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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 is faludeh, per the novel?

2. Which of the following is among the sites recommended by the second Iranian customs officer Darius encounters?

3. What is the origin of the tea Darius gives Fariba?

4. The term “azan” carries what meaning, per the novel?

5. Which of the following is the name of the nurse at Darius’s school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons does Darius give for mistrusting his mother’s assertion that his eyes are beautiful?

2. What does Darius identify as the two most humiliating moments in his life?

3. What activity does Darius report undertaking with Laleh that she pretends not to like?

4. What is Surrender Cobra?

5. What reasons does Darius give for disliking Subway?

6. How does Darius relate his mother’s early misunderstanding of taarof with his father’s parents?

7. What reasons does Darius have to doubt Fariba’s pronouncement of his handsomeness as he rides from Tehran to Yazd with her?

8. What was the game of Turbolift Door Darius used to play, and why did he stop playing it?

9. What does Darius note are his main areas of Farsi knowledge?

10. What is meant by the phrase “Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy,” and who are prominent early examples of the phrase?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the following passage:

“[Laleh] was a replacement. An upgrade. I knew that without anyone saying it out loud.

“And I knew Stephen Kellner was relieved to have another chance, a new child who wouldn’t be such a disappointment. It was written across his face every time he smiled at her. Every time he sighed at me.

“I didn’t blame Laleh for that.

“I really didn’t.

“But sometimes I wondered if I was the one who was an accident.

“That’s normal.

“Right?” (133).

Answer Darius’s question for the novel. Is it normal? What in the novel says it is or is not? How does it say so?

Essay Topic 2

Darius notes not wanting Sohrab to see him suck on the tassels of his hoodie (236) or to see him take his depression medication (240), but he does seem to be okay with Sohrab seeing him undressed or seeing him cry. Why? What in the novel suggests that reason? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following:

“‘Wow,’ I breathed.

“It felt like the kind of place where you were supposed to whisper.

“‘You say that a lot.’

“‘Sorry.’

“‘Don’t be. I like it’” (246).

To what “it” does the last line refer? Why might Sohrab like it? What in the novel indicates that reason, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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