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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. According to Nafisi, how is Yassi like Lolita?

2. Why is Nafisi worried about her students?

3. Why do the intruders want access to Nafisi's house?

4. Why is Negar upset?

5. What becomes part of the "landscape" of Nafisi's class?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Professor X's method of teaching literature different than Nafisi's method of teaching literature?

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

3. Why does Nafisi agree with Nabokov's statement that every great novel is a fairy tale?

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

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

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

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

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

9. In Part 1, Chapter 18, the room where the class meets becomes a character. How does Nafisi describe the room?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nafisi opens and closes the book with images and accounts of the students in her secret class. This creates a satisfying conclusion and cyclic treatment in the book. What other examples of cyclic treatment are evident in the book? Choose 2 examples and write an essay illustrating how Nafisi uses cyclic treatment throughout the book.

Essay Topic 2

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" centers around literature, a written form of art. Choose another art form (dance, music, visual art) and discuss the use of that art form in all four sections of the book. What is the role or roles of art in the Iranian Islamic Republic? What role or roles does art play in the fictional works Nafisi teaches? What role or roles does art play in the life of Nafisi? In the lives of her students?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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