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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 promise does Lucille make to Lorcet?

2. What does Daniel Hagman want when he pokes his head into the room where Sharpe and Gudin are talking?

3. Whom does Father Defoy embarrass publicly?

4. What does Lucille cook for Challon and his two hussars?

5. Who follows Lucille upstairs?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sharpe deal with the three men who are with him?

2. Why does Malan agree to help Sharpe?

3. How does Sharpe send Gudin off?

4. Where does Challon take Lucille, and what interrupts his plans for her the first time?

5. What does Sharpe say about the villagers, especially Malan? What is Lucille's response?

6. What is Picard doing while Gudin and Sharpe talk?

7. What does Lorcet agree to with Challon, and what does he find distasteful about Challon's suggestion?

8. What does Father Defoy announce in church? How does the widow Malan feel about the announcement?

9. What does Challon do while Lucille puts Patrick to bed? What does Lorcet find in Sharpe's accounts?

10. How do Sharpe and Malan get into Lucille's house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though this novel is probably more action driven rather than character driven, obviously there are several characters who make the novel what it is. Discuss one of the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Sharpe and Caillou. Include their goals, sense of honor, abilities and social skills. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Gudin and Picard. Include their goals, sense of honor, abilities, and social skills. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Thoroughly analyze the character of Richard Sharpe discussing both his strong and weak points and how both affect the outcome of the plot. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Most protagonists are a mixture of admirable traits and character flaws, and Richard Sharpe is no exception. Sharpe's legendary powers of military strategy is juxtaposed with his reputation as a womanzier. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze situations when Sharpe demonstrates his prodigious powers of military strategy. Give specific examples to illustrate your analysis.

2. Trace and analyze Sharpe's character flaws offering specific examples of these flaws in your discussion.

3. Discuss how you think Sharpe's admirable traits helped him obtain a high rank in the military despite his background as a child. Have his flaws impacted his career at all? Do any of those under his command seem to notice these flaws? Who? How does the reader know this?

Essay Topic 3

There are a number of literary elements that occur in many works of fiction. Irony is a means of increasing both the humor and the complexity of a story. Cornwell often includes irony in his Richard Sharpe series. Point of view is the way the story is narrated; all works of fiction have a point of view. Conflict is almost always present in a work of fiction. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary terms irony, point of view and conflict.

2. Identify two instances of irony in Sharpe's Christmas, offering examples from the text.

3. Identify the point of view of the novel and discuss why you think Cornwell chooses to use that particular point of view. Does the point of view seem to be the best one for Sharpe's Christmas? Why or why not.

4. Identfiy two major conflicts in Sharpe's Christmas. Are the conflicts completely resolved by the end of Sharpe's Christmas? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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