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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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.

2. What is Nafisi doing at the beginning of Chapter 11?
(a) Looking over the class notes she kept from the study sessions.
(b) Looking at the photographs of the girls.
(c) Remembering her life as a child.
(d) Cleaning out her office at the University of Tehran.

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

4. In Chapter 20, Nafisi tells a story about what event that happened to Manna and Nima?
(a) They were expelled from the university.
(b) They began to become more orthodox.
(c) They were kicked out of the study group.
(d) They realized that literature is not as important as survival.

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

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

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

8. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

14. What does the class strive to do in their study of literature?
(a) Find answers about political ideology.
(b) Learn how to be better writers.
(c) Discover truths about beauty and human nature.
(d) Discover ways to question religious authorities.

15. Why does the male student have to meet with Nafisi separately?
(a) A group with men and women would arouse suspicion from the Islamist authorities.
(b) His schedule does not permit him to meet with the female students.
(c) Nafisi believes that male and female students learn differently.
(d) The female students do not like having a male student in their class.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Nafisi's apartment lack matching furniture and fancy window dressings?

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

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

4. How does the professor solve problems of literary criticism?

5. How does Nafisi structure the first class sessions?

(see the answer keys)

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