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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. How can La Marquesa regain her wealth?

2. What village does the Fifth Division invade?

3. Who does Sharpe almost encounter as he is walking?

4. Where do they say Sharpe can travel is he is incapable of riding a horse?

5. What does Sharpe do when La Marquesa visits him?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what shape is Sharpe at the beginning of Chapter Sixteen and what does he think about?

2. What does Hogan learn about the explosion, what does he think and what is the Spanish family doing with him?

3. How does Sharpe escape from Verigny?

4. Where is Sharpe taken in Burgos and what is the place like?

5. What do Sharpe and Harper discover about Helene and what do they do?

6. Of what does Sharpe remind Helene and what does she tell him to say to the French?

7. What happens when Sharpe arrives at the Fifth Division?

8. What does the Fifth Division do in the battle of Vitoria and what happens to Leroy?

9. Who comes to eat with Sharpe and what do they give him?

10. How do the French feel before the battle of Vitoria?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 this book qualifies as an historical fiction? Why or why not?

2. If much of the events in the book 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 2

Most of the entire series of novels concerning Richard Sharpe takes place during the Napoleonic Wars; therefore understanding the political and social situation during that time helps to a greater understanding and appreciation of this book and others in the series. Discuss one of the following:

1. Research and write an expository essay about how the Napoleonic Wars begin and end.

2. Research and write an expository essay about the battles that take place on land between Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars.

3. Compare/Contrast the importance of the British infantry during the Napoleonic Wars to the importance of the British infantry during either WWI or WWII.

4. Write an expository essay on how the Napoleonic War affects the social culture of one of the following countries: Britian, France, or Germany.

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 1800s. 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 Sharpe's Honor 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, or the Marques. 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 or 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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