ENG 3U7

Reading Lolita in Tehran: Part II.i

PART II - The Great Gatsby
Consistent with the Lolita chapter, you will have to do some background research on the main resource of Part II -- The Great Gatsby.

1. After researching The Great Gatsby, why do you think Nafisi chose to focus on this text in Part II of Reading Lolita in Tehran? What themes might Nafisi's memoir and The Great Gatsby share?

2. During the Gatsby trial Zarrin charges Mr. Nyazi with the inability to "distinguish fiction from reality" (128). How does Mr. Nyazi's conflation of the fictional and the real relate to theme of the blind censor? Describe similar instances within a democracy like Canada or the United States when art was censored for its "dangerous" impact upon society.

3. Compare Mahshid's feeling that she "owes" something to Tehran and belongs there to Mitra and Nassrin's desires for freedom and escape. Discuss how the changing and often discordant influences of memory, family, safety, freedom, opportunity and duty define our sense of home and belonging.

4. As we reach the halfway mark in Reading Lolita in Tehran, use the Glee forum as a place to discuss your own comments and opinions of the book thus far. Please sign your name at the bottom of each comment as some of you have some anonymous handles. I expect everyone to have at least ONE comment and ONE response to someone else's comment.