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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 cause Arn to say that now "even the earth is our enemy" (126)?
(a) Their rice girl steps on a land mine and loses her leg.
(b) The vegetables they plant won't grow.
(c) Vietnamese soldiers leap out of a ditch to attack their group.
(d) When they bury their dead, the earth expels their bloated bodies.

2. After Arns separates from the other boys, he wants to get to Thailand. What is the only landmark he knows about that will signal him he's about to get to Thailand?
(a) He knows he will have to cross a river.
(b) He knows he will have to wade through a swamp.
(c) He knows he will have to climb the tallest mountain of three peaks on the horizon.
(d) He knows he will have to cross a series of three bridges.

3. The group of child soldiers led by Sombo and referred to as Little Fish with the Big Sting is comprised of how many children?
(a) 80.
(b) 40.
(c) 10.
(d) 20.

4. When Arn has a touching moment with the baby monkey but then snaps its neck and wonders why he has done this terrible thing, what conclusion does he come to?
(a) He realizes that he did it because he has to think about surviving every minute of every day.
(b) He realizes that he did it because he hasn't killed anyone in a long time and has a thirst for killing.
(c) He realizes that he did it because he was hugging the monkey so hard that he didn't realize he was throttling it.
(d) He realizes that he did it because he saw the monkey having a good time with its family and he was jealous.

5. What is the name of the only other boy at the Children's Center who was formerly a child soldier besides Arn?
(a) Runty.
(b) Koong.
(c) Sojeat.
(d) Ravi.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sombo brings his new group to join with another camp composed mainly of true Khmer Rouge kids, not soldiers like Arn who have been held captive and then forced into battle by the Khmer Rouge. What is the main child leader's name within this other group?

2. What does the hospital look like where Arn arrives when he gets off the bus?

3. Just before the radio's batteries die, what do they hear the voice of Angka saying in the news report?

4. When his sister kisses Arn's ear, what is NOT something he says the sensation feels like?

5. What happens the first time Arn shoots his gun?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author present the theme of the unnatural when Kha tells Arn and Siv that if they stay hidden, they can watch the girls bathe in the nude?

2. What is the author's purpose for including Arn's comment that "now even the earth is our enemy"? (126)

3. Why do Arn, Siv, and Kha kick dirt over their excrement after they eat the sweet potato Arn brings back from the leader's house?

4. Describe the parting of Arn and Mek. What is its significance within the course of the narrative?

5. Conditioning is the automatic response of one's body that happens over a period of time when one is subjected to repeated negative and/or positive reinforcement in order to facilitate a particular response. The soldiers tell Arn and Siv that he has a new job for them, lead them to a temple, make them watch as they murder the elderly prisoners there, and order Arn and Siv to urinate on the bodies of the dead and dying old men. Arn thinks that there is no way he'll be able to comply, but when he looks down, he sees that urine is pouring out of his body onto the dead men's heads. What is the author's purpose in including this incident?

6. How is the theme of family shaped and twisted within the narrative when the camp erupts into chaos at the news that the Vietnamese soldiers are close?

7. Why does Arn distrust the radio reports he hears at the hospital?

8. When Arn determines that he has been away from his home village for two and a half years, how does he reach this conclusion?

9. How does the white rabbit enter the narrative of the story and what is its significance?

10. How does the scene of the Vietnamese soldiers walking through the village calling out to the people echo a scene from the first chapter of the novel? What is the effect of that allusion?

(see the answer keys)

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