White Nights, Morning quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does the letter from Nastenka reach the narrator?

   • Nastenka brings it personally and leaves it with Matrona at the door
   • Correct answer: Matrona tells him a letter arrived by post and hands it to him
   • Her future husband delivers it and waits for an answer
   • He discovers it under his door after his sleepless night

   Matrona announces that the postman brought a letter and hands it to the narrator, who then reads it is from Nastenka.

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2. 2

   Question 2. In her letter, what reason does Nastenka give for not marrying the narrator?

   • Correct answer: Her heart has always belonged to the returning lodger
   • He disobeyed her first condition by falling in love
   • She believes a dreamer could never provide for a family
   • Her grandmother will not let her marry such a poor man

   Nastenka writes that her heart "returned so quickly yesterday to him to whom it has always belonged," meaning the lodger.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the narrator do with the letter after rereading it several times?

   • He immediately hands it to Matrona to destroy
   • He angrily tears it to pieces and throws it away
   • He writes Nastenka a bitter reply that same morning
   • Correct answer: He lets it fall from his hands and hides his face

   After reading the letter repeatedly and weeping, the narrator lets it fall from his hands and hides his face.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does the narrator imagine happening to the house across the street after he reads the letter?

   • It glitters, freshly painted, in the sudden sunshine
   • It is decorated with flowers for a wedding party
   • Correct answer: It grows old and dingy, its stucco crumbling
   • It is covered in spiders' webs, exactly like his room

   In his imagined vision of decay, the narrator pictures the house opposite grown old and dingy, its stucco peeling and its cornices cracked.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How far into the future does the narrator picture himself still alone in the same room?

   • Ten years
   • Correct answer: Fifteen years
   • Twenty-six years
   • Eight years

   He imagines himself "fifteen years hence," older but otherwise unchanged, still solitary with the same Matrona.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What best describes the narrator's emotional resolution by the end of the chapter?

   • Bitter resentment toward Nastenka and the lodger
   • Complete indifference to everything that happened
   • Correct answer: Grief paired with a deliberate choice to bless Nastenka's happiness
   • A firm plan to win Nastenka back before the wedding

   Though grieving, the narrator explicitly renounces any grudge and wishes Nastenka an untroubled, happy wedding.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Which of these events actually occur in the "Morning" chapter of White Nights?

   • Matrona delivers a letter to the narrator from Nastenka.

     Happened

   • The narrator immediately writes back refusing to attend Nastenka's wedding.

     Didn't happen

   • Nastenka's letter announces she will marry the lodger the following week.

     Happened

   • Rain falls while the narrator lies feverish and ill.

     Happened

   • The narrator sets out to visit Nastenka in person that same day.

     Didn't happen

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does "mirage" mean as used in: 'I deceived you and myself. It was a dream, a mirage.'?

   • Correct answer: An illusion of something that isn't really there
   • A wedding, or the state of being married
   • Something solid, real, and certain to last
   • A morning mist rising over the water

   Nastenka calls her feelings a "mirage," meaning an illusion or false impression rather than something real and lasting.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What does "decrepit" mean as used in: 'I suddenly pictured her with lustreless eyes, a wrinkled face, bent, decrepit.'?

   • Dishonest and deceitful
   • Polite, proper, and well-mannered
   • Hearty, youthful, and energetic
   • Correct answer: Weakened and worn out by age

   Decrepit describes someone worn out and weakened by age, matching the narrator's imagined vision of an aged Matrona.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "forbidding" mean as used in: 'the whole vista of my future flashed before me so sad and forbidding'?

    • Not permitted by the law
    • Merciful and willing to pardon others
    • Correct answer: Appearing unfriendly or threatening
    • Welcoming, friendly, and inviting

    Forbidding describes the narrator's imagined future as bleak and uninviting, reinforcing his fear of a joyless life ahead.

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