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. What is Arn's first reaction when a girl sitting next to him at dinner suddenly dies?
(a) He pushes her to floor to save the other children from having to look at her.
(b) He screams for help and is punished for his cries.
(c) He runs away into the jungle to be by himself for a while.
(d) He takes her bowl of rice and keeps on eating.

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 do the Khmer Rouge soldiers lack that makes the soldiers associated with the Prince doubt their power?
(a) Guns.
(b) Grenades.
(c) Homogeneous uniforms.
(d) Boots.

4. The first person Arn sees in over a year who is not wearing a black uniform is the new leader who arrives at the camp. How does Arn describe his appearance?
(a) He is wearing a linen caftan.
(b) He is wearing black shorts and a white shirt.
(c) He is wearing white shorts and no shirt.
(d) He is wearing a business suit.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. How does Arn find out unequivocally that the government soldiers who answered the Khmer Rouge's call to go to the airport were subsequently murdered?

3. Sophea brings news that someone in Arn's family has died while calling out for him. Who is it?

4. How do Arn and his little brother Munny get in to see the American movie?

5. Why do Arn's sister and aunt break down crying when Arn gives them a treat?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

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

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. 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?

7. When a new mail carrier comes into camp, he shares some news with Arn. What part of the news does Arn doubt and what is the significance of this doubt?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. What is ironic about the fact that the rice crop falls significantly short of the Khmer Rouge's expectations and they then reduce everyone's food allotment even further than before?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,751 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample