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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 demanding the release of political prisoners.
(c) They are enjoying their day off.
(d) They are organizing themselves for the new, post-revolutionary society.

2. How do the revolutionaries dispose of Shatov's body?
(a) They bury him in the woods.
(b) They throw him the river.
(c) They cut up his body and burn him.
(d) They tie rocks to his feet and throw his body in the pond.

3. What reason does the narrator have for visiting Lembke?
(a) He wants to testify against Peter Verkhovensky.
(b) He wants to prevent Stepan Verkhovensky from doing anything silly.
(c) He wants to know why he is being searched.
(d) He wants to arrange to get out of the country.

4. Which revolutionary dissociates himself from murder as a strategy?
(a) Virginsky.
(b) Shatov.
(c) Peter Verkhovensky.
(d) Shigalyov.

5. Why is The Possessed an inaccurate transposition of the story of the swine in Luke?
(a) The devils that haunt Russia are not as easy to cast out as Peter and his radicals.
(b) The devils are more destructive in the story, and also more difficult to control.
(c) The devils reside in the human heart, and can never be cast out completely.
(d) Russia's tumultuous revolution dwarfs the revolutionary action of the novel.

6. Why does Lisa want to leave Stavrogin at the beginning of the Part 3, Chapter 3?
(a) She wanted to report his murder to the police.
(b) Stavrogin told her he didn't love her.
(c) Stavrogin confessed to killing Mary.
(d) They have begun to quarrel.

7. Who shows up to talk with Shatov after Shatov's wife returns?
(a) Virginsky.
(b) Fedka.
(c) Erkel.
(d) Peter.

8. Shatov is happy to see his wife in spite of what?
(a) Her disdain for him.
(b) Her illness.
(c) Her infidelity.
(d) Her poverty.

9. How has public opinion shifted on the eve of the fête?
(a) The people are now in favor of change.
(b) The workers are anxious to disrupt the fête.
(c) The agitators have succeeded in turning the crowds against the government.
(d) It is now against Mrs. Lembke.

10. How does Stepan Verkhovensky react to the search of Peter's house?
(a) He resists the search with force.
(b) He runs away.
(c) He hides in a closet.
(d) He helps the police.

11. What cover do the fifteen people use for gathering at Virginsky's house?
(a) They are there to help him move.
(b) They are there to celebrate his birthday.
(c) They are there to help him through his illness.
(d) They are there to celerate the birth of his son.

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

13. What kind of poem does Liputin read to the crowd?
(a) A pastoral idyll.
(b) An obscene farce.
(c) A call for revolution.
(d) A patriotic ode.

14. How long had Shatov's wife been gone before she returns?
(a) Three years.
(b) Three weeks.
(c) Three days.
(d) Three months.

15. What happens to Stavrogin as the novel concludes?
(a) He returns to his mother's home.
(b) He commits suicide.
(c) He is imprisoned for Mary's murder.
(d) He returns to the military and moves away.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was it a mistake to charge a high price for the fête?

2. Which one of these characters is NOT in Peter's secret group?

3. Who had a hand in manipulating Lisa to be with Stavrogin?

4. Why is Lisa Tushin killed?

5. What does Stepan Verkhovensky find in his wanderings?

(see the answer keys)

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