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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The boy who runs away from camp and escapes amidst a flurry of gunfire by the Khmer Rouge is a former boyfriend of which of Arn's siblings?

2. Though the Khmer Rouge blame the bad rice harvest on the laziness of the workers, Arn knows it is actually due to what reason?

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

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. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. 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?

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. What do Arn and his little brother Munny do after they sneak in to see the American movie and what happens to make them hide?

7. 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?

8. 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?

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. Why do the Khmer Rouge burn everyone's clothes and all of their material belongings?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author chooses to represent Arn's voice using an authentic form of dialect used by non-native English speakers. Analyze how this choice affects the reader's understanding of his character, the feelings inspired in the reader about the wartime atrocities he witnesses, and how the theme of redemption is ultimately received by the reader by the end of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

The theme of power is one that comes up over and over within the novel's narrative, particularly in relation to Arn's feelings of powerlessness and realizations about power he does indeed hold. Choose three instances when Arn realizes that he does, indeed, carry power, even within his dire situation. Discuss how these realizations help to shape the author's message regarding power.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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