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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why is Nafisi worried about her students?
(a) Because her students show no signs of being individuals.
(b) Because the students are not interested in reading and discussing literature.
(c) She is concerned that they will be punished by their families for attending her class.
(d) She is worried that they cannot afford the flowers she expects them to bring.

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

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

4. What does Nafisi consider to be the first lesson in democracy?
(a) All individuals have the right to vote for their own leaders.
(b) All individuals have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(c) All individuals have the right to freedom of speech.
(d) All individuals have the right to dress as they please.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What are the biggest threats to an idealized vision of an individual or a country?

3. When the intruders enter Nafisi's house, what happens?

4. Why do Ministry of Education officials ask the faculty at Nafisi's school if they thought they were in Switzerland?

5. How do the Iranian authorities view the country's past?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the purpose of the dreams that Nafisi describes?

2. Why do Mitra and the other students find the Thursday study group to be significant?

3. How is the generation of Nafisi's students different from the generation of Nafisi and her peers?

4. What is the role of literature in Part 1, Chapter 20?

5. Why does Nassrin say she has been caught in the middle of tradition and change her entire life?

6. According to Nafisi, what is life like for a "normal Iranian citizen"?

7. What is the similarity between Lolita's past and the past of Nafisi's students?

8. Why do the magician and Nafisi enjoy each other's company so much?

9. According to Vera Nabokov, what is the beauty in "Lolita" and why is it missed by critics?

10. What is the significance of the green gate Nafisi mentions in Chapter 9?

(see the answer keys)

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