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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 impresses Kathy about Behrani's behavior as they emerge from the bathroom?

2. Why is Kathy unable to speak when she wakes up in the hospital?

3. What does Lester see in Kathy's car that alarms him when he arrives at the house?

4. What does Lester feel when his photo is taken in jail?

5. What does Alvarez explain to Behrani after Esmail has been shot?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Kathy feel as she goes back into the house to wait for Lester?

2. What is nazr?

3. Behrani says that he sometimes believes he is being punished. What does he think he is being punished for, and how is this similar to Kathy's feelings?

4. Lester watches his own image in the elevator doors spread out from the middle, then disappear. How is this symbol a metaphor for his situation?

5. Why does Lester decide that the Behranis have harmed Kathy when he returns to the house and looks in through the window?

6. How do Behrani's feelings change when he finds Kathy in the car in his driveway?

7. Which of the Behranis takes responsibility for saving Kathy when they find her after she took the pills?

8. Why does Lester conclude that the Behranis have told him the truth about Kathy's situation?

9. Nadereh berates Behrani while he repairs her mother's table, but he lets her insults "pass over like training jets with no ammunition." Why doesn't he respond to her tirade, and what does she finally say that causes him to enter the argument?

10. Why does young Deputy Gleason's expression of gratitude when he encounters Lester on the street make Lester feel worse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Kathy wears Nick's sunglasses and clothing stolen from her employer, drives a car her brother gave her, and uses Lester's gun. She allows other people to buy things for her and to take on her problems. What does this tell you about her attitude toward possessions? What do these things tell you about her attitudes toward other people? Do you think she sees them as nothing more than resources - Nick as a sperm donor, Lester as a protector, Frank as a rescuer? Does she care for anyone else? Why do you think this is important to the story?

Essay Topic 2

Events in Iran many years before the opening of this story shape the thinking of the characters in the present. The photo of Behrani with the shah is an important symbol in this story. In this essay, consider the effect of the photo on Nadereh, on Soraya, on Soraya's in-laws, on Lester, on Kathy, and on Behrani himself. Use quotations from the story in each instance.

Essay Topic 3

Imagine that you are Lester's defense attorney. He has been charged with extortion, breaking and entering, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. How would you defend him against these charges?

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