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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 becomes part of the "landscape" of Nafisi's class?

2. Why do the students meet in Nafisi's apartment?

3. Where does Nafisi write her class notes?

4. What does Nassrin's mother's teaching symbolize?

5. Why does Nafisi see a parallel between Humbert and contemporary Iranian society?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Nafisi refer to two photographs in the first chapter?

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

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

4. Azin asks the group if a woman has the same right as a man to enjoy sex. Why does this question surprise the group?

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

6. How does the Iranian regime expect women to behave on the streets of Tehran?

7. What is the similarity between Lolita's past and the past of Nafisi's students?

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

9. Why does Nafisi include Part 1, Chapter 12 in her memoir?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nafisi opens the book by asking the reader to imagine the secret class. She ends the book by wondering if she imagined the magician. Throughout the memoir, she mentions imagination in connection to the Iranian regime, to the authors of the fictional novels she teaches, and in the lives of herself and her students. What is the role of imagination in "Reading Lolita in Tehran"? How do each of those characters (the regime, the authors, Nafisi, her students) view imagination?

Essay Topic 2

In "Reading Lolita in Tehran," the novels and their authors take on the role of characters, contributing to the storyline, advancing the plot, and interacting with the other characters (Nafisi and her students). Choose one of the major novels ("Lolita," "The Great Gatsby") or one of the major authors (James, Austen) and describe how Nafisi treats the book or writer as a character in the memoir.

Essay Topic 3

On Nafisi's first day of teaching at the University of Tehran, she asks the students what fiction should accomplish. Using examples from the text, write an essay comparing and contrasting the answer from the perspective of one of the students in Nafisi's student class and the answer from the perspective of Mr. Bahri of Mr. Nyazi.

(see the answer keys)

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