2. When Arn is told by a Khmer Rouge soldier that he has a new job in addition to his job as a musician in the band, what does that new job turn out to be?

3. What does the new music teacher give Arn as the reason that he does not care whether he lives or dies?

4. When Chantou gets mad that Arn is working as a vendor, what is NOT something she says he should be doing instead?

5. Who tells Arn's aunt about Arn and Munny seeing the American movie?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the pregnant woman and her husband who are walking next to Arn within the mass exodus of all cities? What lesson does Arn learn from seeing what happens?

2. 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?

3. When the evacuees are finally allowed to stop to set up camp in groups of around a thousand people each, what do Arn and his little sister Sophea discover about the Khmer Rouge's philosophies when they sneak around listening to the soldiers' conversations?

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. What is ironic about the fact that the rice crop falls significantly short of the Khmer Rouge's expectations and they then reduce everyone's food allotment even further than before?

6. When a new mail carrier comes into camp, he shares some news with Arn. What part of the news does Arn doubt and what is the significance of this doubt?

7. 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?

8. After Arn is chosen by Khmer Rouge leaders to play music in their band, Arn sees there are positive results and negative results of his being chosen. What are they and what does this show about one's fate under the rule of the Khmer Rouge?

9. 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?

10. Before the arrival of the Khmer Rouge in his village, how does Arn feel about the war he knows is being fought outside his town and what does he spend most of his time doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Desensitization is a coping mechanism Arn uses often in order to retain his sanity in the midst of the horrors all around him. Describe and analyze three of these instances and use them to explain how the author uses them to help the reader keep rooting for Arn even though at times he commits atrocities that in normal circumstances would seem unforgivable.

Essay Topic 2

The epilogue of the novel provides the reader with information about the real man on whom the novel's fictional story is based. Discuss the author's choice to include this epilogue and its intended effect on the reader within the context of the whole novel.

Essay Topic 3

Within the novel, the manipulation of language in order to shift people's perspectives is a common theme, both in Arn's case, as when he questions the difference between a "bribe" and a "gift" (8) and in the case of the Khmer Rouge soldiers, as when they ban the use of the word "sleep," instead ordering that only the word "rest" (82) be used. Discuss the theme of language manipulation throughout the novel and relate it to manipulation of language within modern politics.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,698 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)

View a FREE sample

More summaries and resources for teaching or studying Never Fall Down.

View all Lesson Plans available from BookRags.

Copyrights