The Judgment MCQs
1. Where was Georg Bendemann sitting on that Sunday morning?
A. In the sitting room of his house
B. In his own room on the first floor
C. At the writing desk in his father’s office
D. On the bridge beside the river
2. What was Georg Bendemann’s occupation?
A. A writer
B. A lawyer
C. A merchant
D. A journalist
3. What natural feature was visible from Georg’s window, besides the river?
A. The church steeple
B. The mill
C. The bridge and green hills on the farther bank
D. The marketplace
4. Where was Georg’s old friend living?
A. Moscow
B. Berlin
C. St. Petersburg
D. Kiev
5. What was the state of the friend’s business in Russia?
A. Flourishing greatly, better than expected
B. Flourished at first but had been going downhill
C. Microscopic but stable
D. Recently closed down
6. What physical feature of the friend did not quite conceal the face Georg had known since childhood?
A. A bushy moustache
B. An unfamiliar full beard
C. Spectacles
D. A large hat
7. What did the friend complain about regarding his social life in Russia?
A. He had too many connections with his countrymen.
B. He traveled frequently, preventing social intercourse.
C. He had no regular connection with countrymen or Russian families.
D. He was too busy with his flourishing business.
8. What did Georg consider advising his friend to do?
A. To start a new branch of trade
B. To come home and take up old friendships
C. To marry a Russian woman
D. To liquidate his business and move to Moscow
9. According to Georg’s internal monologue, what made giving advice kindly more offensive?
A. It implied all his friend’s efforts had miscarried.
B. It suggested Georg was doing better than him.
C. It forced the friend to rely on strangers.
D. It would make the friend envy Georg’s home life.
10. What was the lâme excuse the friend gave for not visiting for more than three years?
A. Financial constraints
B. Family sickness
C. The political situation in Russia was uncertain
D. His unfamiliarity with travel
11. What significant event happened in Georg’s life two years before the story began?
A. His business had begun to flourish.
B. He became engaged to Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld.
C. His father retired from the business.
D. His mother had died.
12. How did Georg’s business develop during the two years after his mother’s death?
A. The staff was halved, turnover was steady.
B. The staff was doubled, turnover was five times as great.
C. The staff decreased, but progress lay ahead.
D. It had gone downhill, like his friend’s business.
13. Why did Georg hesitate to tell his friend about his current business success?
A. His friend was not interested in commerce.
B. His friend’s business figures were microscopic by comparison.
C. Georg felt the friend would steal his ideas.
D. Georg feared the friend would try to join the business.
14. What kind of news did Georg confine himself to writing to his friend?
A. Detailed financial reports
B. News of the political situation at home
C. Unimportant items of gossip
D. Detailed plans for his upcoming wedding
15. What recurring unimportant gossip did Georg write to his friend about?
A. The opening of a new shop.
B. The engagement of an unimportant couple.
C. The bad health of Georg’s father.
D. Political unrest in the home town.
16. How long before the Sunday morning had Georg himself got engaged?
A. Three years ago
B. Six months ago
C. One month ago
D. Two years ago
17. What was the name of Georg’s fiancée?
A. Fräulein Brand
B. Fräulein St. Petersburg
C. Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld
D. Fräulein Bendemann
18. Where did Fräulein Frieda Brandenfeld come from?
A. A well-to-do family
B. A family of merchants
C. A poor background
D. St. Petersburg
19. What right did Georg’s fiancée assert regarding the friend?
A. The right to demand that he move home.
B. The right to attend the wedding without him.
C. The right to choose a new friend for Georg.
D. The right to know all of Georg’s friends.
20. What did Georg say would happen if he “troubled” his friend with the wedding news?
A. The friend would refuse to come.
B. The friend would feel hurt and envious.
C. The friend would bring a large gift.
D. The friend would write a dry congratulations.
21. What did Georg decide to tell his friend about his fiancée in the letter?
A. That she was a beautiful girl.
B. She sends warm greetings and will write herself.
C. That she was willing to move to Russia.
D. That she was important to a merchant.
22. What was the last thing Georg included in the letter to his friend?
A. News about the business expansion.
B. His engagement announcement.
C. His mother’s death.
D. The gossip about the unimportant couple.
23. What did Georg do with the finished letter before going to his father?
A. He posted it immediately.
B. He put it into his pocket.
C. He gave it to the charwoman.
D. He left it open on the writing table.
24. Why had Georg not entered his father’s room for months?
A. They had quarreled about the business.
B. He saw his father daily at business and meals.
C. The room was always locked.
