Quiz Martyr! Kaveh Akbar

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar: Full-Book Quiz

This quiz covers the full arc of Kaveh Akbar's Martyr!, from Cyrus Shams's early life in Indiana to his transformative encounter with the artist Orkideh in Brooklyn. Questions test plot sequence, character motivation, thematic symbols, and synthesis of the novel's larger ideas. Use the book overview for context, and check the ending explained if you need a refresher on the final chapters. For deeper discussion, visit the questions and answers page. The answer key follows the quiz, with brief explanations grounded in the text. 20 questions total: 8 plot/sequence, 5 character motivation, 4 theme/symbol, 3 synthesis. Formats mix multiple-choice and short-answer. Good luck!

Quiz Questions

Plot / Sequence

1. (Multiple Choice) After Orkideh dies, who contacts Cyrus to reveal the truth about his mother?

  • A) Zee Novak

  • B) Sang Linh

  • C) Prateek the docent

  • D) Gabe B.

2. (Multiple Choice) In what year does Cyrus first meet Zee at the Green Nile hookah bar?

  • A) 2010

  • B) 2012

  • C) 2014

  • D) 2015

3. (Multiple Choice) What object does Ali buy that becomes a beloved symbol for father and son?

  • A) A singing fish

  • B) A copper tablet

  • C) A wind chime

  • D) A chess set

4. (Multiple Choice) After his argument with Gabe at the AA meeting, what does Cyrus decide?

  • A) He will find a new sponsor

  • B) He will stop attending AA

  • C) He will apologize to Gabe

  • D) He will write a book about martyrs

5. (Multiple Choice) What is the name of Orkideh's installation at the Brooklyn Museum?

  • A) Death-Speak

  • B) Earth Martyrs

  • C) The Fall of Icarus

  • D) Mirror Art

6. (Multiple Choice) How did Roya survive the downing of Flight 655?

  • A) She switched passports with Leila

  • B) She missed the flight

  • C) She was not on it

  • D) She was rescued from the water

7. (Multiple Choice) At the end of the novel, what does Cyrus experience in Prospect Park?

  • A) He dies

  • B) He sees a vision of his mother

  • C) He reaches into a golden pool and feels a hand

  • D) He reconciles with Zee

8. (Multiple Choice) What is the content of the book's opening chapter?

  • A) A poem by Kaveh Akbar

  • B) An epigraph by Clarice Lispector

  • C) A Navy investigation report

  • D) A scene of Cyrus in his bedroom

Character Motivation

9. (Multiple Choice) Why does Cyrus initially want to die?

  • A) He is terminally ill

  • B) He wants his death to matter

  • C) He is clinically depressed

  • D) He wants revenge on the U.S. government

10. (Multiple Choice) Why does Orkideh refuse treatment and choose to die in the museum?

  • A) She wants to be present at her own death and make art

  • B) She cannot afford treatment

  • C) She wants to avoid pain

  • D) She wants to punish her family

11. (Multiple Choice) Why does Ali forbid Cyrus from speaking Farsi?

  • A) He wants Cyrus to assimilate into American culture

  • B) He dislikes the language

  • C) He wants to protect Cyrus from racism

  • D) He is ashamed of Iran

12. (Multiple Choice) Why does Arash enlist in the Iranian military?

  • A) He is patriotic

  • B) He has no exemptions and conscription is mandatory

  • C) He wants to be a martyr

  • D) He needs money

13. (Multiple Choice) Why does Zee leave Cyrus in the hotel room?

  • A) He is angry about Cyrus's suicidal talk

  • B) He has to work

  • C) He is jealous of Orkideh

  • D) He is sick

Theme / Symbol

14. (Multiple Choice) What does the singing fish symbolize in the novel?

  • A) The father-son bond and simple joy

  • B) The immigrant experience

  • C) The loss of Iran

  • D) The passage of time

15. (Multiple Choice) In Cyrus's dream, what does the Bruegel painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus represent?

  • A) The indifference of the world to suffering

  • B) The beauty of nature

  • C) The importance of art

  • D) The danger of ambition

16. (Multiple Choice) What does the term “earth martyr” mean to Orkideh?

  • A) A person who dies for a cause without religious reward

  • B) A martyr who dies for the earth

  • C) A person who dies in a plane crash

  • D) A martyr who is buried

17. (Multiple Choice) What does the Miserere represent for Cyrus and Arash?

