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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 do other ships in the area do?

2. What is Hornblower missing?

3. Who is driving horses?

4. Where do the Hornblowers leave the canal boat?

5. What do the three Sinhalese divers do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the Prince and his retinue come on board the Atropos?

2. Describe Hornblower's encounter with the Prince of Seitz-Bunau.

3. What is Hornblower's destination after Gibraltar?

4. Describe Hornblower's encounter with the King.

5. Who and what does Hornblower take on board at Gibraltar?

6. What is the status of the Atropos when Hornblower questions Lieutenant Jones?

7. After attempting to engage Hornblower in conversation, with whom does the tiller man talk and what is her response?

8. Describe Maria Hornblower.

9. What do the Hornblowers board after the canal board and where does that take them?

10. What do Hornblower and Maria do after leaving the wherry?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Define irony in literary terms. Discuss the irony of the situation whereby Hornblower believes he is fooling the Mudir. Find two other incidences of irony in Hornblower and the Atropos and discuss them.

2. Define symbolism in literary terms. Discuss the use of and meaning of five symbols found in Hornblower and the Atropos.

3. Discuss the use of foreshadowing in literature. What is the purpose of foreshadowing? Cite 3 examples of foreshadowing and how it is used to indicate events to come in Hornblower and the Atropos.

Essay Topic 2

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Admiral Horatio Hornblower is no exception. Hornblower's legendary powers of reasoning are juxtaposed with his nervousness and internalized self-doubt. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze situations when Hornblower demonstrates his prodigious powers of reasoning. Give specific examples to illustrate your analysis. Where in Hornblower and the Atropos does Hornblower's reasoning fail?

2. Trace and analyze Hornblower's character flaws, especially his nervousness and self-doubt, offering specific examples of these flaws in your discussion.

3. Discuss how you think Hornblower's admirable traits might help him obtain a high rank in the Navy and how Hornblower hides his character flaws so they have not impeded his career. Do any of those under his command seem to notice these flaws? Who? How does the reader know this?

Essay Topic 3

Forester is masterful in his description of battles, storms and life in general in the West Indies in the early 1820s. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze Forester's descriptive passages about life at sea, particularly in times of stormy weather or difficult passages. 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 he did not include such descriptive passages?

2. Analyze Forester'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 Hornblower, The Prince, Admiral St. Vincent or any other characters of the gentleman or noble class. Contrast that to the lives of those who are in a lower social strata such as the Singalese divers or the drunk who is leading the horses in chapter one.

3. Describe and analyze Forester's descriptive passages about the topographical setting and the physical descriptions of the people. Does Forester 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 do 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?

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