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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What type of author do the students seem most interested in studying?
(a) Authors who show the benefits of a religious society.
(b) "Non-revolutionary" authors such as Joyce, Nabokov, Woolf, and Austin.
(c) "Revolutionary" authors who are tied to current political ideologies.
(d) Authors who have female characters with strong opinions.

2. What object becomes popular in Iran?
(a) A mirror.
(b) The Great Gatsby.
(c) A satellite dish.
(d) Foreign language novels.

3. In Chapter 15, how does the study group define a villain?
(a) One who molests a child.
(b) One who knowingly challenges the religious culture of the ruling party.
(c) One who lacks curiosity about other people, being only interested in his/her vision of other people.
(d) One who bows to authority figures.

4. What does Nafisi believe is the main point of "Lolita"?
(a) It is a critique of what occurs in totalitarian systems.
(b) It is a morality tale about what happens to girls who disobey.
(c) It is a demonstration of religious fanaticism.
(d) It is an example of how to achieve perfection.

5. Why does Nafisi remind the students of Nabokov?
(a) Because Nabokov symbolizes the kind of writer that the students want be become.
(b) Nabokov is Nafisi's favorite author.
(c) Nabokov believed that a totalitarian government offered students the chance to be free.
(d) Because Nabokov wrote in an unsettled environment like the setting the students are in.

Short Answer Questions

1. What scene opens Chapter 12?

2. What does the closeness of the room do to Nafisi and her students?

3. How did Nafisi learn of her father's arrest?

4. In "Lolita," how does Humbert attempt to gain the reader's sympathy?

5. What is the dream Nafisi and her students share?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is it difficult to find a copy of "Lolita" in Tehran?

2. According to Vera Nabokov, what is the beauty in "Lolita" and why is it missed by critics?

3. What is the significance of the green gate Nafisi mentions in Chapter 9?

4. What does the magician do with the photographs Nafisi shows him?

5. Why do the magician and Nafisi enjoy each other's company so much?

6. How is the generation of Nafisi's students different from the generation of Nafisi and her peers?

7. What is the relationship between the imaginary rain shower and the meeting of Nafisi's class?

8. What factors cause Nafisi to resign from her position at the university?

9. Why does Nafisi believe the scene where Humbert picked up Lolita at summer camp is the heart of Nabokov's novel?

10. In Chapter 2, why does Nafisi describe the first meeting of the study group in present tense instead of past tense?

(see the answer keys)

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