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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 part of his army did Wellington send south?

2. Why has Massena given Loup the orders he gave?

3. What kind of pace do the troops in the south use to march north?

4. What does Sharpe explain to Tarrant?

5. What does Tarrant say about the French in relationship to his job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Sharpe and Hogan agree on after Sharpe shoots Sarsfield and what do they do?

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

3. How does Massena react to the southern troops joining the northern ones and what does Wellington do after the army is reunited?

4. Why is Sharpe being subjected to a board of inquiry?

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

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

7. What does Hogan tell Wellington about the French and Almeida?

8. What does Sharpe do when he hears Loup shouting out commands in the battle and what do the soldiers around them do?

9. How does Hogan set up confronting Father Sarsfield?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A work of fiction is often organized around a structure called a plot. Discuss the following:

1. Define plot and its major parts (rising action, climax, falling action, resolution [or denouement]. Write a sentence or two synopsis of the major plot of the Sharpe's Battle.

2. Identify where the parts of the plot seem to fall in Sharpe's Battle. Explain using examples.

3. Define the literary term "subplot." Write a sentence or two synopsis of a subplot in Sharpe's Battle.

4. Identify the major parts of the subplot you identified in task number 3.

5. Why do you think identifying the plot and elements of the plot is useful?

Essay Topic 2

At the conclusion of a novel, most readers either consciously or unconsciously engage in processing the book and usually come to a conclusion as to whether they like the book or not. Discuss one of the following:

1. Would you consider Sharpe's Battle a "good" book? Why or why not? Use examples to illustrate your stance.

2. What do you think are the elements of an outstanding novel? Analyze one of your favorite novels to see if those elements are present.

3. What are some reasons you might consider a novel a failure? Analyze a novel you think is a failure and see if those elements are in that novel.

Essay Topic 3

Cornwell is masterful in his description of battles and life in general in for a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze Cornwell'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 Sharpe's Battle 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, or Dunnet. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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