10-12 (Apricot Soda)

I'm still playing with the extent of the devil's power, and I am beginning to think he can control the future, or at least the near future. When Varenukha was off to send out the telegrams, he is warned with the sand i his eyes, the banging windows and the shaking maples and lindens. Are these warnings from the devil himself? Then, when he ignores the warnings, "Varenukha was suddenly overcome by an irresistible impulse to step for a moment into the summer toilet to make sure the electrician had put a net over the bulb" (126). It's not everyday we get sudden impulses to go somewhere random while on a mission. The toilet is also, where the retinue is waiting for him. He seems to have been coerced or made to go into the toilet to be confronted by the retinue. Maybe the devil does have control over the future. The Tolstoy blouse makes a reappearance! Two Ivans, two encounters with the devil and his crew, and two Tolstoy blouses. That is all I can make of it. The naked woman may be the scariest of all these characters. I think it's her eyes, but I imagine very unreal, cat-like, but fiery and shiny with a great effect in inducing fear, for "Varenukha realized that this was the most frightful of all the things that had befallen him that afternoon," and a lot of scary things happened to him (128). You'd think a naked woman wouldn't be scary in comparison to a giant cat and a red-haired guy with a fang beating him up in the toilet, where no one would know of his whereabouts. It was also really chilling to know that she was cold as ice. Does she have anything to do with the naked woman that Ivan Homeless saw when he was looking for Professor Woland? Ivan Ilych returns...well his wife does. Praskovya Fyodorovna is Ivan Homeless' fat nurse. I think the man figure in the hospital balcony is Professor Woland. Lately, he's been lazy, and he seems to be watching over while his crew does all the work, but the hint of the voice "which did not belong to either Ivan, but was amazingly like the basso of the consultant" makes me think that Professor Woland is paying a visit to Ivan (132). Also, the last line of the chapter is the man whispering, "Tsss!" which is reminiscent of a snake (Behemoth's tongue?) or back when Berlioz was alive, Professor Woland says 'tsss' and I wrote in my margin "SNAKE!"(132). But this was just an impulsive association. Why Woland in the armchair? Again, he seems lazy, letting his minions do the work, while he sits back and watches the show. He may be the mastermind behind it all, but why is Woland sitting in an armchair during his own show. It's almost throne-like, in that he is the leader of the crew, but the armchair also suggests watching a show in a comfortable piece of furniture.
-Apricot Soda