View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What teaching technique does Nafisi use in conjunction with the study of "The Great Gatsby"?
(a) She chooses students to lead the class discussion.
(b) She teaches the novel using the Socratic method, which the students have never seen before.
(c) Nafisi asks the students to construct character sketches of the novel's main characters and compare the sketches to their own lives.
(d) The class puts the novel on trial, choosing people to play the roles of lawyers, judge, and jury.

2. Why does the government first enforce the requirement that women remain covered in workplaces and shops?
(a) Because there is no way to enforce the requirement at the university.
(b) Because women are already wearing the chador at home.
(c) Because women object to the law, and the government wants to reinforce its authority.
(d) Because the shop owners are uncomfortable serving women who are not covered.

3. Why does Nafisi state it is important to introduce her students to the works of Saul Bellow?
(a) Because Bellow provides an aesthetic counterpoint to the limitations of Austen's novels.
(b) Because Bellow shows the problems and fears of the West, and Nafisi believes her students look at the West uncritically.
(c) Because Bellow presents Western society as not being decadent, and Nafisi believes her students need to see Western culture as not being decadent.
(d) Because she believes her students should read more American authors.

4. Who is Mr. Bahir?
(a) One of Nafisi's students.
(b) The department chair of the Language Department at the University of Tehran.
(c) The owner of her favorite bookstore.
(d) A man executed for charges of being too Westernized.

5. Why do the students begin to keep vigils at the University of Tehran?
(a) They are protesting the expulsion of their favorite professors.
(b) To encourage the government to close down the university.
(c) To prevent the university from being closed down by the government.
(d) They are tired of going to class and want to be part of the Revolution.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Part 2, Chapter 23, what are Mr. Nyazi and another student arguing about?

2. Nafisi describes Austen as being most interested in depicting what?

3. How does Mr. Bahir become president of the Muslim Students' Association at the University of Tehran?

4. What causes the Iranian regime to temporarily relax the strict enforcement of their policies?

5. Why does Nafisi form a friendship with Jeff?

Short Essay Questions

1. Nafisi first mentions the magician in Part 1, Chapter 10. Why does she wait until Part 2, Chapter 20, to describe him more fully?

2. Why does a university staff member describe the Ayatollah's funeral as an event?

3. What does Nafisi do during her time as a member of the Iranian Student Movement?

4. What are the similarities between the lives of the characters in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and the lives of Nafisi's students?

5. How are Mr. Ghoni's statements about "Daisy Miller" in Part 3, Chapter 15, similar to Mr. Nyazi's statements in Part 3, Chapters 17 and 18, about "The Great Gatsby"?

6. In Part 3, Chapter 14, why does Nafisi describe her students in such detail?

7. Why does Nafisi focus on Azin's painted fingernails?

8. How has Miss Ruhi changed since her introduction in Part 3, Chapter 14?

9. What happens to Nafisi during her discussion with Mr. Bahri about wearing the veil?

10. What does Nassrin mean when she talks about the "ordeal of freedom" in Part 4, Chapter 20?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,617 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample