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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 Astrid say about Sharpe to others?

2. Who questions Sharpe along with Gordon?

3. What does Bang tell Sharpe about staying in the city?

4. Who is Visser?

5. Why does Sharpe say the British cannot bomb Copenhagen?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sharpe prove Visser's involvement with the French?

2. Describe the conversation among Sharpe, Captain Gordon and Pumphrey.

3. What does Sharpe ask of Chase and what is Chase's response?

4. Why do Gordon, Pumphrey and Baird decide to write a commendation for Sharpe?

5. What is said about General Castenschiold's Danish militia?

6. What do General Payman, Lavisser adn the Danish Crown Prince discuss?

7. What does Pumphrey say to Sharpe about his Army career and how does Pumphrey imply that Sharpe should cooperate?

8. Who does Sharpe see sleeping on a chair and how does he deduce who she is?

9. What transpires at the meeting Peyman has with his aides?

10. Describe Sharpe's encounter with Captain Dunnett at Lavisser's house and Captain Murray's response.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Richard Sharpe is no exception. Sharpe's 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 2

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 Prey" 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 Dunnet. 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?

Essay Topic 3

"Sharpe's Prey", like many, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why? not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of "Sharpe's Prey" and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why "Sharpe's Prey" is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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