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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Nafisi's male acquaintance think he can tell a person's character?
(a) By holding something they have worn.
(b) By watching them walk.
(c) By listening to them speak.
(d) By looking at their photo.

2. What secret does Nassrin tell Nafisi?
(a) She had been sexually abused by her youngest uncle.
(b) She had been married and divorced.
(c) She had left her family to work for an Islamist student group.
(d) She was leaving for America.

3. What are students at Nafisi's school regularly asked to do?
(a) Homework in the Persian language.
(b) Participate in a ritualistic stomping and burning the American flag while shouting "Death to America!"
(c) Attend funerals of martyrs for the Iranian Revolution.
(d) Bring in their friendship bracelets so that everyone has one to wear.

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

5. Where are Nafisi's children when Chapter 19 begins?
(a) Tehran.
(b) Washington.
(c) Jail.
(d) At a restaurant.

6. What symbol does Nafisi think of when she thinks of Lolita?
(a) A helpless little girl.
(b) A school uniform.
(c) A school report card.
(d) A butterfly pinned to the wall.

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

8. How does Nabokov's character Cincinnatus C. become a hero?
(a) By rescuing those who are falsely imprisoned.
(b) By refusing to be like everyone else.
(c) By giving in to the requirements of the government.
(d) By fighting off his jailors.

9. Why are Nafisi's students like ghosts when they are walking through the streets of Tehran?
(a) They hope to be invisible to the militia and arrive at their destination without confrontation.
(b) Their black clothes hide them when they are walking at night.
(c) They have learned to walk with a gliding motion, barely touching the ground.
(d) Because they wear a veil, their skin is very white like a ghost.

10. Why is Nafisi nervous about the intruders being in her house?
(a) She has a forbidden satellite dish.
(b) She believes her neighbor will blame her for whatever happens.
(c) She hasn't cleaned the house for a religious celebration.
(d) She has young children who are afraid of guns.

11. Why is it so difficult to find a copy of "Lolita" in Tehran?
(a) The bookstores are closed.
(b) Students prefer to read from photocopies, not books.
(c) The bookstores are unable to order books with female characters.
(d) The book has been banned.

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

13. What is the best definition of Nabokov's term "poshlust"?
(a) Empty rituals, false importance, and the reduction of reality to banality.
(b) Beauty in the midst of a brutal government regime.
(c) The use of reality to contrast with a system of barbaric ritual.
(d) The ability to remain heroic in the midst of banality and extreme brutality.

14. What object becomes popular in Iran?
(a) A satellite dish.
(b) Foreign language novels.
(c) The Great Gatsby.
(d) A mirror.

15. Why does Nafisi's acquaintance refuse to meet with her students?
(a) He does not like female students.
(b) He is trying to minimize contact with people.
(c) He does not want to get Nafisi in trouble with the authorities.
(d) He is unhappy with Nafisi teaching literature to these girls.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Nafisi consider Humbert, Lolita's molester, such a frightening character?

2. What happens to the everyday lives of Nafisi and her students as a result of the secret class?

3. What scene opens Chapter 12?

4. When the intruders enter Nafisi's house, what happens?

5. Chapter 15 presents a clear parallel between the character of Humbert and which group of people?

(see the answer keys)

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