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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. In Iran, Ali has a record by which of the following?

2. To which of the following does Cyrus compare himself?

3. Which of the following does Cyrus think he sees in the dream-vision featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

4. Which of the following channels do Cyrus and Zee watch in their hotel room?

5. Who trains Arash in his peculiar assignment?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why, per Cyrus, is it particularly American to discount dreams?

2. In the novel, what is a myth?

3. Why does Sang Linh posit Orkideh did not tell Cyrus she was his mother?

4. What does the docent who sees Cyrus collapse in the museum discuss with Cyrus?

5. What gift does Orkideh give Cyrus for his project?

6. Why had Arash listened to Allegri’s Miserere?

7. What was the content of Shipping and Handling?

8. Why does Cyrus sit outside with Zee at a café near Prospect Park?

9. How is Ferdowsi commissioned to write the Shahnameh?

10. How is Orkideh initially thought to have died?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the significance of the name of any one character in the text.

Essay Topic 2

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does Martyr! bear as much out?

Essay Topic 3

A lack of formal sectional division in the novel obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. On what grounds might the current divisions be in place? Why and how are they appropriate to the text?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 514 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample