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

2. When Arn has fallen so ill that he's afraid he will die, an American man comes to the hospital. What does Arn do in order to get the man's attention?
(a) He throws his breakfast across the room.
(b) He casts a pleading look at the man as he passes by Arn's bed.
(c) He screams as loud as he can as the man passes by Arn's bed.
(d) He intentionally falls off his bed into the man's pathway.

3. The author uses the occasion of Arn's transition into the role of soldier to refer back to events at the start of the novel. What are those events and what triggers them in Arn's thoughts?
(a) He straps a gun and ammunition to his chest and it reminds him of playing soldiers with his little brother Munny, just as they did after the movie so long ago.
(b) He looks up into the sky and hears the rat-a-tat-tat of artillery, which makes him think of the sound his cheap vendor bell used to make as he sold from his cart.
(c) He feels a sense of power from being armed and likens it to the feeling he used to get from earning his own money and having the power to buy things other kids couldn't.
(d) He remembers a prayer and recites it out loud, causing him to think about the monk teacher whom he used to bribe so he could skip school to sell his wares.

4. After Arn becomes a sort of personal assistant to the leader with the white shorts, what privilege is he granted?
(a) He gets to ride the leader's white horse.
(b) He gets to sleep in late and eat a breakfast of rice cakes.
(c) He gets to go in the leader's room to sleep on a soft feather pillow on the floor.
(d) He gets to run as fast as he wants, a practice normally forbidden so that escapes may be detected.

5. When he is allowed a special privilege by the leader, what does he find himself doing for the first time in three years?
(a) Laughing.
(b) Regretting his poor treatment of Siv when they first met.
(c) Hoping he'll live a long life.
(d) Thinking about his mother.

Short Answer Questions

1. The second time Arn joins the volleyball game, he plays skillfully and everyone claps. Why does he do so well at the game this time around?

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

3. When Arn asks a nurse what month and year it is, she replies that it's March 1979. He then figures out he has been away from home for how long in total?

4. As soon as Arn realizes he can see Thailand on the other side of the river, something about it frightens him and makes him want to stop and not go on. What is it about Thailand that frightens him?

5. What does Arn do when the pretty woman with the long braid begs Arn to shoot her?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reasons does Arn choose Sojeat and Ravi as his two favorites when Mr. Pond asks him for two names?

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

3. 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?

4. When Arn hears the conflicting reports on Sombo's radio, with the Voice of Angka saying that a victory for the Khmer Rouge is imminent and the American station saying that the Vietnamese are in control of the East and are taking more land every day, Arn doesn't know which report to believe. He does, though, hold on to one fact that he hears. What is that fact and why does he choose to keep it in mind?

5. 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?

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

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

8. 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?

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

10. The theme of fame arises once again when the leader with the white shorts notices Arn due to the attention he has gotten for his music and dancing, so he tells Arn to come to his house to entertain at his party. What message is being sent about fame in this scene?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 2,372 words (approx. 8 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample