The House of the Dead MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The House of the Dead MCQs
Updated on: November 2, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 18 min

The House of the Dead MCQs

1. For what crime was Alexander Petrovitch Goriantchikoff condemned to hard labour?

A. Treason
B. Assassinating his wife
C. Political rebellion
D. Smuggling

B. Assassinating his wife.
He had killed his wife out of jealousy less than a year after their marriage, then surrendered to justice.

2. Where did Goriantchikoff live quietly after serving his ten-year sentence?

A. St. Petersburg
B. Little town of K—
C. Moscow
D. Tobolsk

B. Little town of K—.
After serving ten years of hard labour, he lived quietly and unnoticed as a colonist in the little town of K—.

3. How did Goriantchikoff earn a living in the town of K—?

A. Writing petitions
B. Working as a carpenter
C. Giving lessons to children
D. Merchant’s business

C. Giving lessons to children.
He resided in K—, making a living by teaching children, often French, which was highly valued there.

4. What best describes Alexander Petrovitch’s appearance when the narrator first met him?

A. Stout and bearded
B. Pale, thin, young
C. Robust and happy
D. Well-dressed, old

B. Pale, thin, young.
He was young, about thirty-five, very pale and thin, and always neatly dressed in the European style.
5. How did Alexander Petrovitch usually behave when engaged in conversation?

A. Joking and verbose
B. Clearly and shortly
C. Confused and shouting
D. Weighed each word

D. Weighed each word.
He replied clearly and briefly, but weighed every word carefully, making others feel uneasy when talking.

6. How did Goriantchikoff react when invited to smoke a cigarette outside Ivan Gvosdikof’s house?

A. Happily accepted
B. Frightened and fled
C. Declined politely
D. Began weeping

B. Frightened and fled.
He showed fright, muttered confused words, looked angry, and suddenly took flight in the opposite direction.

7. What did the landlady say Alexander Petrovitch did during the nights?

A. Read books constantly
B. Walked up and down, reflected
C. Gambled secretly
D. Wrote children’s exercises

B. Walked up and down, reflected.
His landlady observed that he often walked up and down his room all night, given up to his reflections.

8. What happened to Alexander Petrovitch three months after the narrator left town?

A. He escaped
B. He moved to Moscow
C. He was dead
D. He published a book

C. He was dead.
Upon the narrator’s return in the winter, he learned that Petrovitch had died and was already forgotten.

9. What did the landlady admit she had used some of Alexander Petrovitch’s papers for?

A. Selling them at the market
B. Lighting her fire
C. Writing petitions
D. Teaching her grandchild

B. Lighting her fire.
The landlady confessed that she had already employed four sheets of the deceased’s papers in lighting her fire.
10. What did Alexander Petrovitch call his incoherent and fragmentary narrative?

A. Siberian History
B. Ten Years in Exile
C. Memoirs of an Ex-Noble
D. Recollections of the Dead-House

D. Recollections of the Dead-House.
The thick packet of manuscripts contained the incoherent, fragmentary narrative of his hard labour, “Recollections of the Dead-House”.

11. What structure enclosed the courtyard of the prison?

A. Brick wall
B. Iron fence
C. Irregular hexagonal palisade
D. High stone rampart

C. Irregular hexagonal palisade.
The prison courtyard, two hundred feet long, was enclosed by an irregular hexagonal palisade of stakes.

12. What could a convict see through the cracks of the palisade besides the earthwork?

A. The town
B. The forest
C. A little corner of the sky
D. The river Irtych

C. A little corner of the sky.
Looking through the crevices, one could only see the high earthwork and a small corner of the sky far away.

13. How many times a day were prisoners drawn up in ranks for identification?

A. Twice
B. Three times a day
C. Once
D. Constantly

B. Three times a day.
Prisoners were identified and had to answer roll-call three times daily, plus other unexpected counts.

14. What did one convict constantly count during his time of liberty?

A. The sentinels
B. The barracks
C. The fifteen hundred palisades
D. The hours until night

C. The fifteen hundred palisades.
One misanthropic convict continually counted the fifteen hundred stakes of the palisade, day by day.
15. Approximately how many men were confined together in one long, low, stifling barrack room?

