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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. In Part 3, Chapter 9, what author does Nafisi discuss with the magician?

2. In Part 3, Chapter 14, what author does Mr. Ghoni use to indirectly question Nafisi?

3. Whose death is announced in Part 3, Chapter 33?

4. To what does Manna compare her fictional self?

5. Who are the Mujahedeen?

Short Essay Questions

1. Nafisi first mentions the magician in Part 1, Chapter 10. Why does she wait until Part 2, Chapter 20, to describe him more fully?

2. Why does Nafisi refer to the concert she attends as a parody of the real thing?

3. How does Nafisi react to the increase in protests, demonstrations, and violence associated with the revolution?

4. What does the Islamist Iranian regime have in common with the theme of Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby"?

5. What does Nafisi mean when she says that the real day of the Ayatollah's death has not yet occurred?

6. What are the similarities between the lives of the characters in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and the lives of Nafisi's students?

7. Why does the magician tell Nafisi she should return to teaching?

8. What kind of man is Mr. Bahri?

9. What is the impact of Iran's war with Iraq?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the book, Nafisi uses language with strong sensory connections. Choose taste, touch, sight, smell, or hearing and write an essay that discusses the use of that sense in each of the four sections of the book. Why is this sense used? Is the sense always used by the same individual? Is it always used in the same way?

Essay Topic 2

America is presented as both reality and symbol, as a concept and a country. Describe the various ways America is interpreted and understood by those in Nafisi's classes and the Iranian government. How do those interpretations compare to Nafisi's personal memories and descriptions of America? What elements of America are emphasized? What elements of America are omitted? Why are there omissions?

Essay Topic 3

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" centers around literature, a written form of art. Choose another art form (dance, music, visual art) and discuss the use of that art form in all four sections of the book. What is the role or roles of art in the Iranian Islamic Republic? What role or roles does art play in the fictional works Nafisi teaches? What role or roles does art play in the life of Nafisi? In the lives of her students?

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