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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 happens to the first guard to make Sombo come to replace him?
(a) He goes on leave to get married.
(b) He falls asleep at his post one time and is never seen again.
(c) He eats too much rotten food and contracts a blood disease.
(d) He runs away into the jungle.

2. Why does the kitchen girl give Arn extra food?
(a) Because he threatens to hurt her if she does not.
(b) Because she is a member of the Khmer Rouge and realizes that he needs strength in order to do his job and play music well.
(c) Because she says he looks too skinny.
(d) Because he has become famous from playing his kihm and she admires him.

3. What method does Mek, the new music teacher, tell Arn that he uses to survive?
(a) He thinks about one hour at a time.
(b) He watches the birds fly.
(c) He dreams.
(d) He composes music.

4. Who tells Arn's aunt about Arn and Munny seeing the American movie?
(a) Sophea.
(b) Munny.
(c) Mali.
(d) Sojeat.

5. From where does Chantou send Arn a letter?
(a) From her adoptive parents' home in America.
(b) From their home village.
(c) From a mountain camp.
(d) From an opera house in Thailand.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Arn cope with his feelings when the Khmer Rouge kitchen girl sexually molests him?

2. In order to add to his fame even more and thus add to his probability of survival, Arn adds what talent to his repertoire in addition to his playing of the khim?

3. When the new music teacher is too overcome by his own sadness to teach the children, Arn teaches them himself, instructing them to hit the strings lightly, like the wings of what bird?

4. What do the rich kids do to Arn when he is selling his wares near the school?

5. Who is in the picture that Arn hangs on his bedroom wall at the beginning of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. After Arn is chosen by Khmer Rouge leaders to play music in their band, Arn sees there are positive results and negative results of his being chosen. What are they and what does this show about one's fate under the rule of the Khmer Rouge?

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. 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?

4. When Arn's curiosity gets the better of him and he finally asks Sombo the reason for his permissiveness concerning Arn's behavior, what reasoning does Sombo provide and what is the author's purpose in portraying Sombo's character in this particular way?

5. Though at first, the villagers think that the jeeps and trucks pouring into the village is a good sign and means that the war is over, what is the first thing that happens to make Arn realize that the opposite is true?

6. What happens to the pregnant woman and her husband who are walking next to Arn within the mass exodus of all cities? What lesson does Arn learn from seeing what happens?

7. 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?

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

9. When the evacuees are finally allowed to stop to set up camp in groups of around a thousand people each, what do Arn and his little sister Sophea discover about the Khmer Rouge's philosophies when they sneak around listening to the soldiers' conversations?

10. How does Arn describe his village at the opening of the novel before the Khmer Rouge arrive?

(see the answer keys)

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