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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 does the study group find disturbing about the texts written by the Ayatollah Khomeini?

2. Why do the students begin to keep vigils at the University of Tehran?

3. In Part 3, Chapter 19, where does Nafisi go?

4. In Part 4, Chapter 1, what does Sanaz announce she is going to do?

5. What gift does Nafisi give to the magician?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why is Nafisi conflicted about returning to full-time teaching?

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

5. What does Nafisi mean by her statement that she "left Iran, but Iran did not leave me?"

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Nafisi presents several male students as passionate about the values of the Islamist Republic of Iran. In what ways are Mr. Bahri, Mr. Nyazi, and Mr. Ghomi similar? In what ways are they different? Which one of those students is portrayed as being in closest agreement with the regime? What evidence supports your choice?

(see the answer keys)

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