivanovich back on-stage
    • He pours the soup over the artiste's head

    The cook's voice softens and he turns into the nurse Praskovya Fyodorovna, who is shaking Nikanor Ivanovich awake.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these happened in Nikanor Ivanovich's dream?

    • Madame Dunchil says her husband turned it all over.

      Happened

      Called on-stage, Madame Dunchil nervously says her husband turned it all over the other time.

    • Kurolesov dies on-stage crying out for his keys.

      Happened

      Performing The Covetous Knight, Kurolesov dies an evil death on-stage, crying out for his keys, then gets up and bows.

    • Nikanor Ivanovich turns over a hidden stash of gold.

      Didn't happen

      Nikanor Ivanovich keeps insisting he has no currency; it is Kanavkin who volunteers to turn over his dollars and gold pieces.

    • Kanavkin is offered a ride home in a car.

      Happened

      The master of ceremonies congratulates Kanavkin, shakes his hand and offers him a ride home to the city in a car.

    • The red-bearded neighbour volunteers his currency.

      Didn't happen

      The red-bearded neighbour only sighs about his fighting geese in Lianozovo; the artiste's call for more volunteers is met with silence.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Who is the last of the patients to fall asleep near the end of the chapter?

    • Correct answer: Ivan
    • The master
    • Nikanor Ivanovich
    • The patient in room 120

    The doctor calms everyone, and Ivan is the last to fall asleep, as dawn breaks over the river.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'bamboozler' mean as used in: 'an astonishing bamboozler and liar'?

    • A person who hoards gold
    • A person who drinks heavily
    • Correct answer: A person who tricks others
    • A person who neglects work

    A bamboozler is someone who deceives or cheats; Dunchil had told everyone he had no more currency while he was hiding a fortune.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does 'callous' mean as used in: 'failed to move the actor's callous heart'?

    • Easily frightened
    • Secretly generous
    • Deeply ashamed
    • Correct answer: Cruelly unfeeling

    Callous means showing cruel disregard for others' suffering, as when the knight ignores the weeping widow.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What does 'usurious' mean as used in: 'her usurious little soul'?

    • Fearful of strangers and of noise
    • Devout and fond of long prayers
    • Forgetful about where things are
    • Correct answer: Greedy for profit, like a moneylender

    Usurious describes someone greedy for gain, like a lender charging excessive interest.

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