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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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.

3. What does the closeness of the room do to Nafisi and her students?
(a) It prohibits them from sharing their personal thoughts.
(b) It makes them nervous and uncomfortable.
(c) It causes them to become personal and intimate.
(d) It creates a false sense of security in their daily life.

4. How does Nafisi describe her memories?
(a) As the barrier between her and her students.
(b) As surrounding her every day.
(c) As invaders that arrive abruptly and unexpectedly.
(d) As sweet tastes inside her head.

5. 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 undressed in front of strangers.
(d) As if she were being forced to examine herself.

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

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

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

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

10. Why does Nafisi see a parallel between Humbert and contemporary Iranian society?
(a) Because the ayatollahs also blame others and hide the truth.
(b) Because Humbert and the ayatollahs share similar views about sex.
(c) Because members of Iranian society would act like Humbert if they were permitted to do so.
(d) Because Humbert's actions would be prohibited in Iranian society.

11. Why are Nafisi and her students in the room?
(a) To demonstrate control over their own lives.
(b) To protect themselves from the reality outside.
(c) Because they have nowhere else to go.
(d) Because they have been confined by the religious patrols.

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

13. When the intruders enter Nafisi's house, what happens?
(a) They catch Nafisi and the study group reading a book.
(b) The doorbell rings.
(c) There is a gun battle with Nafisi's neighbor.
(d) They take her children away.

14. How did Nafisi learn of her father's arrest?
(a) Her father told her many years later.
(b) She was pulled out of her sophomore class in Switzerland.
(c) She heard her mother telling her sister.
(d) The government came to her house.

15. 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 that she should not get married while she is young.
(d) Nafisi tells Yassi to ask her parents for assistance.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the main reason for Nafisi's resignation from the University of Tehran?

2. What type of author do the students seem most interested in studying?

3. Where do the intruders to Nafisi's house go once they are in her house?

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

5. What is the main point of Chapter 12?

(see the answer keys)

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