The Master and Margarita, Chapter 18: Hapless Visitors quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does Poplavsky make sense of the telegram signed "Berlioz"?

   • He decides the funeral is for another relative
   • He decides his nephew is alive but badly injured
   • He decides the telegram is a prank by a rival
   • Correct answer: He decides a stray word displaced the signature

   He reasons that the word 'have' came from another telegram in place of 'Berlioz,' which got moved to the end, so the message reports his nephew's death.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What poster hangs on the wall of the house management office?

   • One listing the rules for registering new tenants
   • One advertising the black magic show at the Variety
   • Correct answer: One showing how to revive people who have drowned
   • One urging tenants to report any hidden currency

   An old poster illustrates the ways of resuscitating people who have drowned in the river, a comic detail in a room where no one can help Poplavsky.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the cat do with Poplavsky's passport?

   • Correct answer: Reads it upside down and flings it on the floor
   • Stamps it and registers him in apartment No. 50
   • Burns it in the fireplace in the living room
   • Tears out the page showing his Kiev address

   Wearing thick black glasses, the cat reads the passport while holding it upside down, sneers at the office that issued it, and throws it on the floor.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Where does Poplavsky hide after Azazello throws him out?

   • Behind a door on the fifth-floor landing
   • Correct answer: In a closet by the exit with a broken glass door
   • In the house management office across the yard
   • In a pharmacy on the other side of the street

   He ducks into a closet near the exit, listens through its broken glass, and waits to see what happens to the little man who asked for apartment No. 50.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Woland tell Sokov was his real reason for the séance at the Variety?

   • Correct answer: He wanted to see the Muscovites all together
   • He wanted to test his retinue's conjuring
   • He wanted to raise money for his travels
   • He wanted to expose the theatre's managers

   Woland says he is not an artiste at all; he simply wanted to see the Muscovites en masse, and a theatre was the most convenient place to do it.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What happens when Sokov sits down on the first tabouret Azazello offers?

   • It turns into a black kitten that claws his legs
   • Correct answer: Its back leg breaks and he falls hard to the floor
   • Azazello pulls it away and the cat laughs at him
   • It rises into the air and floats toward the fire

   The back leg breaks at once, Sokov lands painfully, and a cup of red wine spills on his trousers, the first of many humiliations in the apartment.

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7. 7

   Question 7. When Sokov goes back for his hat, what does Hella hold out to him?

   • A velvet beret with a feather and nothing else
   • A gold piece and a note signed by Woland
   • Correct answer: His hat together with a sword with a dark hilt
   • His hat stuffed full of cut-up paper money

   Hella offers him his hat and a dark-hilted sword, and is surprised that he came without one; he refuses the sword and hurries away.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Professor Kuzmin conclude after examining Sokov?

   • That he must be admitted to the clinic's ward four
   • That he is drunk and must give up vodka at once
   • That he has early liver cancer and needs surgery
   • Correct answer: That he shows no symptoms of cancer for now

   Kuzmin finds no symptoms of cancer at the moment, but since Sokov is frightened he orders tests and sends him to a neurologist for his nerves.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does 'albugo' mean as used in: 'with albugo in his left eye'?

   • A tic that makes the eye twitch
   • A deep scar across the eyelid
   • Correct answer: A white clouding on the cornea
   • A bright red swelling of the eye

   Albugo is a white spot or clouding on the cornea, which is why Azazello's left eye looks blind to Poplavsky.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'cavilling' mean as used in: 'not knowing how to shake off the cavilling artiste'?

    • Speaking with a foreign accent
    • Begging for money or favors
    • Boasting about one's talents
    • Correct answer: Raising petty objections

    To cavil is to make petty objections; Woland keeps quibbling over the sturgeon and will not let the barman state his business.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'disingenuous' mean as used in: 'their offers were disingenuous'?

    • Correct answer: Not sincere or honest
    • Written in clumsy language
    • Too small to be worth taking
    • Made far too late to matter

    Disingenuous means insincere; the few people who answered Poplavsky's apartment-exchange advertisements were not making honest offers.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 18?

    • Koroviev tells Poplavsky that he witnessed the tram accident.

      Happened

      Koroviev weeps that the tram ran Berlioz clean over and tells Poplavsky, "I was a witness."

    • Poplavsky goes to the police to report the bandits in apartment No. 50.

      Didn't happen

      He does not: the narrator says that an intelligent man like Poplavsky would never tell the police that a cat had read his passport, and he hides in a closet by the exit instead.

    • A woman with a green bag jokingly asks the barman to share his money.

      Happened

      On the stairs the woman sees the barman staring at his money and asks, "Give some to me, eh?" before laughing that she was joking.

    • Woland persuades the barman to drink a glass of vodka.

      Didn't happen

      Woland offers him wine and then games, but the barman says he does not drink; vodka comes up only when Professor Kuzmin asks him about it.

    • An owl brushes the barman's bald head with its wing.

      Happened

      As the barman chews the meat, a big, dark bird flies in from the next room, gently brushes his bald head with its wing, and turns out to be an owl.

    • Professor Kuzmin accepts the barman's gold pieces as his fee.

      Didn't happen

      Kuzmin tells him to take away his gold this minute, and the barman gathers up the gold pieces, leaving only thirty roubles that turn into three wine labels.

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