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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 does Lucille pray?

2. What does Gudin offer?

3. Where does Sharpe send two companies?

4. What does Sharpe haul up from the cellar?

5. Where did the treasure go?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens between Challon and Lucille in the kitchen, and what is Lorcet's response?

2. What does Sharpe offer Gudin and what is Gudin's reply?

3. How does Sharpe send Gudin off?

4. What does Challon do while Lucille puts Patrick to bed? What does Lorcet find in Sharpe's accounts?

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

6. Why is Sharpe in Normandy, and what does he think about when he holds his rifle?

7. How do Sharpe and Malan get into Lucille's house?

8. What does Sharpe tell Lorcet when Lorcet calls upstairs to Challon?

9. What does Sharpe tell Locet about the gold?

10. What does Sharpe tell the people in the church?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sharpe's Christmas is one story in a series of novels involving Richard Sharpe. Discuss the following.

1. What are two advantages of writing a series of novels about the same characters? Illustrate your statements with details from the text.

2. What is a disadvantage of writing a series of novels about the same characters? Illustrate your statements with details from the text.

3. Do you prefer to read a standalone book or a series of books with the same main characters? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 2

Often titles reveal much about one or more aspects of a novel. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the purpose of a title? How closely related to a major theme(s) of a book do you think a title should be? Or should it be?

2. Sharpe's Christmas suggests these short stories might be different from Sharpe in a war situation. Discuss this title and the theme behind it.

3. If you were the writer of Sharpe's Christmas and your editor says the title must be changed, what would you choose? Why?

4. Discuss the titles of the two short stories and their meanings in the context of the story. Evaluate the effectiveness of the title.

Essay Topic 3

Any work of fiction has some similarities, yet the structure can engender differences. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast how the structure of the short stories, Sharpe's Christmas and Sharpe's Ransom, informs the reading experience to how the structure of one of Cornwell's novels might do the same.

2. Many readers love novels and are indifferent to short stories, and vice versa. Discuss why you think some readers would enjoy one format over another.

3. Choose a short, one-act play and compare it to one of the short stories as far as how structure affects the reading experience.

(see the answer keys)

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