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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. Who are the Cuirassiers?

2. What does the horseman's hat look like?

3. From where do Harper and Sharpe withdraw?

4. Who arrives to drive off the French skirmishers?

5. Upon whose staff is the horseman?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are the Dutch-Belgium troops unable to fight well?

2. Who does Sharpe see as he leaves Wellington to return to the crossroads? What does he do?

3. What becomes a major source of friction between the Prince of Orange and Sharpe? Why is Sharpe with the Prince?

4. How does Sharpe mitigate a complete disaster with the battalions under French cavalry attack?

5. Why is the Duchess of Richmond apprehensive about John Rossendale?

6. Who is Sharpe's mother and in what wars has he fought? To whom is he attached now?

7. What do Sharpe and Harper do on the second night of battle?

8. What did the actions in Chapter 7 show about the Prince of Orange and some of the other British officers?

9. What actions of the Dutch-Belgium cavalry in Chapter 7 tell the reader about their ability? What impressions might their actions give?

10. What is Bonaparte thinking about as he sits in his coach near where the French come into Belgium?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze one major theme of Sharpe's Waterloo. Consider the following: How do one character's actions portray the theme you are analyzing? How does the setting contribute to that theme? Is the theme one that you would call a "universal" theme? If so, what other book or novel that you have read also includes this theme. If not, why don't you think it is a "universal" theme?

2. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of Sharpe's Waterloo. How does one character's actions portray the themes you are analyzing? How does the setting contribute to those themes? Is each theme one that you would call a "universal theme"? If so, what other book or novel that you have read also includes this theme. If not, why don't you think it is a "universal" theme?

3. What benefit is there in discussing and analyzing the themes of a work of fiction? Do you think most authors consciously develop themes in their works? Why or why not? Can there be accidental themes? What do you think is one possible "accidental" theme in Sharpe's Waterloo? Which theme in Sharpe's Waterloo speaks to you the most in your life? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Cornwell is masterful in his description of battles and life in general 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 John Rossendale, The Prince of Orange, The Duke of Wellington, and Simon Doggett. 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 do 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

The technical account of the first use of high explosive shells, invented by a Major Shrapnel, is a fascinating detail among the description of the primitive hand-to-hand combat within the fortified chateau.

1. It has been said humans keep finding better and better ways to kill each other. Discuss what you think this means.

2. Nobel, the man who invented gunpowder in the western world, was so grieved by what his invention did to war and the history of humans that he started the Nobel Prize and other philanthropist projects to use the money he made from his invention to help mankind. Discuss your opinion of his behavior, whether you agree with it, whether he had any reason for such guilt and how you would feel if you had been him.

3. Compare the impact of the invention of shrapnel to the invention of the hydrogen bomb. Use examples to support your answer. Include whether you think more people have been harmed by shrapnel or the bomb.

(see the answer keys)

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