The Master and Margarita, Chapter 17: An Unquiet Day quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does the bookkeeper Vassily Stepanovich end up in charge of the Variety?

   • He is the only staff member who saw the whole séance
   • He was promoted by Rimsky just before the séance began
   • Correct answer: The director, findirector and administrator are gone
   • The police appoint him to run the theatre that day

   Likhodeev, Rimsky and Varenukha are all missing, so the quiet bookkeeper, who did not even attend the show, is suddenly the senior man.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does the police dog Ace of Diamonds do after leaving the findirector's office?

   • Correct answer: He leads the searchers to the cab stand and loses the trail
   • He tracks the scent to Likhodeev's apartment on Sadovaya
   • He refuses to leave the stage where the magician stood
   • He follows the trail into the theatre's garden and digs

   After howling at the broken window, the dog walks out the main entrance to the cab stand, where he loses the trail he had been pursuing.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does the investigation get nowhere at the Variety?

   • Rimsky's wife insists that the whole séance was a hoax
   • The staff refuse to answer questions about the show
   • The police are called away to Griboedov's restaurant
   • Correct answer: Every clue, from posters to contract, has vanished

   The posters were pasted over in the night, no contract is found in any file, and the box-office girl can only guess Woland or Faland.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why does the cab driver refuse the bookkeeper's ten-rouble bill?

   • He has been ordered to carry no Variety passengers
   • Correct answer: Tenners from the séance turn into a seltzer label or a bee
   • He suspects the bookkeeper of being a foreign spy
   • His meter is broken, so he will only take exact change today

   The driver says a customer's tenner became a seltzer-bottle label and another time a bee stung him in his wallet, all after the conjurer's séance.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What has happened to Prokhor Petrovich, chairman of the Commission on Spectacles?

   • He has been taken to Stravinsky's clinic for treatment
   • He has been arrested for dealing in foreign currency
   • Correct answer: Only his empty suit is left, still working at his desk
   • He has fled to Leningrad with the commission's funds

   Anna Richardovna says that when he shouted 'devil take me,' the cat-faced visitor answered that it could be done; the bookkeeper finds only the suit, writing and speaking in his voice.

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6. 6

   Question 6. How does the choirmaster get into the city affiliate?

   • He is hired by the secretary to entertain the visitors
   • Correct answer: The manager brings him in as a specialist in choral clubs
   • He poses as a doctor sent to treat the staff's mass hypnosis
   • He answers an advertisement for a new music teacher

   The manager, with his mania for clubs, presents the checkered stranger to the staff at lunch as an expert in organizing choral singing.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Where do the three trucks take the singing staff of the affiliate?

   • To the Variety, where the show is about to begin
   • To a police station for questioning about the séance
   • To the countryside on a planned group excursion
   • Correct answer: To Professor Stravinsky's clinic outside the city

   Passers-by assume it is an excursion, but the trucks are carrying the staff to Professor Stravinsky's clinic.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Why is Vassily Stepanovich arrested at the financial sector?

   • Correct answer: His bundle of roubles has turned into foreign currency
   • He is found carrying a forged deposit slip
   • The clerk recognizes him from a wanted poster
   • He tries to bribe the clerk to take the money

   When he unties the bundle, it holds Canadian dollars, British pounds and other foreign money, and he is seized as one of the Variety's tricksters.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happen at the Variety on Friday morning?

   • Rimsky's wife arrives at the theatre, sobbing.

     Happened

     Shortly after ten o'clock Madame Rimsky bursts into the Variety, sobbing and wringing her hands, and is later sent home.

   • The box office opens at noon and sells out the evening show.

     Didn't happen

     The box office never opens: a cardboard sign goes up on the doors, and within about an hour the line has broken up.

   • A sign announcing that the day's show is cancelled is posted on the doors.

     Happened

     Towards noon a huge piece of cardboard reading 'Today's Show Cancelled' is posted on the doors of the Variety.

   • Varenukha telephones to say he is safe in Pushkino.

     Didn't happen

     No word comes from Varenukha; to every call asking where Likhodeev, Varenukha and Rimsky are, the staff have no answer.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events actually happen during the bookkeeper's errands?

    • Anna Richardovna begs the bookkeeper to come into the chairman's office.

      Happened

      Anna Richardovna clutches his lapels, calls him a brave man, and drags him into the chairman's office.

    • The bookkeeper joins the affiliate's staff in singing 'Glorious Sea'.

      Didn't happen

      The bookkeeper only watches and later questions the girl; it is the affiliate's staff who cannot stop singing.

    • A doctor gives the singing staff doses of valerian.

      Happened

      When the verse ends, the doctor gives the girl a dose of valerian and runs after the secretary to give the others theirs.

    • The bookkeeper sets out for the Spectacles Commission by tram.

      Didn't happen

      Knowing his instructions, he sets out not for a bus or a tram but for the cab stand, and he rides to the commission in a cab.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'superfluous' mean in: 'feeling himself quite superfluous there'?

    • Embarrassed by his own poor manners
    • Exhausted after running all morning
    • Correct answer: Unwanted because he is not needed
    • Frightened by what might happen next

    Superfluous means more than is needed; with the police in charge, the bookkeeper feels he has no reason to stay.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'toadies' mean in: 'well-known affiliate toadies'?

    • Workers who often skip their duties
    • Correct answer: People who flatter those in power
    • Clerks who keep the office's accounts
    • Singers who lead the office choir

    Toadies are flatterers; Fanov and Kosarchuk are the first to sign up for the manager's new club.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'tremulous' mean in: 'began singing in a tremulous soprano'?

    • Low, rough and out of tune
    • Loud and full of confidence
    • Very high and perfectly in tune
    • Correct answer: Shaking with fear or emotion

    Tremulous means trembling; the weeping girl's voice shakes because she is singing against her will.

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