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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. Who reprimands Challon?

2. What does Sharpe feed occasionally?

3. Who thought he was in love with Lucille?

4. What does Lucille ask of the men who break into her home?

5. Lorcet says that Lucille had better pray for ______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sharpe say about the villagers, especially Malan? What is Lucille's response?

2. What does Sharpe say to Lucille about the cogwheels, and what is her response?

3. What does Lucille do when Challon pushes on the bed, and what is Challon's response?

4. Why does Malan agree to help Sharpe?

5. Where does Challon take Lucille, and what interrupts his plans for her the first time?

6. What does Lorcet say to Lucille when it starts to snow? What does she reply?

7. What is Picard doing while Gudin and Sharpe talk?

8. What does Sharpe do when he hears of Nicholls' death?

9. What does Malan say to Sharpe's request? What is Sharpe's response?

10. What does Sharpe think after he kills the fox and he does not see the six men continue to the village?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Richard Sharpe is no exception. Sharpe's legendary powers of military strategy is juxtaposed with his reputation as a womanzier. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze situations when Sharpe demonstrates his prodigious powers of military strategy. Give specific examples to illustrate your analysis.

2. Trace and analyze Sharpe's character flaws offering specific examples of these flaws in your discussion.

3. Discuss how you think Sharpe's admirable traits helped him obtain a high rank in the military despite his background as a child. Have his flaws impacted his career at all? Do any of those under his command seem to notice these flaws? Who? How does the reader know this?

Essay Topic 2

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 Christmas qualifies as an historical fiction? Why or why not?

2. If much of the events in Sharpe's Christmas 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 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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