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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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) Iran's past is used as a foundation for the development of a more modern society.
(d) The past is irrelevant to the leaders who want to establish a perfect Koranic society.

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

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

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

6. The desire for what intangible object drives Nafisi's students?
(a) The desire for justice.
(b) The desire for beauty.
(c) The desire for truth.
(d) The desire for morality.

7. What becomes part of the "landscape" of Nafisi's class?
(a) The mountains in the mirror.
(b) The presence of the magician.
(c) Nafisi's life and family.
(d) The oppression of the Iranian regime.

8. What causes Manna and Nima to fall in love?
(a) They share a passion for the revolutionary cause.
(b) They are in the same literature study group.
(c) They see parallels between their lives and the lives of Humbert and Lolita.
(d) They share a common passion for literature.

9. What does Nafisi describe as the crux of the problem in "Lolita"?
(a) Humbert is in love with Lolita.
(b) Lolita is in love with Humbert.
(c) Humbert does not understand Lolita.
(d) Lolita has no other choice but to stay with Humbert.

10. How does Nafisi's acquaintance describe her students?
(a) As "pretty women."
(b) As "nice girls."
(c) As "good students."
(d) As "fine people."

11. What is the main point of Chapter 12?
(a) The students enjoy reading "Lolita."
(b) Copies of books are not readily available in Tehran.
(c) To provide the reader with an understanding of how "Lolita" was sold in Tehran.
(d) To provide the reader with a sketch of the class meeting to discuss "Lolita."

12. At the beginning of Chapter 18, what does Nafisi ask the reader to imagine?
(a) They are inside her apartment.
(b) They are standing on a street in Tehran.
(c) They are at the university.
(d) They are walking down a leafy path.

13. What does Nassrin's mother teach her daughter?
(a) French.
(b) English.
(c) Arabic.
(d) German.

14. Why do the intruders want access to Nafisi's house?
(a) They think she is selling and using drugs.
(b) She is able to provide them with safety.
(c) They are searching for contraband.
(d) They want to see what was happening on her neighbor's property.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Nafisi, how is Yassi like Lolita?

2. Why does Nafisi remind the students of Nabokov?

3. What happens to the class after they read "Madame Bovary"?

4. In Chapter 9, what does Nafisi do to answer Yassi's question?

5. At the beginning of Chapter 16, what are Nafisi and her male acquaintance discussing?

(see the answer keys)

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