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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 Harper suggest they do with the Parker's carriage?

2. Who is the young British woman at the village?

3. Why does Sharpe talk to the French?

4. What does Parker ask Sharpe to do?

5. How is the person Sharpe meets dressed?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the French assault the farmhouse the first time and what does Sharpe tell Harper? What is Harper's response?

2. What does Sharpe ask about the strong box and what is Vivar's response? How does Sharpe respond to this?

3. What does Vivar tell Sharpe about Vivar's troops?

4. What does Sharpe ask from the Parkers when they stop in a small town for the night and what does Sharpe end up doing for his men?

5. What does Mrs. Parker say about Santiago de Compostela and the British?

6. What does Williams tell Harper about Sharpe and what does Sharpe tell Williams to do? What is Williams suggestion to Sharpe?

7. What does Dunnet order the riflemen to do when the French are charging them and what is Sharpe's response?

8. What does Major Dunnet tell Sharpe to do, how does he address him and how does he feel about Sharpe? What does Murray suspect about Dunnet's feelings towards Sharpe?

9. What does Vivar tell Davila to do?

10. What do the British and Spanish find when they enter a village, what do they do and how do the troops feel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 particular 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 2

Mrs. Parker is treated poorly by Sharpe and Louisa seems to have to be with her uncle whether she wants to or not. Though the author Cornwell may or may not have such personal views on women, the way women are characterized in his series is often less than complimentary. Discuss one of the following:

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

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.

Essay Topic 3

Sharpe, despite his background, is an officer and a gentleman and is therefore accorded more respect and trust even in enemy territory than the common soldier. Discuss the following:

1. Does it seem likely that officers were usually more respectable than enlisted men back then? What about today? Why or why not.

2. Sharpe treats Mrs. Parker harshly and even drags her from the carriage and lets her drop in the mud. Do you think this is how an officer and gentleman comports himself? Why or why not?

3. In the present military in the United States, both officers and enlisted can be held for court martial for adultery or having sexual relations with someone of inferior rank. Why do you think this is so? Do you agree with the policy?

(see the answer keys)

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