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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Hizbollah?
(a) A group of radical Muslims who murdered the Ayatollah Taleghani.
(b) The title of a religious tract that all Iranians must follow according to the regime leaders.
(c) A religious group also known as the Party of Allah, who are determined to put God's laws into practice on earth.
(d) The name of a radical student organization at the University of Tehran.

2. What political event described at the beginning of Chapter 9 sets the tone for the subsequent actions of Nafisi's students?
(a) The overthrow of the leadership of the University of Tehran.
(b) The student occupation of the American Embassy in Tehran.
(c) The invasion of Iran by Iraq.
(d) The arrest of a popular professor for refusing to follow the regime's laws.

3. What does Nyazi consider to be a positive aspect of "The Great Gatsby"?
(a) It exposes the immorality of American society.
(b) It presents the American Dream.
(c) It provides a model of a good marriage relationship.
(d) It describes the way society should function.

4. In Part 3, Chapter 13, what does Nafisi get on the first day she begins teaching?
(a) An obscene message.
(b) A bouquet of flowers.
(c) A visit from the religious leaders.
(d) A cup of coffee from her mother.

5. In Part 2, Chapter 14, what do the police do to the women at the protest meeting?
(a) The police protect the women who come to protest.
(b) The police push the women with the butts of their guns, and order them to go home.
(c) The police arrest the women and take them all to jail.
(d) The police stand off to one side and watch the event without participating.

6. In Part 3, Chapter 3, what do Laleh and Nafisi discuss at the restaurant?
(a) The actions of the Committee on Cultural Revolution.
(b) Laleh's decision to become a seamstress.
(c) Laleh's expulsion from the University of Tehran.
(d) Nafisi's expulsion from the University of Tehran.

7. Why does Nafisi include the scene from "Invitation to a Beheading" in Chapter 22?
(a) The scene was just studied in Nafisi's study group.
(b) She is making the point that all governments are corrupt.
(c) It illustrates the way totalitarian governments force victims to participate in crimes against themselves.
(d) Nafisi believes that scene shows how her students will be mistreated if they are thrown in jail.

8. Why does Nafisi collect pictures of martyrs during the war?
(a) They are evidence that the government has committed war crimes.
(b) She sees the war as a sign that she should become more religious.
(c) It is a superstitious action, a way to deal with forces outside her control.
(d) She knows many of the people who are killed and wants to have a reminder of their lives.

9. What does Nafisi emphasize in the introductory course she teaches in Part 3?
(a) The ways novels change ideas about relationships between individuals.
(b) The ways novels emphasize religious and cultural values.
(c) The ways novels are similar to contemporary life.
(d) The ways novels present women in Western culture.

10. What teaching technique does Nafisi use in conjunction with the study of "The Great Gatsby"?
(a) Nafisi asks the students to construct character sketches of the novel's main characters and compare the sketches to their own lives.
(b) The class puts the novel on trial, choosing people to play the roles of lawyers, judge, and jury.
(c) She teaches the novel using the Socratic method, which the students have never seen before.
(d) She chooses students to lead the class discussion.

11. According to Zarrin, when is a novel moral?
(a) When it makes the reader confront the absolutes in his or her belief system.
(b) When the characters conform to moral laws and values.
(c) When the government approves of the content.
(d) When the reader is able to relate to the moral choices of the characters.

12. What game does Nafisi play when she begins wearing a black robe?
(a) She pretends she is a religious leader and has additional authority.
(b) She pretends that everyone can see her as a human being.
(c) She pretends that nothing has changed, and she is not wearing a robe.
(d) She pretends her whole body disappears, and she becomes invisible.

13. Why do the students begin to keep vigils at the University of Tehran?
(a) They are protesting the expulsion of their favorite professors.
(b) To prevent the university from being closed down by the government.
(c) To encourage the government to close down the university.
(d) They are tired of going to class and want to be part of the Revolution.

14. What question does Nafisi ask at the beginning of her first class at the University of Tehran?
(a) Why do you believe there will be a cultural revolution?
(b) Why should anyone read fiction?
(c) What did you think about the choice of books for this course?
(d) Why is it important to get a college education?

15. Why does Nafisi state it is important to introduce her students to the works of Saul Bellow?
(a) Because Bellow provides an aesthetic counterpoint to the limitations of Austen's novels.
(b) Because Bellow presents Western society as not being decadent, and Nafisi believes her students need to see Western culture as not being decadent.
(c) Because she believes her students should read more American authors.
(d) Because Bellow shows the problems and fears of the West, and Nafisi believes her students look at the West uncritically.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Nafisi believe is an example of a National Writer?

2. What is Nafisi feeling when the classroom trial of "The Great Gatsby" ends?

3. What does the magician tell Nafisi she should do to help her students survive?

4. Nafisi describes Austen as being most interested in depicting what?

5. Who delays Nafisi's expulsion from the university?

(see the answer keys)

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