View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do Arn and his little brother Munny get in to see the American movie?
(a) They hide behind the skirts of a large paying customer.
(b) They beg for money outside the theater.
(c) They sneak in through the back door exit.
(d) They borrow money from their older sister, Jorami.

2. Where do Arn and Munny go after the American movie to play a pretend game of war?
(a) The soccer field.
(b) The town square.
(c) The park.
(d) The mango grove.

3. Why does Arn at first hesitate to volunteer when a high-ranking Khmer Rouge soldier asks who wants to play music in a band within the camp?
(a) He has never played an instrument and is scared that he will not be good at playing music.
(b) He thinks that the other children in the band will not take the task seriously and that therefore they will all be punished or even killed.
(c) He is told that the band will play for the glory of Angka, which goes against his religious beliefs.
(d) He is afraid that the question is a trick to suss out children who may have taken music lessons and should therefore be killed for their elitist status.

4. In what country is Arn's hometown?
(a) India.
(b) Vietnam.
(c) Thailand.
(d) Cambodia.

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 forced to sleep in a pile of manure for three nights.
(b) He is forced to burn his uniform.
(c) He is tied to a tree and chastised by the other child captives.
(d) He is refused food for three days.

Short Answer Questions

1. Though the Khmer Rouge blame the bad rice harvest on the laziness of the workers, Arn knows it is actually due to what reason?

2. What lesson does Arn learn from his experience getting told on by another boy in the camp?

3. What causes Arn to think that finally the Khmer Rouge may have won the metaphorical battle between himself and the soldiers?

4. What do the Khmer Rouge soldiers lack that makes the soldiers associated with the Prince doubt their power?

5. When a new letter carrier arrives to bring news to the camp, what news does he bring to Arn?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

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. What is the author's purpose in including the character of the five-year-old child whom Arn finds feasting on the flesh of the dead?

5. How does Arn fix the problem of the new music teacher's apathy and what effect does this solution have on the band's members?

6. 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?

7. When the current leader of the camp tells Mek that he and band will soon be going somewhere new, they are all terrified that they will be killed instead and that this is just another instance of the Khmer Rouge's euphemisms. However, they are not killed and what happens instead introduces the theme of fame into the novel. What happens in lieu of their deaths?

8. 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?

9. Before the arrival of the Khmer Rouge in his village, how does Arn feel about the war he knows is being fought outside his town and what does he spend most of his time doing?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,814 words (approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample