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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What reason does Arn give for it being a dangerous act for him to think about his sister or any of his other family members?
(a) Because it makes him angry at them for letting this happen.
(b) Because Mek is jealous of Arn's feelings about his family.
(c) Because the Khmer Rouge can see inside his head.
(d) Because getting his hopes up for a reunion with his family is a waste of time.

2. The Khmer Rouge tell the band that they are going on a trip and everyone is expecting to be killed. Instead, what happens?
(a) They are put into the back of a truck and driven around for hours in order to disorient them.
(b) They go to a nearby village and are ordered to kill everyone living there.
(c) They embark on a tour of the agricultural fields in order to entertain the workers.
(d) They are permitted to go the Thailand border to see if they can find their family members.

3. Who is in the picture that Arn hangs on his bedroom wall at the beginning of the novel?
(a) The Prince of Cambodia's daughter.
(b) The young U.S. President's widow, Jackie Kennedy.
(c) His mother during her opera heyday.
(d) The first lady of the United States.

4. Arn eventually discovers the real reason that the band is asked to play at several specific times each day. What is the reason?
(a) To cover the sound of skulls being cracked as the Khmer Rouge murder captives.
(b) To keep the band members from running away into the jungle.
(c) To keep the spirits of the soldiers high.
(d) To make the field workers dance at regular intervals to amuse the soldiers.

5. When another child captive tells on Arn for lying to increase his number of work breaks, what do the Khmer Rouge soldiers impose as Arn's punishment?
(a) He is refused food for three days.
(b) He is forced to sleep in a pile of manure for three nights.
(c) He is forced to burn his uniform.
(d) He is tied to a tree and chastised by the other child captives.

Short Answer Questions

1. From where does Chantou send Arn a letter?

2. What does the new music teacher give Arn as the reason that he does not care whether he lives or dies?

3. What event causes Arn to sneak out and plead with the new music teacher to start exerting effort in his teaching?

4. What event precipitates the band members being fed real rice and being forced to practice their music all night long?

5. What method does Mek, the new music teacher, tell Arn that he uses to survive?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Arn and his little brother Munny do after they sneak in to see the American movie and what happens to make them hide?

2. Who is the emaciated girl with the missing teeth and loose skin who arrives at Arn's camp and what does he learn from her?

3. What ploy do the Khmer Rouge use to get the government soldiers to come to the airport and what happens once they arrive?

4. When Arn finally realizes the true purpose of the band's music, he is shocked and saddened. What is that purpose and how does it transform Arn's idea of the music he plays with the other members of the band under Mek's guidance?

5. How does the author use the juxtaposition between the kitchen girl's molestation of Arn and the comfort he then seeks within Mek's embrace? What is her purpose in using this juxtaposition?

6. When a soldier from Arn's home village comes to camp, what does he offer Arn in exchange for some rice and what does Arn learn as a result of accepting his offered deal?

7. What is the significance of the escape from camp by the boy from Arn's village?

8. What does Arn tell the reader about his family background within the exposition part of the story?

9. When Arn sneaks out to tell Mek about the soldier who forced him to cook the liver of a murdered captive, he is caught by a soldier but does not suffer the dire consequences he is expecting. What happens instead and what significance does it hold for Arn?

10. How is the theme of generosity demonstrated in the scene when the children are finally fed rice in anticipation of their first performance for the Khmer Rouge soldiers?

(see the answer keys)

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