A. Ten to fifteen
B. More than thirty men
C. Over a hundred
D. Exactly twenty

B. More than thirty men.
The low, stifling barrack room forced more than thirty men to herd together in the same small, smelly space.

16. What was the approximate total number of convicts generally held in the prison?

A. Fifty
B. Two hundred and fifty
C. One thousand
D. Under fifty

B. Two hundred and fifty.
The total number of prisoners confined in the Dead-House was almost invariably two hundred and fifty.

17. How long did the narrator estimate had passed before everyone was actually asleep in the barracks at night?

A. Half an hour
B. Two hours
C. Four hours at least
D. The whole night

C. Four hours at least.
Due to the tumult, noise, and chains, at least four hours passed before the entire barrack settled down to sleep.

18. What quality made the hard labour feel truly excessive and painful to the convict?

A. Extreme danger
B. It was forced, imposed, obligatory
C. Physical difficulty
D. Lack of tools

B. It was forced, imposed, obligatory.
The labour was painful, not because it was difficult, but because it was obligatory, forced, and imposed on them.

19. What kind of work did the narrator suggest would be the most atrocious punishment imaginable?

A. Digging deep mines
B. Carrying heavy stones
C. Working in solitude
D. Work of complete uselessness

D. Work of complete uselessness.
Giving work a character of complete uselessness or absurdity would be the most agonising torture for a man.
20. What suffering did the narrator define as perhaps the sharpest in a house of detention?

A. Hunger
B. Being constantly watched
C. Forced cohabitation
D. Beatings

C. Forced cohabitation.
He recognised “forced cohabitation”—living with men one would never choose—as the most painful prison suffering.

21. What proportion of the convicts in the prison knew how to read and write?

A. Less than a tenth
B. Only the nobles
C. Half of them, if not more
D. Just Father Ferapont

C. Half of them, if not more.
It was noted that half the convicts, or potentially more, knew how to both read and write.

22. What did the convicts declare with singular pride, indicating their education?

A. We are strong
B. We are freemen
C. We are not ignoramuses
D. We are men of God

C. We are not ignoramuses.
When discussing their pasts, the convicts would sometimes state with pride, “We are not ignoramuses”.

23. What did the narrator never remark the least sign of among the convicts concerning their crimes?

A. Hunger
B. Madness
C. Repentance or uneasiness
D. Religious faith

C. Repentance or uneasiness.
The narrator never observed any sign of repentance or the slightest uneasiness regarding the crimes committed.

24. According to the source, what does not cause moral deterioration, though some mistakenly believe it does?

A. Hard labour
B. Idleness
C. Education
D. Solitude

C. Education.
The narrator strongly argues that education has nothing whatever to do with moral deterioration among the people.
25. What emotional characteristic was constantly identified as the convicts’ salient or dominant quality?

A. Humility
B. Vanity
C. Religiousness
D. Generosity

B. Vanity.
The majority of the prisoners were excessively and morbidly vain, considering vanity their most salient quality.

26. What did money represent for a man entirely deprived of true liberty?

A. A sign of guilt
B. A tangible resonant liberty
C. A hidden vice
D. The Major’s downfall

B. A tangible resonant liberty.
Money was desired because it was described as a tangible, resonant liberty, highly valued in confinement.

27. Why did every convict engage in some kind of trade or occupation?

A. To bribe guards
B. To occupy time
C. Instinct of self-preservation
D. To avoid punishment

C. Instinct of self-preservation.
Man cannot exist without work; convicts needed an occupation by instinct of self-preservation, or they would destroy each other.

28. For a dedicated smuggler, what often possessed only secondary importance compared to the thrill of the vocation?

A. Avoiding the whip
B. Money, the solid profit
C. The quality of the vodka
D. Hiding the goods

B. Money, the solid profit.
The smuggler works by vocation; the solid profit of money often held only secondary importance to the passion itself.

