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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. Why does Killick surrender?

2. What does Colonel Elphinstone say about Sharpe due to the mission he is assigned?

3. What does Sharpe do the day after the fort was captured?

4. What will Sharpe do while Teste de Buch is being assaulted?

5. Into what territory have the British forces pushed after conquering the peninsula in question #3?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Killick think the British will do, how much experience does he have with fighting on land and what worries him the most?

2. How does Sharpe counter Bampfylde's assertion of command and what does Bampfylde decide to do?

3. What surprises Sharpe when they land and why is he surprised and what does Bampfylde do?

4. What do the various officers Sharpe meets with think about what the British should do?

5. What does Sharpe do with the American prisoners and how does Bampfylde respond?

6. Where does Killick move his cannon, how does he feel about his intervention and why is he doing it?

7. What kind of shape are Bampfylde and his Marines and how does this affect what they do?

8. In what state are Napoleon's forces at the beginning of this book?

9. What plan does Sharpe use to get into the fortress?

10. What is Richard Sharpe's role in the coming British action and why is he chosen for this task?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sharpe's Siege is one book 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.

Essay Topic 2

Along with treason, another detestable action is spying. Spies are not considered in the same vein as soldiers in uniform and are not protected by the customs and regulations that govern the treatment of soldiers who are in uniform when captured. Comte de Marquerre is a French spy and suffers eventual death at the hands of Sharpe. Discuss one of the following:

1. Why do you think spies are not accorded any rights under many countries' laws and customs?

2. Even though all countries abhor spies, often even their own, they still spy, and men and women are still willing to be spies. Discuss why you think this is so.

3. Research and analyze the history of spying in either England, the United States, or Russa.

Essay Topic 3

Cornwell is masterful in his description of battles and life in general in 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 Captain William Bampfyldem, Comte de Maquerre, General Calvet, and Commandant Henri Lassan. 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 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?

(see the answer keys)

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