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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. When the high-ranking soldiers for whom the band played has taken their leave, what is NOT a rule put in place by the remaining Khmer Rouge soldiers?
(a) Now no one is allowed to fall in love.
(b) Now no one is allowed to speak to the soldiers for any reason.
(c) Now the band has to play at nighttime meetings so that all of the kids can learn the words to the songs.
(d) Now no one can hunt for their own food.

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

3. While the captives subsist on tiny amounts of rice and garbage, what do the Khmer Rouge eat?
(a) Chicken, fish, and lemongrass.
(b) Grass, leaves, and clay.
(c) Sardines, mussels, and clams.
(d) Caviar, foie gras, and steak.

4. When the word "sleep" is banned by the Khmer Rouge, what word is allowed in its place?
(a) Doze.
(b) Rest.
(c) Die.
(d) Nap.

5. From where does Chantou send Arn a letter?
(a) From her adoptive parents' home in America.
(b) From their home village.
(c) From an opera house in Thailand.
(d) From a mountain camp.

Short Answer Questions

1. What occurs in the American movie that causes Arn and Munny to hide their faces in their shirts?

2. What is Arn's first reaction when a girl sitting next to him at dinner suddenly dies?

3. How do the Khmer Rouge soldiers react when Arn asks them if they want to play soccer with him?

4. What happens to the old man who is Arn's first music teacher?

5. When the new music teacher is too overcome by his own sadness to teach the children, Arn teaches them himself, instructing them to hit the strings lightly, like the wings of what bird?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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. 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?

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. How does Arn describe his village at the opening of the novel before the Khmer Rouge arrive?

7. What are the signs that lead Arn to think that perhaps the Mango Grove is a mass burial site used by the Khmer Rouge to inter their victims?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. What ploy do the Khmer Rouge use to get the government soldiers to come to the airport and what happens once they arrive?

(see the answer keys)

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