D. His mother’s mementos made him sad.
25. What protected the father’s room from sunlight, making it dark?
A. Heavy curtains
B. A row of ramshackle houses
C. The high wall of the narrow courtyard
D. The low ceiling
26. What was standing on the table in the father’s room?
A. A picture of Georg’s mother
B. A vase of flowers
C. The remains of his breakfast
D. His business ledger
27. What did Georg observe about his father’s movement when he rose?
A. His father stumbled.
B. His father was moving slowly.
C. His heavy dressing gown swung open and fluttered.
D. His father moved with youthful energy.
28. What did Georg say to his father about the darkness of the room?
A. “It smells damp in here.”
B. “It’s unbearably dark here.”
C. “Why are you reading in the dark?”
D. “The courtyard needs more light.”
29. What was Georg thinking to himself while observing his father?
A. “My father is still a giant of a man.”
B. “My father seems much smaller.”
C. “He should retire immediately.”
D. “He looks exactly like my friend.”
30. What was the father doing when Georg entered the room?
A. Sleeping
B. Organizing business papers
C. Reading a newspaper held to one side
D. Eating breakfast
31. What did Georg pull partway from his pocket to show his father?
A. His fiancée’s photograph
B. The letter to St. Petersburg
C. A business contract
D. His wallet
32. Georg initially suggested not telling the friend about the engagement for what reason?
A. The financial cost of a visit
B. The friend’s solitary and difficult nature
C. Fear of his father’s disapproval
D. His fiancée’s wishes
33. What was the father doing when he asked Georg if he had changed his mind?
A. Laying his spectacles on the window sill.
B. Clearing away the breakfast dishes.
C. Putting on his dressing gown.
D. Standing in front of Georg.
34. What change did Georg propose for his father’s living arrangements?
A. Moving to a distant sanatorium
B. Moving to the front room while Georg took the dark room
C. Hiring a new charwoman
D. Retiring and traveling abroad
35. What did Georg claim he was ready to do if the business undermined his father’s health?
A. Sell the business to his friend.
B. Close the business down forever.
C. Halve the staff.
D. Give control back to his father.
36. What crucial question did the father ask Georg about the friend?
A. Does he know about the turnover increase?
B. Do you really have this friend in St. Petersburg?
C. Why is he complaining so much?
D. Why haven’t I met him recently?
37. What did Georg say a “thousand friends” wouldn’t make up for?
A. His business success
B. His fiancée
C. His father
D. His mother’s death
38. What did Georg observe in his father’s face when he knelt beside him?
A. A faint smile
B. Pupils, overlarge, fixedly looking at him
C. Signs of latent disease
D. Indifference
39. What story did Georg recall his friend telling about the Russian Revolution?
A. A riot where a general was arrested.
B. A priest in Kiev who cut a cross in blood on his hand.
C. A business trip where he lost everything.
D. The burning of a famous building.
40. What did Georg notice about his father’s clothing?
A. His clothes were too tight.
B. The not particularly clean appearance of his underwear.
C. He was wearing old military trousers.
D. His socks were mismatched.
41. What did Georg decide firmly after observing his father’s condition?
A. To hire a live-in nurse.
B. To sell the old house.
C. To take his father into his own future home.
D. To consult his fiancée immediately.
42. What did the old man do while Georg carried him to bed?
A. Cried softly.
B. Played with Georg’s watch chain.
C. Tried to stand up again.
D. Complained about the cold.
43. After being laid in bed, what question did the father repeatedly ask Georg?
A. Am I safe now?
B. Are you going to St. Petersburg?
C. Am I well covered up now?
D. Have you posted the letter?
44. How did the father throw off the blankets during his outburst?
A. He calmly folded them.
B. He flung them off with a surprising strength.
C. He waited for Georg to take them.
D. He asked Georg to remove them.
45. When the father stood erect in bed, what did he lightly touch for stability?
A. The wall
B. Georg’s shoulder
C. The ceiling
D. The headboard
46. What did the father claim Georg had been doing to the friend for years?
A. Ignoring him
B. Playing him false
C. Sending him money
D. Giving him bad business advice
47. What did the father accuse Georg of doing by getting engaged?
A. Disgracing his mother, betraying his friend, and putting his father to bed.
B. Ruining the business and embarrassing the family.
C. Moving too quickly and foolishly.
D. Going against his friend’s advice.
48. The father demonstrated what specific action, mimicking the fiancée?
A. Lifting her hand to wave
B. Lifting her skirts
C. Covering her face
D. Dancing lightly
49. What did the father reveal was visible when he lifted his shirt?
A. A birthmark
B. A tattoo
C. The scar on his thigh from his war wound
D. A large bruise
50. What did Georg call his father in retort during the confrontation?
A. You liar!
B. You comedian!
C. You devilish human being!
D. You old widower!