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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. Why do the dragoons cease firing upon the British?

2. Who does Sharpe push into the water?

3. Why are the lancers unable to get by the horses?

4. Why is Coignet's order useless?

5. Why is Sharpe in a quandary?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Sharpe feeling as dawn approaches, and how do the men respond?

2. Who do Pailleterie and Tubbs discuss and what do they say?

3. Of what does MacKeon remind Sharpe?

4. Why is Sharpe upset as he sees the French approaching?

5. How does Pailleterie threaten his men and what is there response?

6. How does MacKeon again "save the day"?

7. How does Sharpe attempt to sabotage the fort?

8. Why does Sharpe realize he does not need to negotiate a truce with the French forces?

9. Describe the battle for the bridge and explain why Sharpe retreats.

10. What is Pailleterie's reaction when seeing San Miguel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Sharpe's Skirmish" is one book in a series of novels involving the character Richard Sharpe. Discuss the following.

1. What are two advantages of writing a series of novels about the same characters? Illustrate your statements with details from the text.

2. What is a disadvantage of writing a series of novels about the same characters? Illustrate your statements with details from the text.

3. Do you prefer to read a standalone book, or a series of books with the same main characters? Explain your response.

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 Cornwell'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 Cornwell'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 Major Tubbs or Ducos. 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

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 Skirmish" qualifies as an historical fiction? Why or why not?

2. If much of the events in the story 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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