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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Nafisi remind the students of Nabokov?
(a) Because Nabokov symbolizes the kind of writer that the students want be become.
(b) Nabokov is Nafisi's favorite author.
(c) Nabokov believed that a totalitarian government offered students the chance to be free.
(d) Because Nabokov wrote in an unsettled environment like the setting the students are in.

2. Where is Nafisi's apartment located?
(a) On the campus of the University of Tehran.
(b) Across from an ex-American hospital.
(c) In the middle of a mountain range.
(d) Above a restaurant.

3. Where do the intruders to Nafisi's house go once they are in her house?
(a) To the rear balcony.
(b) To the front balcony.
(c) Into the library.
(d) To the kitchen.

4. What do the class members take turns doing each week?
(a) They take turns providing pastry for breaks.
(b) They take turns leading the group discussion.
(c) They take turns reading a published copy of "Lolita."
(d) They take turns telling their private stories.

5. Why is Nabokov's "Invitation to a Beheading" the inspiration for Nafisi to form the study group?
(a) Nafisi is inspired by Nabokov's characters who conform to totalitarian regimes.
(b) Nabokov symbolizes the banality of Western thought.
(c) Nabokov wrote about conditions in post-revolutionary Iran.
(d) Nafisi sees connections between Nabokov's world and post-revolutionary Iran.

6. Why do Ministry of Education officials ask the faculty at Nafisi's school if they thought they were in Switzerland?
(a) Because the officials believe the University of Tehran is too conservative and should be more like schools in Switzerland.
(b) Because Switzerland is the model for the type of government the Ministry of Education is trying to establish.
(c) Because Switzerland has schools with conservative values just like the conservative values of the University of Tehran.
(d) Because the University of Tehran is the most liberal campus in Iran, and Switzerland is the byword for Western lax and decadent behavior.

7. How does Nafisi refer to her male acquaintance?
(a) As "my magician."
(b) As "my boyfriend."
(c) As "my mentor."
(d) As "my colleague."

8. What does Nafisi's study group conclude about "Lolita"?
(a) She was a despicable and shallow girl.
(b) She was a highly desirable but difficult young woman.
(c) She was not the victim she always claimed to be.
(d) She was the victim of two crimes, losing her life and her own life story.

9. How do the Iranian authorities view the country's past?
(a) The Iranian leaders see the country's past as an example for other societies.
(b) Iran's past is considered important in the development of a perfect Koranic society.
(c) The past is irrelevant to the leaders who want to establish a perfect Koranic society.
(d) Iran's past is used as a foundation for the development of a more modern society.

10. Who was Nafisi's father?
(a) The youngest mayor of Tehran in pre-revolutionary Iran.
(b) A troubled businessman.
(c) A famous author.
(d) The director of a high school in Switzerland.

11. What type of author do the students seem most interested in studying?
(a) Authors who show the benefits of a religious society.
(b) Authors who have female characters with strong opinions.
(c) "Revolutionary" authors who are tied to current political ideologies.
(d) "Non-revolutionary" authors such as Joyce, Nabokov, Woolf, and Austin.

12. What would happen if the "Blood of God" militia saw a girl with nail polish or a strand of loose hair?
(a) The militia would not permit the girl to continue studying literature.
(b) The girl would be escorted home, where her family would forbid her to go out of the house unescorted.
(c) The girl would be punished and humiliated for violating laws.
(d) The girl would be beheaded as an example of an evil woman.

13. What is the main reason for Nafisi's resignation from the University of Tehran?
(a) She isn't able to do the type of scholarship the government required.
(b) The University of Tehran is too liberal.
(c) She wants to teach literature to smaller groups in private.
(d) The governance of the University is arbitrary.

14. How does Nafisi select her students for the small study group?
(a) She chooses students who dislike the liberal qualities of the university.
(b) She chooses students who earn good grades in all their classes.
(c) She chooses students who are loners or outsiders.
(d) She chooses students who can afford to pay her on a regular basis.

15. Who demands entry into Nafisi's house?
(a) Students from Nafisi's study group.
(b) Nafisi's children.
(c) The ayatollahs.
(d) Members of the Revolutionary Committee.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the closeness of the room do to Nafisi and her students?

2. How does Nafisi's acquaintance describe her students?

3. What is the dream Nafisi and her students share?

4. What object does Nafisi refer to when she first describes the students in her study group?

5. How does Nafisi introduce the reader to the students in her class?

(see the answer keys)

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