  • A) Transcendent art that connects the living and dead

  • B) A symbol of religious faith

  • C) A reminder of war

  • D) A musical preference

Synthesis

18. (Short Answer) How do the documentary chapters (Navy reports, New York Times articles) function in the novel?

19. (Short Answer) Compare Cyrus's initial view of martyrdom with Orkideh's.

20. (Short Answer) What is the significance of the title Martyr!?

Answer Key

1. B) Sang Linh — After Orkideh dies, Sang Linh, Orkideh's gallerist and former wife, contacts Cyrus and reveals that Orkideh was actually his mother, Roya, who survived the flight by trading passports with Leila.

2. B) 2012 — In chapter 21, Cyrus meets Zee at the Green Nile hookah bar in June 2012, during an Indiana storm.

3. A) A singing fish — Ali buys a singing fish decoration that both he and Cyrus love; it becomes a recurring symbol of their bond.

4. B) He will stop attending AA — After his argument with Gabe, Cyrus decides it was his last AA meeting and his last time speaking to Gabe.

5. A) Death-Speak — Orkideh's installation is titled “DEATH-SPEAK,” where she lives in the gallery and speaks with visitors until she dies.

6. A) She switched passports with Leila — Roya and Leila traded passports, allowing Leila to die in Roya's place; Roya then fled to New York using Leila's identity.

7. C) He reaches into a golden pool and feels a hand — In the final scene, Cyrus and Zee kneel by a golden pool, and Cyrus reaches in and feels a hand grab his.

8. B) An epigraph by Clarice Lispector — The opening chapter consists solely of an epigraph about the sudden realization that human beings die.

9. B) He wants his death to matter — Cyrus tells Gabe he wants to die and wants his death to matter—to be a martyr.

10. A) She wants to be present at her own death and make art — Orkideh designs Death-Speak so she will be present at her own death, turning her dying into a public artwork.

11. A) He wants Cyrus to assimilate into American culture — Ali discourages Farsi to help Cyrus become American, even teaching himself SAT vocabulary to model English fluency.

12. B) He has no exemptions and conscription is mandatory — Arash enlists because he is a poor, unmarried man without a high school education and has no exemptions from the draft.

13. A) He is angry about Cyrus's suicidal talk — Zee confronts Cyrus about his desire to die, calls him selfish, and leaves after their argument.

14. A) The father-son bond and simple joy — The singing fish is a shared delight between Ali and Cyrus, representing warmth and connection amid hardship.

15. A) The indifference of the world to suffering — In the dream, Orkideh points to Icarus drowning in the margin, highlighting how the world ignores tragedy.

16. A) A person who dies for a cause without religious reward — Orkideh defines earth martyrs as those who die for others, not for glory or an afterlife.

17. A) Transcendent art that connects the living and dead — The Miserere becomes a bridge for Cyrus to his uncle and his mother, symbolizing art's power to transcend death.

18. The documentary chapters—Navy investigation reports and New York Times articles—provide the official, state-sanctioned narrative of the downing of Iran Air Flight 655. They contrast sharply with the intimate, personal losses of characters like Cyrus and Arash, exposing the gap between bureaucratic justifications and human tragedy. The novel uses these documents to critique state violence and the erasure of civilian suffering.

19. Cyrus initially romanticizes martyrdom as a way to give his meaningless life and death significance, imagining a glorious end that would make him matter. Orkideh redefines martyrdom as “earth martyrdom”—dying for others without ego or religious reward. She also chooses to die publicly as an artistic act, but her motivation is to be present at her own death and to create meaning through art, not to achieve glory. Cyrus's view evolves as he learns his mother's story and confronts the pride inherent in believing one's death could mean more than one's life.

20. The title Martyr! interrogates the concept of martyrdom itself. It questions whether a meaningful death is possible, whether self-sacrifice is ever pure, and how the desire for significance can become a form of pride. The exclamation mark suggests both a cry and a challenge, reflecting Cyrus's obsession and the novel's critique of the cult of the martyr. Ultimately, the title points to the tension between the need to matter and the futility of death, a tension Cyrus resolves not through dying but through connection and art.

Published by What Happened?

How this guide was made Report an error