Discussion Question 2
Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran
Directions: Answer ONE of the questions below. Be sure to use specific details and direct quotes from the book to support your ideas. There is no specific length requirement for your answer, but a well thought out answer will probably be two or three paragraphs. This question is due no later than Thursday, Feb. 16.
Please answer the question as thoughtfully as possible, after reading the lecture. Then post your answer to the English 239 Message Board by the deadline.
Your responses to other students' answers are due by midnight on Saturday, Feb. 18. In order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond thoughtfully to at least 3 or 4 other people's postings.
Click on the link below to visit the English 239 Message Board:
Remember: This discussion question is worth a possible 20 points. Late answers will receive 0 points. Points will be assigned according to the thoughtfulness of your answer, not by whether it is "right" or not, since sometimes there is no "right" answer. Just be sure your ideas are supported by the material in the reading.
1. In her memoir, Nafisi says that she began her classes by asking her students "what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all" (94). What reasons do Nafisi and her students give for reading fiction? How would you answer this question? That is, why do you read fiction?
2. The theme of Nafisi's class was the relation between fiction and reality. For Nafisi and her students, what is the relation between fiction and reality? What is the relation between fiction and reality for you?