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Animal Farm
Don Quixote
Heart of Darkness
The Handmaid's Tale
The Odyssey
No Fear Shakespeare
Literature
Other Subjects
Teacher
Blog
Help
Chekhov Stories
Anton Chekhov
Study Guide
Study Guide
Summary
Summary & Analysis
The Lady with the Dog
In the Ravine
On Official Duty (On Official Business)
The Black Monk
The Night Before Easter
The Grasshopper
The Darling
Gooseberries
Agafya
My Life (The Story of a Provincial)
Ward No. six
Steppe (The Story of a Journey)
Characters
Character List
Dmitri Gurov
Olga Plemyannikov
Andrei Kovrin
Olga Dymov
Dr. Andrei Rabin
Main Ideas
Themes
Motifs
Symbols
Key Facts
Quotes
Important Quotes Explained
Further Study
Context
Full Book Quiz
Section Quizzes
Context
Character List
Analysis of Major Characters
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
The Lady with the Dog
In the Ravine
On Official Duty (On Official Business)
The Black Monk
The Night Before Easter
The Grasshopper
The Darling
Gooseberries
Agafya
My Life (The Story of a Provincial)
Ward No. six
Steppe (The Story of a Journey)
Study Questions
Suggestions for Further Reading
Writing Help
How to Write Literary Analysis
Suggested Essay Topics
How to Cite This SparkNote
Further Study
Full Book Quiz
Further Study
Full Book Quiz
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1. What task does Osip fulfill at his wife's dinner parties in
The Grasshopper
?
He enthralls the guests with tales of advancements in medical science.
He cooks the meal.
He announces dinner by banging on a gong.
He joins in the discussions about art, drama and music.
2. What river does Olga visit with her artist-lover Ryabovsky?
The Volga
The Danube
The Thames
The Seine
3. What are the professions of the "darling's" two husbands?
A landowner and a priest
A theater-owner and a timber-merchant
A wool-merchant and a veterinary surgeon
An army doctor and a shopkeeper
4. In what way does Olga embarrasses her lover, the veterinary surgeon Smirnin, in
The Darling
?
By kissing him in front of their guests
By parroting his ideas about disease that afflict livestock
By discussing her passion for the theater
By announcing her regret at not being a mother
5. Why does Dr. Rabin cease to take an interest in his patients in
Ward No. six
?
He hopes that his indifference will get him fired and that he will receive a large pension.
Gromov convinces him that the lunatics are beyond help.
His friend Mikhail tells him not to bother.
He thinks that everyone should accept the necessity of suffering.
6. What does Rabin feel after he has been tricked into entering the hospital asylum in
Ward No. six
?
He is happy that he can spend all day talking to Gromov.
He is worried that the other inmates will kill him.
He is unhappy and recognizes that he was wrong about the reality of suffering.
He feels optimistic that he will soon recover.
7. Why does Savka leave his lover and the narrator alone together in
Agafya
?
He runs off to catch a nightingale.
He decides to go fishing.
He thinks Agafya's husband is coming after him.
He thinks the narrator has a crush on Agafya.
8. What is the purpose of Kuzmichov's journey in
Steppe,
aside from taking his nephew Yegorushka to school?
To see the beautiful landscape of the Steppe
To talk to the priest without interruptions
To sell wool to the merchant Varlamov
To meet the beautiful Countess Dranitskaia
9. What is Yegorushka's reaction on meeting Varlamov in
Steppe
?
He is impressed by the wool-merchant's large size and personable attitude.
He is intrigued by his small stature and attitude of self-importance.
He detests him for his high-handed treatment of the peasants.
He is upset that Varlmov ignores him.
10. How does Yegorushka feel at the conclusion of his journey when he is left to stay at the house of his mother's friend?
He is happy and excited.
He is concerned about his mother at home.
He is resentful that his uncle dropped him off without saying a proper goodbye.
He is worried about what will happen to him in the future.
11. In what way does Misail alienate his father in
My Life
?
He quits his job as a clerk and becomes a laborer.
He marries a peasant girl.
He falls into heavy debt through gambling.
He calls his father a hypocrite.
12. Why is Masha drawn to Stephan in
My Life
?
He often pays her compliments.
He helps her set up a local school.
He frequently abuses the peasants.
He is a social outcast like her husband.
13. What significance does the gooseberry fruit have in the story
Gooseberries
?
It is what the landowner Aliokhin gives his guests to eat.
The fruit symbolizes the peasants' suffering.
The fruit symbolizes a simple life lived close to nature.
Ivan explains how his brother became a landowner and grew gooseberries on his estate.
14. Who or what does Ivan wish stood behind the door of "every happy, contented man" in
Gooseberries
?
A nagging wife
A man with a hammer
An unhappy peasant
A psychopath with a pickax
15. Why is Jerome the ferryman unhappy in
The Night before Easter
?
He hates rowing people across the river.
He is dying of tuberculosis.
He is in mourning for his friend Deacon Nicolas.
He is afraid of the dark.
16. What does Jerome insist Deacon Nicolas was particularly good at?
Giving advice
Listening to his friends' problems
Ferrying people across the river
Writing songs for saints
17. Who or what does "the black monk" say Kovrin is?
A raving lunatic
A mediocre professor with a tendency to hallucinate
A genius and one of God's elect
A faithless landowner
18. Why does Kovrin and Tania's marriage collapse in
The Black Monk
?
Tania falls in love with someone else.
Kovrin becomes embittered and cruel after his treatment for mental illness.
Kovrin has an affair.
Tania cannot cope with her husband's sickening from tuberculosis.
19. Why does the constable Loshadin say that he is willing to suffer in order to fulfill his office
On Official Duty
?
Because no one else will do his job
Because the landowners tip him well
Because he meets many interesting people
Because it is his duty
20. Why is the inquest postponed for two days in
On Official Duty
?
Dr. Starchenko commits suicide.
The corpse disappears.
A snowstorm hits the town.
Lyzhin has a nervous breakdown.
21. How does Lipa's baby Nikifor die in
In the Ravine
?
Aksinia scalds him with boiling water.
Grigori strangles him.
He starves after Lipa forgets to feed him.
His father throws him out of the window.
22. How does Chekhov describe Aksinia's smile in
In the Ravine
?
"cunning"
"wry"
"naïve"
"dim-witted"
23. What does Grigori do when beggars ask him for money?
He throws them some coins.
He gives them some home-brewed vodka.
He rides off in his carriage and shouts "God will provide!"
He beats them with his stick.
24. Who does Gurov think Anna resembles in
The Lady with the Dog
?
His daughter
His wife
A famous Russian actress
The Empress
25. How does
The Lady with the Dog
end?
Gurov commits suicide.
Anna dies of tuberculosis.
Anna and Gurov leave their spouses and live happily-ever-after in Yalta.
Anna and Gurov confess their love to each other and look to the future with hope and uncertainty.
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