View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the Duchess of Richmond preparing to give?

2. Who is Lord John Rossendale?

3. What is Lucille most afraid of as she says goodbye to Sharpe?

4. Why is the Prince of Orange enraged?

5. What persists towards the East from where Sharpe and Harper are?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What type of technical details are seen in Chapter 8?

4. What is the ultimate end of the second day of the novel?

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

6. What is one of the first blunders committed by the Prince of Orange?

7. How do the French feel about the outcome of the war and why haven't the Prussians come to help the British?

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

9. Why are the French able to cross into Belgium and what type of resistance is there?

10. To whom does Sharpe send a note when he encounters men from the German Legion and what is the response? Why does he respond that way?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the conclusion of a novel, most readers either consciously or unconsciously engage in processing the book and usually come to a conclusion as to whether they like the book or not. Discuss one of the following:

1. Would you consider Sharpe's Waterloo a "good" book? Why or why not? Use examples to illustrate your stance.

2. What do you think are the elements of an outstanding novel? Analyze one of your favorite novels to see if those elements are present.

3. What are some reasons you might consider a novel a failure? Analyze a novel you think is a failure and see if those elements are in that novel.

Essay Topic 2

Before the battle, civilians gathered to watch the fighting. Given war today, this seems a strange custom and dangerous. Nothing is written as to how the civilians of the losing army would be treated.

1. How often do you think "innocent" civilians are killed during a war or conflict?

2. Is it immoral to harm non-combatants during a conflict? What if those non-combatants support their government's policies about the war/conflict?

3. In WWII, the US government targeted two cities in Japan with atomic bombs. The targets were not military targets and the intent was to kill as many people as possible, no matter their age, sex, or status. Is this an acceptable way to end a war?

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)

This section contains 1,180 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample