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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. 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 sneak in through the back door exit.
(c) They borrow money from their older sister, Jorami.
(d) They beg for money outside the theater.

2. What is the event that first causes Arn to think maybe the Khmer Rouge have evil intentions?
(a) A soldier sees Arn selling his wares on the street and tips over his cart for no apparent reason.
(b) He sees a soldier speaking roughly to a monk at his temple school.
(c) He sees a soldier kill a boy when the boy refuses his request for a motorcycle ride.
(d) Hi sister tells him that all of the girls in the village are being rounded up by the soldiers in order to force the girls to cut their hair short.

3. What event causes Arn to sneak out and plead with the new music teacher to start exerting effort in his teaching?
(a) Arn knows that the new music teacher is a friend of his mother's and so he wants to preserve the teacher's life.
(b) Arn has taken a genuine interest in the musical arts and wants to do anything he can to fuel his new passion.
(c) A Khmer Rouge guard asks Arn how the band is progressing and whether the new music teacher has a good or a bad character.
(d) Arn realizes that though he can play and teach all of the instruments to the other children, he wants a father figure to be their leader.

4. Why do Arn's sister and aunt break down crying when Arn gives them a treat?
(a) They wish he had gotten enough to give every member of the family a treat.
(b) They feel sorry for him that he has to use his earnings to provide for his family.
(c) They are worried that he steals to get money.
(d) They don't like the treat he gives them.

5. The morning just before the Khmer Rouge drive through the village making announcements on their bullhorns, what sounds are noticeably absent?
(a) The sound of children laughing and the sound of vendors selling their wares.
(b) The sound of birds chirping and the sound of the wind in the trees.
(c) The sound of monks chanting and the sound of the temple gong.
(d) The sound of gunfire and the sound of explosions.

Short Answer Questions

1. When the Khmer Rouge evacuate all of the cities in order to force everyone into agricultural work, how many days do they tell the villagers they will be gone?

2. What happens to the first guard to make Sombo come to replace him?

3. What details does the author include to let the reader know that the kitchen girl's sexual molestation of Arn happens without his consent?

4. What is Arn's solution for helping Siv remember not to hold the flag in front of Arn's face at the end of the dance?

5. The Khmer Rouge tell the band that they are going on a trip and everyone is expecting to be killed. Instead, what happens?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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?

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. 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?

7. 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?

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

9. 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?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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