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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. What protects the northern side of Badajoz?

2. What makes the British tasks more difficult?

3. What does Wellington decide as the assault falters in Chapter 24?

4. What do the men in the ditch shout as they join Sharpe in the assault?

5. Where do Sharpe and his men assemble prior to their assault?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Sharpe doing at the beginning of the assault on Badajoz?

2. What is foreshadowed in Sharpe's humiliation of Hakeswill?

3. What do the British forces begin to do when they arrive at Badajoz and what makes their tasks more difficult?

4. What has the French built across the Rivillas Stream and what do the British do about it?

5. What is Hakeswill doing while the British prepare for the assault of Badajoz and what do the men think about him?

6. What do the British troops do after the weather clears in Chapter 17 and what do they decide about the plain?

7. What is Robert Knowles doing at the beginning of the attack and who does he think about when planning his actions?

8. Why does Wellington decide Badajoz has to be taken immediately?

9. How are the French able to kill so many of the British, what does that cause and how does Sharpe feel as he watches?

10. What happens to Sharpe as he retreats from the dam?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cornwell is masterful in his description of battles and life in general in for a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1820s. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze Cornwells's descriptive passages about life as a soldier. How does he use descriptions of the five senses to make the reader feel s/he is there? Do you find his descriptions compelling? Seemingly accurate? How would the novel be different if Cornwell did not include such descriptive passages?

2. Analyze Cornwells's descriptive passages about the social structure of the times and discuss what you think it would be like to be a person of wealth and/or privilege such as Wellington, Lawford, and Windham. Contrast that to the lives of those who are in a lower social strata such as Sharpe and Harper or one in service to someone of wealth and/or privilege.

3. Describe and analyze Cornwell's descriptive passages about the topographical setting and the physical descriptions of the people. Does Cornwell do an adequate job of actually making the reader "see" the land/sea where the action is taking place? How about getting a visual image of the characters? How does the descriptions of the setting add to the novel? Do you like having an idea of how a character looks? How would the novel be different without such descriptions?

Essay Topic 2

Usually the women in this series are background to the men and tend to fit a stereotype of women in this era of history. This book has a different type of woman, Teresa Morgan, who is a guerrilla soldier and leader of her riders.

1. Present and analyze the treatment of women in RICHARD SHARPE AND THE SIEGE OF BADAJOZ.

2. Cornwell is trying to be historically accurate, so is his treatment of women in his book(s) justified?

3. Is there any way Cornwell could have presented women in a more positive light and still stayed historically accurate? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

In any book centered around the military, leadership of the troops is often crucial with the better leaders able to command the respect and loyalty of their men. The men's willingness to follow a particularly leader can have a decisive impact upon the success of a mission. Discuss the following:

1. Whose command style seems most effective? Analyze the elements of those effective leaders thoroughly and discuss the traits of the good leaders. What makes an excellent leader/commander? Give examples.

2. Whose command style seems most ineffective? Analyze the elements of those ineffective leaders thoroughly and discuss the traits of the poor leaders. What makes a poor leader/commander? Give examples.

3. Is disobeying a poor leader ever justifiable? Explain using details from the text, other books you have read and your personal experience. In times of war, disobeying an order can be punishable by death. Is this harsh sentence justifiable for such an act? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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