The Sniper, Summary and Thematic Paragraph

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In your own words, summarize this text.

In the short story “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty, the story of a soldier who uses tactics and his creativity to overcome a challenge and declare victory. Taking place in  downtown Dublin, near a famous O’Connell Bridge. The war  is a civil war raging between the republicans and free staters, the protagonist , the sniper, being a republican. He is a young, but fearful man because he has “the eyes of a man who has seen death” meaning he is not an un experienced soldier, he has killed people before and it clearly does not physically and mentally stop him from killing more.

         

          Berlin is described as being a gloomy, depressing city where war is not disguised but rather exposed to everyone including civilians. The protagonist has been on top of a roof with his rifle for a very long time as describing it “Has not eaten anything since morning” meaning he has not left the rooftop since morning. After his meal he takes a sip of whisky in order to stay awake and refreshed but as he starts to get more comfortable that’s when things go wrong. He decides to take a risk of lighting up a cigarette, which he knows has consequences but does it anyways. Within minutes of him lighting his cigarette, a bullet is fired towards his direction missing him by centimeters.  He is then aware his situation is more serious than he imagined.

          Noticing a man on the roof, the sniper is later target by his prey and is shot at but near misses the bullet. When a soft, yet loud rumble is heard he notices an armored car and a lady who is an informer reveling the location of him. He takes cover and fires at a man who opens a top door to reveal his body and a turret and fires, instantly killing him and then aims and shoots the lady who was attempting to escape. He later notices a man on the opposite roof who is targeting the sniper but being a tad bit too late, the enemy hits the sniper on the arm. The sniper uses all his strength to relieve his pain and cover up his wounds. Using his adrenaline and good will he decides to fire back but to all his knowledge the enemy has disappeared. Using a knife he takes out the bullet wound, applies iodine solution and covers it with his own clothing.

          The sniper is getting exhausted and knows that he must escape the roof by morning or he risks being shot at. He is determined to kill the sniper on the opposite roof and he comes up with a devious yet intelligent way to reveal his target. He knows the sniper is of no use to him anymore but his revolver may be able to replace it, only if he can see the target that is. He decides to use the sniper as bait, sticking out the rifle just enough the enemy can see and shoot at it thus helping locate where the enemy is, once the rifle has been shot at, the sniper makes it look as if he has been shot and killed, letting the rifle fall down to the ground the enemy gets out to view his target being killed. To his surprise the sniper appears from behind the chimney, exaggerating to shoot, aims at the enemy and fires killing him on impact. The enemy slowly drifts down the roof until hitting the ground with a soft thud.

          The sniper knows he must get off the roof, so he goes down to the berlin streets to notice it being completely quiet. Before returning to his commander camp, his curiosity allows him to re route and run towards the body he has shot. Crossing the street however he is targeted by a machine gun having many close calls but in the end reaching the body without a scratch. As the sniper turns the body of the man he has just killed, he realizes he is face to face with his own brother.

Description of criteria	NE	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
• Make inference • Cite evidence (stated or implied) from the text to support the inference • Explanation of how evidence is related to inference (using background knowledge) • Use reasoning language (because, therefore, since, due to, etc.)	Not Evident	Inference is attempted but implausible Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides limited support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates limited understanding of the text Reasoning language used with limited effectiveness	Inference is plausible but vague Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides some support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates some understanding of the text Reasoning language used with some effectiveness	Inference is relevant and logical Evidence (stated or implied) cited from text provides considerable support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates considerable understanding of the text Effective use of reasoning language	Inference is logical and insightful Evidence (stated or implied) cited from the text provides effective support for the inference Explanation of how the evidence supports the inference demonstrates thorough understanding of the text Highly effective use of reasoning language

What is the author’s message? Provide evidence from the text and explain your thinking.

                The author’s message is every victory gained in war is a person lost. War is where you win by killing someone, meaning you win when someone falls. When the sniper desperately attempts to kill the so called enemy on the opposite wall, it never crosses his mind that it may be his very own brother he is targeting.  Using precision and intelligent thinking he is able to gain the victory of killing an enemy but a loss of his brother. His message is portrayed by using all humans as basic objects, to represent what a victory is war really is. Using sniper and enemy no one would imagine these characters to share anything amongst each other, other than the fact they are both involved in war. Using no names but the position of the person to classify them, we get a deepened understanding of how stressful it was to kill someone and how clever you had to be to not be killed while killing.  Demonstrating how anything can occur while in the presence of war, when you think you’re safe but are in severe danger vice versa. Even the slightest actions can cost your life. The strategic battle between two opposite snipers, attempting to kill one another ended for a loss in both ways. The enemy had died and the sniper losing his own brother, resulting in no victory at all. At the end of day when one side wins the other always loses, but in this case the losses are lives.