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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. How does Nafisi's acquaintance describe her students?

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

3. The desire for what intangible object drives Nafisi's students?

4. What secret does Nassrin tell Nafisi?

5. How does Nafisi refer to her male acquaintance?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What happens to disrupt the class discussion in Chapter 17?

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

4. What is the relationship between the imaginary rain shower and the meeting of Nafisi's class?

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

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

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

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

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

10. How do the university officials react to Nafisi before and after her resignation?

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

Women are central characters in Nafisi's text and in the texts that Nafisi chooses to teach. Early in the book, Nafisi present three types of women in "A Thousand and One Nights." Of those types, which best represents the majority of the women in the Iranian Republic? Which type represents Nafisi's students? Which type represents Nafisi?

Essay Topic 3

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" is divided into four parts, and each part centers around a novel. The book's title emphasizes only one novel, "Lolita." "Lolita" is the emphasis for the first section of the book. Why do you think that "Lolita" was mentioned in the book title instead of the other novels discussed? Was this a good choice? If not, which of the other novels would have been more suitable and why?

(see the answer keys)

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