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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. Using the method of time measurement that Arn and the other captives must use, eight harvests means he's been held captive for how long?
(a) 5 years.
(b) 3 years.
(c) 2 1/2 years.
(d) 1 1/2 years.

2. At one point, Arn becomes so hungry and thirsty and eats fruit off the ground even though there is something wrong with it. What's wrong with it?
(a) It is been partially digested by an animal and he finds it in animal excrement.
(b) It is not yet ripe.
(c) It is rotten and infested with maggots.
(d) It is been pecked at by many birds.

3. When the group comes upon a little hidden village and the men beg Sombo and the boys not to hurt them, what does one of the men offer Sombo as a gift?
(a) A banyan tree fruit.
(b) A drink of fresh water.
(c) A sweet potato.
(d) A bottle of Coca-Cola.

4. What new job does the child leader give the Little Fish so that they can prove their loyalty to Angka?
(a) They must leap from the trenches they have dug and draw enemy fire.
(b) They must climb onto the tanks of the Vietnamese army and drop grenades inside.
(c) They must cook all of the food for every soldier in the camp for one week without eating anything themselves.
(d) They must fetch the water for every soldier in the camp for one week without drinking any of it themselves.

5. Why does Sombo return to the hidden village to kill everyone who lives there?
(a) Because he goes back to steal their food and they put up a struggle, so he kills them.
(b) Because he is worried that if he does not, the villagers will sneak into their camp and kill them first.
(c) Because he thinks they told the Vietnamese his group's location.
(d) Because he has become thirsty for blood after a lack of battle for so long.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Sombo leave Arn and the other boys to fend for themselves?

2. When he is mistaken for a member of the Khmer Rouge by one of their leaders, what is Arn's reaction?

3. Who tells Arn that Sombo is only being mean in order to protect Arn from harm?

4. When he is allowed a special privilege by the leader, what does he find himself doing for the first time in three years?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When the Khmer Rouge put Arn and 19 other boys into a platoon they call Little Fish with the Big Sting, what thought of Arn's acts as foreshadowing for the coming carnage?

3. Once Arn wakes up from being nursed back to health by the three girls in Thailand, how does the motif of sound come into play?

4. 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?

5. Why does Arn turn over all of the dead bodies of the villagers to look into their faces?

6. 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?

7. What is the author's purpose in including the two conflicting accounts of the war emanating from Sombo's radio?

8. What words does the dying lady in the village spit at Arn and why do her words hurt him so much?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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