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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. Where does Nafisi write her class notes?
(a) Pocket calendars.
(b) Lined paper tablets.
(c) Big diaries.
(d) Small scraps of paper.

2. In Chapter 14, what question does Mitra ask about "Lolita"?
(a) Why does Lolita continue to stay with Humbert?
(b) Why are we reading this novel?
(c) Why do people find pleasure in reading such a horrible story?
(d) Why does Humbert try to control Lolita?

3. Why does Nafisi remind the students of Nabokov?
(a) Nabokov is Nafisi's favorite author.
(b) Because Nabokov wrote in an unsettled environment like the setting the students are in.
(c) Because Nabokov symbolizes the kind of writer that the students want be become.
(d) Nabokov believed that a totalitarian government offered students the chance to be free.

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

5. Why did Nabokov say that every great novel is a fairy tale?
(a) Fairy tales and novels both demonstrate the beauty of the natural world.
(b) Because all good novelists begin to write after reading fairy tales.
(c) All novels are stories with imaginary characters like fairy tales.
(d) Even though fairy tales have monsters, good ultimately wins over evil.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the class members take turns doing each week?

2. Where are Nafisi's children when Chapter 19 begins?

3. What does Nafisi consider to be the first lesson in democracy?

4. Who was Nafisi's father?

5. Why is Nafisi nervous about the intruders being in her house?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Nafisi agree with Nabokov's statement that every great novel is a fairy tale?

2. Why does Nafisi refer to two photographs in the first chapter?

3. Why does Nafisi consider Humbert to be a seducer of the readers of "Lolita"?

4. Why is there a difference between the students' level of comfort in talking about themselves and their level of comfort in discussing the novels?

5. What does the magician do with the photographs Nafisi shows him?

6. How is Professor X's method of teaching literature different than Nafisi's method of teaching literature?

7. In Part 1, Chapter 18, the room where the class meets becomes a character. How does Nafisi describe the room?

8. Azin asks the group if a woman has the same right as a man to enjoy sex. Why does this question surprise the group?

9. Why does Nafisi include Part 1, Chapter 12 in her memoir?

10. Why does Nafisi believe the scene where Humbert picked up Lolita at summer camp is the heart of Nabokov's novel?

(see the answer keys)

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