29. How were alms, such as small white loaves or money, typically shared among the prisoners?

A. Given only to the cooks
B. Shared equally between all
C. Given only to the sick
D. Kept by the receiver

B. Shared equally among all.
All alms received, including bread, were shared equally among the entire body of prisoners.
30. The frequent, severe-sounding quarrels that rarely ended in blows primarily served what purpose?

A. Settling debts
B. Establishing rank
C. Entertainment/diversion
D. Testing strength

C. Entertainment/diversion.
The convicts often insulted one another merely to pass the time and for diversion, seldom resulting in actual fighting.

31. Due to his highly penetrating look, what nickname did the convicts give to the direct chief of the convict prison?

A. The Lynx
B. The Tyrant
C. The man with the eight eyes
D. The Red-Face

C. The man with the eight eyes.
The Major was feared because he seemed to see everything, leading the convicts to call him “the man with the eight eyes”.

32. What did the Major prefer above every other living creature, causing him to go near mad when it was ill?

A. His servant Fedka
B. His dog “Treasure”
C. His wife
D. His spectacles

B. His dog “Treasure”.
The Major loved his dog, Treasure, more than any other living creature and was nearly insáne when the dog was sick.

33. What characteristic defined the young convict Sirotkin’s appearance?

A. Dark, scarred face
B. Blue eyes, fair hair
C. Crimson countenance
D. Thin, reddish beard

B. Blue eyes, fair hair.
Sirotkin, a handsome young man, was known for his blue eyes, clear complexion, and fair hair.

34. Despite his mild appearance, for what crime was Sirotkin condemned to perpetual hard labour?

A. Desertion
B. Killing his captain
C. Murdering a child
D. Smuggling

B. Killing his captain.
Sirotkin, unable to bear military life, confessed that he had killed his captain, Gregory Petrovitch, leading to his sentence.
35. What did Akim Akimitch do to the tributary prince who had burned his fort in the Caucasus?

A. Tried him legally
B. Pardoned him
C. Had him shot
D. Sent him to Siberia

C. Had him shot.
Akimitch invited the prince over, exposed his treason to the garrison, and then had him summarily shot.

36. What was a key characteristic of Akimitch, making him susceptible and quarrelsome?

A. Quiet and timid
B. Phenomenally just
C. A great humorist
D. Extremely cruel

B. Phenomenally just.
Akimitch was known for being argumentative and having a susceptible disposition, especially being “phenomenally just”.

37. What trade did Isaiah Fomitch Bumstein, the Jewish convict, practice while in prison?

A. Cobbler and tailor
B. Innkeeper
C. Jeweller and usurer
D. Blacksmith

C. Jeweller and usurer.
Isaiah Fomitch, the only Jew, worked both as a jeweller and functioned as a usurer, lending money.

38. Why did Isaiah Fomitch transition from sobbing to singing triumphantly during his Sabbath prayers?

A. The Major left
B. He got rich
C. Remembering Jerusalem’s return
D. He finished reading the Law

C. Remembering Jerusalem’s return.
Sobbing was for the loss of Jerusalem, but triumph was for the prophecy of the Jews returning there.

39. Why did Baklouchin receive the maximum punishment of 4,000 strokes and the special section?

A. Killing the clockmaker
B. Insulted the captain at trial
C. Escaped too often
D. Robbing the treasury

B. Insulted the captain at trial.
He had killed the German clockmaker, but his extreme sentence was due to insulting the captain at the Tribunal.
40. Why did Baklouchin’s love interest, Luisa, choose to marry the German clockmaker, Schultz?

A. Baklouchin cheated
B. He was rich
C. She disliked soldiers
D. The German was young

B. He was rich.
Luisa decided to marry Schultz because he was rich, ensuring her happiness, though she wept over Baklouchin.

41. What was the main reason the theatrical performance was believed to prevent disorders during the holidays?

A. Money was collected
B. The Major permitted it
C. Diverted the convicts
D. It involved reading

C. Diverted the convicts.
The performance provided the convicts with an acceptable distraction, preventing quarrels and violent disorders during the holidays.

