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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. Who does Nafisi consider to be the "real protagonists" in her class?

2. Who does Nafisi meet with in Part 3, Chapter 10?

3. How is Nafisi's generation different from that of her students?

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

5. In Part 3, Chapter 6, why does Nafisi join a group?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of man is Mr. Bahri?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"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?

Essay Topic 2

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" is not told chronologically. The use of flashbacks and the telling of the story in segmented historical pieces distributed across multiple sections determines the shape for the novel. How does the element of time shape the reader's understanding of the memoir's major points? How does the element of time shape the reader's understanding of the characters Nafisi develops?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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