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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. How does the professor solve problems of literary criticism?

2. Who was Nafisi's father?

3. What does the class strive to do in their study of literature?

4. What scene opens Chapter 12?

5. Why does the literature professor dislike Manna and Nima?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Nafisi consider Humbert to be a seducer of the readers of "Lolita"?

2. What is the purpose of the dreams that Nafisi describes?

3. What happens to disrupt the class discussion in Chapter 17?

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

5. Why does Nassrin say she has been caught in the middle of tradition and change her entire life?

6. What is the role of literature in Part 1, Chapter 20?

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

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

9. Why do Mitra and the other students find the Thursday study group to be significant?

10. Why is there a difference between the students' level of comfort in talking about themselves and their level of comfort in discussing the novels?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nafisi presents several male students as passionate about the values of the Islamist Republic of Iran. In what ways are Mr. Bahri, Mr. Nyazi, and Mr. Ghomi similar? In what ways are they different? Which one of those students is portrayed as being in closest agreement with the regime? What evidence supports your choice?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 3, Chapter 18, Nafisi describes a "perfectly equipped failure." In Part 3, Chapter 26, Nafisi provides characteristics of a traditional heroine. Using the descriptions and characteristics provided in these chapters, write an essay that addresses the following questions:

1) Would Laleh be considered a heroine or a perfectly equipped failure?

2) Would Razieh be considered a heroine or a perfectly equipped failure?

3) Which does Nafisi consider more worthy of admiration, a heroine or a perfectly equipped failure?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, Nafisi uses language with strong sensory connections. Choose taste, touch, sight, smell, or hearing and write an essay that discusses the use of that sense in each of the four sections of the book. Why is this sense used? Is the sense always used by the same individual? Is it always used in the same way?

(see the answer keys)

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