View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is the villain in "Lolita"?
(a) The director of the summer camp.
(b) The individual with the imaginative mind.
(c) Lolita.
(d) Humbert.

2. How does Nafisi feel about revealing herself in class?
(a) As if she were having her insides pulled out.
(b) As if she were surrounded by her best friends.
(c) As if she were being forced to examine herself.
(d) As if she were being undressed in front of strangers.

3. What scene opens Chapter 12?
(a) Nafisi search for books in a bookstore.
(b) Nafisi teaching a class at the University.
(c) The members of the class arriving at Nafisi's house.
(d) The class sitting around a table in Nafisi's apartment.

4. Where does Nafisi write her class notes?
(a) Big diaries.
(b) Small scraps of paper.
(c) Lined paper tablets.
(d) Pocket calendars.

5. What is the dream Nafisi and her students share?
(a) The dreamer is able to purchase and read any book she wants.
(b) The dreamer is captured by the morality police.
(c) The dreamer is not wearing a veil and is running away.
(d) The dreamer has escaped to America.

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

7. Why does Nafisi return to the two photographs of her students in Chapter 7?
(a) The images show the contrast between the repression of the outside world and the individuality and freedom allowed in the apartment.
(b) The photographs are evidence that literature is more powerful than clothing.
(c) She wants to show how her students are the same people regardless of how they dress.
(d) The photographs show how much her students changed after they studied literature.

8. Why does Nafisi consider Humbert, Lolita's molester, such a frightening character?
(a) Because he appears normal and ordinary in other aspects of everyday life.
(b) Because he directly challenges the totalitarian government.
(c) Because he repeatedly uses force against those who stand in his way.
(d) Because his character causes Nafisi's students to question the role of men in their lives.

9. Why are Manna's friends reprimanded by guards?
(a) Because they were walking on the street.
(b) Because they were biting apples too seductively.
(c) Because they were wearing makeup.
(d) Because they were not wearing their veils.

10. How does the professor solve problems of literary criticism?
(a) By talking to his colleagues on the University faculty.
(b) By telling students that literary criticism is not important.
(c) By asking the class to vote on matters of interpretation.
(d) By finding critical essays that support his viewpoint.

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

12. How does Nafisi structure the first class sessions?
(a) With the students leading discussion and choosing what to read.
(b) Like a traditional literature class, with Nafisi asking questions and leading discussions.
(c) Like a lecture class, with the students taking notes on Nafisi's lectures.
(d) With students reading "revolutionary" authors and discussing the parallels to contemporary society.

13. In Chapter 9, what does Nafisi do to answer Yassi's question?
(a) Nafisi shows Yassi pictures of her childhood.
(b) Nafisi uses literature as a point of reference for her answer.
(c) Nafisi tells Yassi that she should not get married while she is young.
(d) Nafisi tells Yassi to ask her parents for assistance.

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

15. What does Nafisi see reflected in the mirror?
(a) Mountains.
(b) Her students.
(c) Her husband.
(d) A hospital.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the main point of Chapter 12?

2. Why does the literature professor dislike Manna and Nima?

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

4. Who demands entry into Nafisi's house?

5. What secret does Nassrin tell Nafisi?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 824 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample