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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Under which of the following does the car that takes Darius from the Tehran airport to his grandparents’ house park upon arrival?

2. The word “dayi” carries which of the following meanings in the novel?

3. What is the name of Darius’s boss?

4. The word “lavoshak” carries which of the following meanings, per the novel?

5. Which of the following is among the names Laleh gives to the goldfish on the Kellner’s Haft-Seen?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons does Darius posit for Ardeshir’s dislike of Stephen?

2. What reasons does Darius have to doubt Fariba’s pronouncement of his handsomeness as he rides from Tehran to Yazd with her?

3. What does Darius note are his main areas of Farsi knowledge?

4. Why, per Darius, does he not shower after gym class at his school?

5. What games are included in Darius’s “net sports” unit?

6. What reasons does Darius give for avoiding detailed discussion of his school as he rides from Tehran to Yazd with Fairba?

7. What is meant by the phrase “Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy,” and who are prominent early examples of the phrase?

8. What is Ardeshir doing when Darius first sees him in Iran?

9. Near the end of “Bette Davis Eyes,” what does Darius report wanting and failing to tell Ardeshir?

10. What reasons does Darius give for considering Jean-Luc Picard the best Star Trek captain?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Near the end of “The Best of Both Worlds,” the narrator notes that he nearly refused to play soccer,

“But that’s what Darius would have done.

“Darioush would have tried out.

“I thought about telling Sohrab that I had made the team. And sending him photos of me in my kit. And him squinting and congratulating me.

“I thought about having fun on the field, like I did with him and Asghar and even Ali-Reza and Hossein.

“‘Maybe I will,’ I said. ‘Maybe I will’” (306-07).

Which persona does the narrator ultimately adopt, Darius or Darioush? What in the novel suggests as much? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the following exchange between Stephen and Darius:

“It’s my hair, Dad,” I said. “Why is it such a big deal to you, anyway?”

“Because it’s ridiculous. Did you ever thing that you wouldn’t get picked on so much if you weren’t so…”

Dad worked his jaw back and forth.

“So what, Dad”

But he didn’t answer.

What could he possibly say? (42-43)

What was Stephen about to say, but refrained from saying? What in the novel and in experience affirms that answer? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following passage:

“[Laleh] was a replacement. An upgrade. I knew that without anyone saying it out loud.

“And I knew Stephen Kellner was relieved to have another chance, a new child who wouldn’t be such a disappointment. It was written across his face every time he smiled at her. Every time he sighed at me.

“I didn’t blame Laleh for that.

“I really didn’t.

“But sometimes I wondered if I was the one who was an accident.

“That’s normal.

“Right?” (133).

Answer Darius’s question for the novel. Is it normal? What in the novel says it is or is not? How does it say so?

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