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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. What article of clothing receives attention in “Captain’s Holiday,” per Darius?

2. Which of the following ends up as one of Sohrab and Darius’s teammates?

3. Which of the following is Shirin’s favorite place to kiss Stephen when others are present?

4. The term “Faravahar” carries which of the following meanings in the novel?

5. The term “merci” means which of the following in the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Darius confess to Sohrab that leads him to affirm that Laleh cannot take his place?

2. What is sky burial in the novel?

3. What is the irony of Darius complaining to Sohrab about Stephen?

4. Why does Darius end up feeling sorry for Ali-Reza?

5. What are the three things Darius notes liking in Sohrab while walking with him and his family?

6. What mess does Darius note is left by the Bahrami Nowruz celebration?

7. What is sekanjabin in the novel?

8. What does Darius note that he likes best of all in Sohrab?

9. Why, as Darius asserts to Sohrab at the Bahrami Nowruz celebration, is Stephen unhappy with him?

10. Why, per Darius, is kabob koobideh “the most suspicious-looking” of Persian foods (259-60)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Darius introduces the concept of classifying things by “levels” early in the text. How does he determine levels? What in the text says so? How does it say so?

Essay Topic 2

Darius muses that “she [Fariba] and Babou were seated in the very front, the binary suns of the Bahrami family solar system” (174). Explicate the metaphor (e.g, what are its tenor and vehicle, what does it imply about those encompassed by it, where does it fail?).

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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