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

2. 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) She chooses students to lead the class discussion.
(c) The class puts the novel on trial, choosing people to play the roles of lawyers, judge, and jury.
(d) She teaches the novel using the Socratic method, which the students have never seen before.

3. In Part 3, Chapter 6, why does Nafisi join a group?
(a) To read and study classical Persian literature.
(b) To learn more about the principles of Islam.
(c) To read and study classic works of English literature.
(d) To teach classic works of English literature.

4. What does the magician tell Nafisi she should do to help her students survive?
(a) Help them leave Iran.
(b) Help them regain their imagination.
(c) Help them gain admission to an American college.
(d) Help them find a good marriage.

5. How does Nafisi feel when she hears the announcement that Iraq has attacked Iran?
(a) Unhappy, because she realizes what war will do to her friends and family.
(b) Relieved that someone will finally help end the political situation in her home country.
(c) Nervous, because she is afraid that she will be killed during the impending war.
(d) Ambivalent, both angry and full of love and desire to protect her home country.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Nafisi emphasize in the introductory course she teaches in Part 3?

2. How does Part 3, Chapter 11 begin?

3. Azin is described as having what noticeable characteristic?

4. In Part 2, Chapter 12, why does Nafisi decide to cancel class?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the magician tell Nafisi to stop blaming the Islamic Republic for all her problems?

2. Why does a university staff member describe the Ayatollah's funeral as an event?

3. Why does Nafisi think teaching "The Great Gatsby" was the right choice for that time and place?

4. What does it mean to be complicit in one's own crimes?

5. Why does Nafisi add an epilogue to the end of the memoir?

6. Part 2, Chapter 11 begins with a quote from Mike Gold, "Art is useful as bread." How is this quote related to the rest of the chapter and to previous incidents in Nafisi's text?

7. Why does Nafisi get upset with students in her class at Alzahrah University (Part 3, Chapter 25)?

8. What does Nafisi do during her time as a member of the Iranian Student Movement?

9. What does Nassrin mean when she talks about the "ordeal of freedom" in Part 4, Chapter 20?

10. In Part 3, Chapter 14, why does Nafisi describe her students in such detail?

(see the answer keys)

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