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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Lisa Tushin challenge Stavrogin to do?
(a) Murder his mother.
(b) Murder Mary and Captain Lebyatkin.
(c) Divorce Mary Lebyatkin.
(d) Get Lebyatkin to stop writing her letters.

2. Why are workers from the Spigulin factory massing in the street?
(a) They are petitioning for the governor to intervene in a payment dispute.
(b) They are organizing themselves for the new, post-revolutionary society.
(c) They are demanding the release of political prisoners.
(d) They are enjoying their day off.

3. What crime is Fedka implicated in?
(a) Treason.
(b) Arson.
(c) Murder.
(d) Theft.

4. What does Stavrogin want Fedka to do?
(a) Kill Mary and Captain Lebyatkin.
(b) Start a riot.
(c) Kill Shatov.
(d) Return to prison.

5. What resonance does the story of the swine from Luke have with the novel?
(a) Dostoevsky appears to believe that lovers are possessed by demons.
(b) Dostoevsky appears to believe that educated people are possessed by demons.
(c) Dostoevsky appears to believe that revolutionaries are possessed by demons.
(d) Dostoevsky appears to believe that Russia is possessed by demons.

6. Who kills Kirilov?
(a) Liputin.
(b) Peter.
(c) Shatov.
(d) He kills himself.

7. What is the real purpose of the gathering at Virginsky's house?
(a) A literary club meeting.
(b) Planning to overthrow the government.
(c) A radical political meeting.
(d) A planning meeting for Mrs. Lembke's fête.

8. What is Peter Verkhovensky concerned about when he rushes out of Virginsky's house?
(a) Getting his manuscript to the press in time for printing.
(b) A raid that is planned for his house.
(c) A letter that might expose the group.
(d) An arrest warrant that has been issued for him.

9. Why was it a mistake to charge a high price for the fête?
(a) No one could afford to come.
(b) The people who came wanted food.
(c) The people expected to be entertained.
(d) Expensive tickets excluded the writers.

10. Where does Stepan Verkhovensky set off for after the fête?
(a) He is taking the train to St. Petersburg.
(b) He is walking across Russia.
(c) He is taking the train to Moscow.
(d) He is taking a coach back to Mrs. Stavrogin's.

11. Who is attacked after the murder of Shatov?
(a) Erkel.
(b) Virginsky.
(c) Peter.
(d) Liputin.

12. Who chases after Lisa when she leaves Stavrogin's house?
(a) Peter.
(b) Stavrogin.
(c) Liputin.
(d) Shatov.

13. Who does the chief of police begin to arrest?
(a) The people who complain about the lack of food.
(b) The people who disseminate radical literature.
(c) The people who set fire to the hall.
(d) The people who bring alcohol into the fête.

14. What kind of speech does Stepan Verkhovensky give?
(a) A defense of high culture.
(b) A justification of revolutionary acts.
(c) A jeremiad against the people themselves.
(d) An attack on materialism.

15. Who does Peter blame for Mary and Captain Lebyatkin's murder?
(a) Fedka.
(b) Lisa.
(c) Stavrogin.
(d) Shatov.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is The Possessed an inaccurate transposition of the story of the swine in Luke?

2. What does Stavrogin believe in?

3. What do the police take from Peter Verkhovensky's house?

4. Who is on the stage when Karminazov goes to speak?

5. What is the overall message of The Possessed?

(see the answer keys)

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