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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 Nairn tell Sharpe at the beginning of Chapter 3?

2. What day is it when Sharpe has secured the convent?

3. What happens to Sharpe and his companions after they pledge to help each other?

4. What does Nairn decide about Sharpe's information?

5. Why did the Peer choose Frenada as winter headquarters?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Spain at war with and how is the country divided?

2. What is happening in Andrados at the beginning of the novel and who is doing it?

3. What do Sharpe and Harper do at the convent while negotiating with the leaders of the men there?

4. Where and at what time is the Prologue set?

5. What does Lady Farthingdale do when she sees Sharpe?

6. How does Farthingdale act towards Sharpe when he returns without the woman?

7. Who are the men Sharpe and Harper see first at Andrados and why are they there?

8. How important is Andrados, where it is situated and what types of protections are in place around it?

9. What happens to the British forces as they scramble over the castle walls?

10. Who does Sharpe meet who is head of the rifle company going to Andrados, what is that man like and how does Sharpe feel about him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The evidence of murder, torture, and mass rape is throughout the convent. Sharpe watches a woman being tortured by being branded on her breasts with a red-hot iron. The Elsewhere women are systematically tortured in sexually stylistic ways.

1. Present and analyze the treatment of women in Sharpe's Enemy.

2. Cornwell is trying to be historically accurate, so is his treatment of women in his book(s) justified? Why or why not?

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

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze one major theme of Sharpe's Enemy. Consider the following: How does one character's actions portray the theme you are analyzing? How does the setting contribute to that theme? Is the theme one that you would call a "universal theme"? If so, what other book or novel that you have read also includes this theme. If not, why don't you think it is a "universal" theme?

2. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of Sharpe's Enemy. How does one character's actions portray the themes you are analyzing? How does the setting contribute to those themes? Is each theme one that you would call a "universal theme"? If so, what other book or novel that you have read also includes this theme. If not, why don't you think it is a "universal" theme?

3. What benefit is there in discussing and analyzing the themes of a work of fiction? Do you think most authors consciously develop themes in their works? Why or why not? Can there be accidental themes? What do you think is one possible "accidental" theme in Sharpe's Enemy? Which theme in Sharpe's Enemy speaks to you the most in your life? Why?

Essay Topic 3

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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