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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 Teresa look like?

2. What does Hogan say Teresa is still doing?

3. As the British are marching to Badajoz what slows their progress?

4. Why is Sharpe worried about his status with his company?

5. What has stalled Sharpe's promotion?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Harper and Sharpe run into as they begin to enter the city and what do they do about it?

2. What is Sharpe's new assignment he receives from Windham and what does he ask Windham? How does Windham respond?

3. How does the assault on Ciudad Rodrigo seem to the British at first?

4. What is Sharpe's rank in Chapter 1 and what is the ambiguity surrounding his rank?

5. What do Hogan and Sharpe discuss when they get together and what is Hogan's opinion of taking Badajoz?

6. Why are Sharpe and Harper relieved about their company's role in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo? What will their role be?

7. What guerrilla rider approaches Sharpe and what does she tell him? What does she look like?

8. What siege does Sharpe participate in at the beginning of Chapter 1 and how does he pass his time when not fighting?

9. What kind of obstacle does the River Guadiana pose for the British and how do they surmount it?

10. What happens to Sharpe's and Teresa's relationship when the army leaves for Badajoz? Where will Teresa be staying in Badajoz? Upon what is she counting on from Sharpe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Richard Sharpe is in some ways a larger-than-life hero. Despite incredible odds, he usually comes out on top, in RICHARD SHARPE AND THE SIEGE OF BADAJOZ and in the others in the series. Discuss the following:

1. Does having a larger-than-life hero make that person less of a hero? In other words, which is more admirable--a hero who ultimately always "lands on his feet," or one who strives against impossible odds and doesn't always succeed?

2. Does a character have to be successful in order to be a hero? Explain your answer.

3. Choose one other character besides Sharpe who you might call a hero/heroine and explain why you choose that person. Illustrate your statements with examples from the text.

4. Does every work of fiction have to have a hero? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Usually the women in this series are background to the men and tend to fit a stereotype of women in this era of history. This book has a different type of woman, Teresa Morgan, who is a guerrilla soldier and leader of her riders.

1. Present and analyze the treatment of women in RICHARD SHARPE AND THE SIEGE OF BADAJOZ.

2. Cornwell is trying to be historically accurate, so is his treatment of women in his book(s) justified?

3. Is there any way Cornwell could have presented women in a more positive light and still stayed historically accurate? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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