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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 do the French do after their first approach ends in disaster for them?

2. Why isn't Frederickson's fire on the advancing column effective?

3. Who is recovered by the French and handed over to the British?

4. What does Sharpe insist on with Farthingdale?

5. What was the book about that Farthingdale wrote?

Short Essay Questions

1. How many forces does Sharpe estimate are arrayed between the French and the British soldiers?

2. What do Sharpe and Harper do when the British attack is faltering?

3. What happens at the convent after the British abandon it?

4. What does Sharpe arrange the day after the war council?

5. What happens to the convent due to Harper's actions?

6. Who does Shapre meet from the French forces and how does that meeting go? How do the French feel about the British?

7. What happens when Farthingdale comes outside and what interests him about the French?

8. How does Sharpe react to Farthingdale's announcement and what does he do about it?

9. What unit shows up after the castle is taken and what does Sharpe do with them?

10. How do the French respond after the first two attacks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though this novel is probably more action driven rather than character driven, obviously there are several characters who make the novel what it is. Discuss one of the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Sharpe and Ducos. Include their goals, sense of honor, abilities and social skills.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Harper and Hakeswill.

3. Thoroughly analyze the character of Richard Sharpe discussing both his strong and weak points and how both affect the outcome of the plot.

Essay Topic 2

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Richard Sharpe is no exception. Sharpes 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 3

Cornwell is masterful in his description of battles and life in general in for a soldier during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1820s. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze Cornwells'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 the novel 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, Lord Farthingdale, Dubreton, and Frederickson. 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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