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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 does Lucille cook for Challon and his two hussars?

2. Lorcet says that Lucille had better pray for ______________.

3. What did Ducos say Sharpe would know?

4. What does Hagman deliver?

5. What does Lucille ask of the men who break into her home?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does the man in the kitchen tell Sharpe about Ducos?

4. What does Lucille hope about Sharpe, and how does she feel about leaving her home?

5. What does Picard hear as he thinks about his loss to Sharpe and what do he and Santon think it is?

6. What does Sharpe think after he kills the fox and he does not see the six men continue to the village?

7. Who pushes their way into the house while Sharpe is gone, and what do they do and say?

8. What does Lorcet say to Lucille when it starts to snow? What does she reply?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the conclusion of a story, most readers either consciously or unconsciously engage in processing the story 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 Christmas a "good" story? Why or why not? Use examples to illustrate your stance.

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

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

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 Sharpe's Christmas 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 Lucille who was wealthy before the war and now is reduced to living well below her previous level.

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

Sharpe's Christmas is one story in a series of novels involving 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.

(see the answer keys)

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