42. What disturbing sign did the narrator observe on the convicts’ backs in the bathroom steam?

A. Tattoos
B. Scars left by whips and rods
C. Bright red shirts
D. A special brand mark

B. Scars left by whips and rods.
The red bodies, scarlet from steam, clearly showed the striking relief of deep scars left by previous whippings.

43. What object did Kedril the Glutton refuse to release even as the demons dragged him away on stage?

A. His cloak
B. The valise
C. The bottle and the glass
D. The gold

C. The bottle and the glass.
Kedril clung tightly to the bottle and glass he had poured for himself, refusing to let them go even when terrified.

44. How did the Poles, the political convicts, behave towards the common Russian prisoners?

A. Openly hostile
B. Friendly and communicative
C. Treated them as equals
D. Constrained and offensive politeness

D. Constrained and offensive politeness.
The Polish convicts showed a constrained and offensive politeness, making no effort to hide their disgust for the others.
45. What kind of punishment did the convicts declare was the most terrible, surpassing sticks or ramrods?

A. The irons
B. The rods
C. The ramrods
D. The stocks

B. The rods.
All the prisoners agreed that the rods were far worse and more likely to be fatal than either sticks or ramrods.

46. Besides salary, how did the executioner often derive income from the condemned before punishment?

A. Selling their belongings
B. Presents slipped into their hands
C. Stealing their clothes
D. Gambling with them

B. Presents slipped into their hands.
The executioner received money in the form of presents that the convicts condemned to be flogged slipped to him.

47. How did the common Russian people refer to crime and the criminal, expressing deep pity?

A. A grave sin
B. God’s punishment
C. “Misfortune” and “unfortunate”
D. A righteous act

C. “Misfortune” and “unfortunate”.
The Russian common people instinctively referred to crime as a “misfortune” and the criminal as an “unfortunate,” which is both expressive and profound.

48. What animal, described as loyal and beloved by the convicts, did the Major eventually order killed and cooked?

A. The dog Bull
B. The goose
C. The goat Vaska
D. The horse Gniedko

C. The goat Vaska.
The goat Vaska, whom convicts loved and decorated, was cruelly ordered killed and cooked by the Major.

49. What shocking event did the Major seize upon, despite the minor injury, to ensure a severe punishment for a convict?

A. Lomof striking Gavrilka with an awl
B. Ivanoff is stealing his dog
C. Akimitch is attacking a prince
D. Koulikoff’s escape attempt

A. Lomof striking Gavrilka with an awl.
Lomof stabbed Gavrilka with an awl; the Major was delighted, using the malice to inflict severe punishment.
50. When the General Inspector visited, what was sewn into the back of the convicts’ summer canvas uniform?

A. A small red cross
B. A description of their crime
C. A round black piece
D. Their name and sentence

C. A round black piece.
According to the regulations, every convict had a round black piece, eight centimetres in diameter, sewn into the back.

Brief Overview

The House of the Dead is a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, published from 1860 to 1862. It is a semi-autobiographical work that fictionalizes Dostoevsky’s four years spent in a Siberian prison camp. The text details the brutal conditions and the lives of the convicts there.

The novel is told through the perspective of Alexander Petrovitch Goriantchikoff, a former landowner. Petrovitch was sentenced to ten years of hard labor in Siberia for the crime of murdering his wife.

Petrovitch describes the prison as the House of Living Death, a small compound holding 250 men. Most of these convicts are murderers or thieves who show little sign of remorse. The narrator feels like an outcast among these men, which adds to his personal suffering.

He details the harsh prison conditions, noting the filth and terrible smells. However, he observes that many convicts secretly work at trades to earn small amounts of money for alcohol. Despite the general cruelty, he finds moments of connection with the gentle Tartar Ali and the prison dog, Bull.

After enduring ten years, Petrovitch is finally released from prison. When his leg irons are removed, he experiences an intense feeling of freedom and a sense of resurrection from his terrible ordeal.

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