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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 is Wellington's opinion of Erskine?

2. What does Sharpe see when looking at the French?

3. Who are the biggest and most fierce fighters of the French?

4. What does Sharpe say about Kiely's suicide?

5. What will calling Sharpe to task do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Sharpe and his men help the southern troops?

2. What is Valverde's argument about Sharpe?

3. What do Sharpe and Donaju talk about while Sharpe is cutting his own hair?

4. How does Harper's superstitious action turn out?

5. Where are the Spanish partisans set up to watch the southern flank and what happens to them?

6. How does Sharpe kill Loup and how is Sharpe wounded?

7. Why is Wellington enraged with Erkins?

8. What do the French do at the church in Nave de Haver?

9. Why do the French call a temporary truce and what do two French and British officers do during the truce?

10. Who do Sharpe and Harper join in the first battle for the village and what happens to that person?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cornwell has tried as much as possible to use historical events and facts around which to weave his work of fiction. Discuss the following:

1. Do you think Sharpe's Battle qualifies as an historical fiction? Why or why not?

2. If much of the events in Sharpe's Battle are historical, what surprises you about the way the events play out?

3. Do you think the culture of that era is more or less advanced than you imagined? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

There are a number of literary elements that occur in many works of fiction. Irony is a means of increasing both the humor and the complexity of a story. Cornwell often includes irony in his Richard Sharpe series. Point of view is the way the story is narrated; all works of fiction have a point of view. Conflict is almost always present in a work of fiction. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary terms irony, point of view and conflict.

2. Identify two instances of irony in Sharpe's Battle, offering examples from the text.

3. Identify the point of view of the novel and discuss why you think Cornwell chooses to use that particular point of view. Does the point of view seem to be the best one for Sharpe's Battle? Why or why not.

4. Identfiy two major conflicts in Sharpe's Battle. Are the conflicts completely resolved by the end of Sharpe's Battle? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Sharpe, despite his background, is an officer and a gentleman and is therefore accorded more respect and trust even in enemy territory than the common soldier. Discuss the following:

1. Does it seem likely that officers are usually more respectable than enlisted men back then? What about today? Why or why not.

2. Sharpe executes two prisoners of war without a trial. Do you think this is how an officer and gentleman comports himself? Why or why not.

3. In the present military in the United States, both officers and enlisted can be held for court martial for doing a number of things that Sharpe has done. Why do you think this is so? Do you agree with the policy?

(see the answer keys)

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