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. How does Aubrey feel about being back at sea?

2. What does Aubrey desperately want to do?

3. Who joins Aubrey at his home?

4. What does Aubrey do when he first makes land?

5. What does Amanda Smith ask of Aubrey?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Aubrey, Maturin and Villiers each act once aboard the Diligence?

2. What depresses Aubrey amidst all the celebrations?

3. Describe Stephen Maturin.

4. What happens in the encounter between Aubrey and several businessmen who call upon him?

5. Describe the meeting and interaction between Aubrey and Amanda Smith.

6. What did the British intelligence want Maturin to do and why do they no longer need him for the assignment?

7. Where do Maturin and Villiers travel and what do they do?

8. How does Maturin pass the time at the ball?

9. What is the first thing Aubrey does upon arriving back in England?

10. What is Villiers' reception like at the ball?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in THE SURGEON'S MATE.

2. Trace and analyze one major theme of THE SURGEON'S MATE. How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

3. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of THE SURGEON'S MATE. How are the themes represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

Essay Topic 2

Villiers leaves Maturin for Johnson, travels to America, and renounces her British citizenship. Throughout this period, Maturin sufferes a fairly deep depression and manages his emotion by withdrawal and opium addiction. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think the use of opium is not regulated as it is today?

2. Do you think it is a more or less enlightened society that regulates personal drug use? Explain.

3. Do you think the execution of Maturin's duties are compromised by his frequent use of opium? Why or why not? Give examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Though the author O'Brian may or may not have such personal views on women, the way women are characterized in his naval series is often less than complimentary. Discuss one of the following:

1. Present and analyze the treatment of women in The Surgeon's Mate. How is it that women such as Amanda Smith and Diana Villiers receive contempt for sexual relations outside of marriage while the men (such as Aubrey) do not?

2. O'Brian is trying to be historically accurate, so is his treatment of women in his book(s) justified?

3. Is there any way O'Brian could have presented women in a more positive light and still stayed historically accurate? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,162 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample