Chapter 4-6 had even more of the supernatural occurrences and was harder to follow than the previous chapters. We find out that Annushka had indeed spilt the oil and the stranger's prediction was right. Homeless, enraged, goes to confront the stranger, who is "holding under his arm not a cane, but a sword" under the moonlight. That description of him seems so significant, but I can't make anything out of it! Why would he be holding a sword? I would say it is safe to assume that the moon and the sun represent opposite things. Last class, I suggested the sun might be God, justice or some sort of goodness, so I speculate that the moon represents depravity, evilness, deception, because Bulgakov describes the moonlight as "always deceptive." I was even more confounded when the stranger could not speak Russian. This time however, the stranger didn't seem like he was pretending. He "scowled, looked up as though he was seeing the poet for the first time, and answered in a hostile tone," and "squeamishly twisted his crooked mouth and shrugged his shoulders." His responses are very natural, and there are no descriptions of his deceptiveness that was seen before. This made me wonder, could it be possible that the ex-choirmaster, the hallucination that Berilioz saw, was controlling the stranger with his evil powers? After all, there can be only one Satan. And the ex-choirmaster is described to have glasses, in which "one lens was entirely absent, and the other cracked." Again, the concept of duality comes in. I am not sure what the purpose of the tom cat is. It is described as a "disciplined beast," and capable of unusual things such as jumping on the train. The next part completely threw me off. Why would Ivan jump in the river reeked of oil? It wasn't even hot as it was in chapter 1, but rather "so cold that it stopped his breath."
Griboyedov's description makes it seem like a castle, where only the chosen people can enter. Bulgakov might be comparing it to the houses of the leaders of Communist Russia who dominated wealth. Especially, the restaurant was "housed in two large rooms with vaulted ceilings, adorned by lilac horses with Assyrian manes," had a lamp with a silk shawl on every table, and "impossible for the man in the street to gain admission to it." Bulgakov satirizes this unfair situation through the conversation between Amvrosy and Foka. Foka admires Amvrosy's prestigious way of living, and says "ah, you know how to live!” to which Amvrosy replies, "It takes no special skill, just an ordinary desire to live like a human being." He is suggesting a normal human being deserves at least this level of life. The contemporary situation in Russia clearly disagrees. Also, the author says "Not a breath of freshness came through the open windows," which connects to the suffocating restrictions imposed on the Russian citizens by the government.
There is a striking similarity between this novel and "The Death of Ivan Ilych." At the death of Berlioz, his colleagues comment, "Yes, he is dead, dead...But we - we are alive!" and a wave of grief had swept up. That is exactly how Ivan's friends felt! Right after, "the restaurant resumed its customary life." Just as Chekhov's novel, nobody is affected by the death of one person.
Chapter 6 was pretty easy to understand. The doctor decides that Ivan is insane, but the readers will have to read on to find out whether he really is. For now, there is evidence to support both sides. Ryukhin's reactions after the visit to the insane asylum were incomprehensible. Why is he so distraught? He says it is because of Homeless' insults, but I don't see any reason to be so devastated.
-Spanish Boot
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