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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What would happen if the "Blood of God" militia saw a girl with nail polish or a strand of loose hair?

2. Who was Nafisi's father?

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

4. What is the first assignment for the students in the study group?

5. What is the best definition of Nabokov's term "poshlust"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Nafisi describe the three types of women portrayed in "A Thousand and One Nights"?

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

3. What factors cause Nafisi to resign from her position at the university?

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

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

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

7. Why do Nafisi and her students feel so strongly about Nabokov and his works?

8. Why does Nafisi ask her children about their memories of Iran?

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

10. Why is it difficult to find a copy of "Lolita" in Tehran?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

On Nafisi's first day of teaching at the University of Tehran, she asks the students what fiction should accomplish. Using examples from the text, write an essay comparing and contrasting the answer from the perspective of one of the students in Nafisi's student class and the answer from the perspective of Mr. Bahri of Mr. Nyazi.

Essay Topic 2

Nafisi addresses disappearance and absence as a major theme in the book. Write an essay that examines the issues of disappearance and absence in the novels Nafisi teaches, in the lives of her students, and in Nafisi's own life, both personally and professionally.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the students from one of Nafisi's University classes and one of the students from Nafisi's secret class. Describe how the life of each character was shaped through his or her interaction with fiction. What role or roles does fiction play in the life of that character? Does the character change at all through his or her interaction with fiction?

(see the answer keys)

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