This paper reviews Mikhail Bulgakov's book "The Master and Margarita" and examines his views on the accepted Soviet stand
on fate, human nature, atheism, censorship, personal identity documentation and forced literature. It looks at how through the use of the fantastic in his novel Bulgakov seeks to ridicule and undermine the foundations of these Soviet
certainties. It shows how throughout the novel Bulgakov's use of implausible and incredible happenings effectively undermine the 'certainties' of the materialist world. It analyzes how Massolit is destroyed,
bureaucracy is ridiculed, xenophobic attitudes are parodied and institutions and theories are mocked relentlessly, even in the epilogue. It examines how the Soviet machine is even able to rationalize the supernatural and how this rationale creates such absurdities as people arresting cats and furthermore, giving glowing references for their release. Bulgakov's use of the fantastical as a device to satirize and thereby undermine accepted 'certainties' of his time is genuinely masterful.