The main character of the short story 'The Sniper' was calm and brave, he stayed really calm when he was hiding on the roof, and he was brave, because when his arm was hit by the bullet, he tried to overcome his pain, and he wrapped the wound himself. He is smart and resourceful, he tricked another sniper which was from the enemy side, and he killed him successfully. He was also petty because the dead sniper he killed was his brother.
At the beginning of the story, the author had clearly shown the environment and the time background of the story. For example, the author used some environmental description, like the twilight, the moon or the clouds to show the ambiance. The author also used the gun shooting sound to tell the readers the story was happening in wartime. Also, the author used the gun shooting sound to make a contrast with the quiet environment, gave readers a sense of tension and terror in the war years.
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The old woman was an informer, she exposed the sniper’s hiding place, so the sniper killed the woman, and she falls in the gutter.
The author gave life to the armored car, the author likened the armored car to a monster, and also showed that the armored car was really huge and firm, and the enemies were ferocious.
The sniper used his cap, and he put his cap on the tip of the gun, slowly upward over the parapet, he did it on purpose, because he wanted to use cap to deliberately let the enemy think he was exposed, so when the enemy fired to the cap, the enemy will think he dead, also the sniper used this trick to letting the enemy exposing himself, too.
The dilemma that the sniper had faced was when he was shooting another sniper, the dim light will made the shoot harder, and the sniper’s right arm was injured, so he may not be able to shoot. Also, if he didn’t shoot accurately at another sniper, he will expose himself.
The climax of the story was when the sniper was tricking the enemy, and letting the enemy being exposed that he can kill him.
In my opinion, I think the author wanted to keep some mystery to the readers’ abstracts and gave the readers’ empathy by using the nameless sniper, because, in the real war, a sniper always be in dangers, and they could not expose themselves, so they always hide their names and hide their whereabouts. Another reason is there were too many nameless people who died in the war, they were all utilized by the wars, so the author did not give the name to the sniper is because he wanted to show that the sniper might also become the part of the nameless people who died in countless wars. In the story, it said that the sniper was too excited, and also, I think the sniper was nervous, too. I think the mood in the story is dark and nervous, repressed. For example, in the beginning, the author used the environment description to render a repressed, nervous atmosphere, like the dim light of the moon, and how the Dublin enveloped in the darkness. For another example, the author expressed a nervous mood by describing the armored car, and the sniper hears the dull painting of the motor, and the sniper’s heart beat faster, that also showed the nervous atmosphere and mood. When the sniper saw he just killed another person, he felt mad at himself, he was mad at everyone, he was mad at the war, hated the war, so the author used this motion to showed that actually, the sniper might still have some humanity in his deep heart, he also hated how the war arranged his destiny. However, after the bullet whizzed from his revolver past the sniper's head, the gunshot had dragged him from the oppressive reality, he had to face the reality, he had to done things like that, that is his ‘duty’, he could not change anything. So, the author used the contrast of his sniper to showed that the was really oppressive and cruel, and the sniper was actually very pitiful, too. This ending for this story was very dramatic, no one realized that another sniper from the enemy side that the main character just killed was his brother. The author used a very dramatic and astounding ending, so the author actually caught reader’s attention again in the end, it will give the readers a really deep memorize, also it can bring the readers to have deeper thinking about this story. In my opinion, the author used this dramatic ending to showed that wars are cruel and humoristic, wars can make people become very unity and loyal, but it also could make people become internecine, also it showed that how much pain and misfortune that the war could bring, but how weak and negligible when people face the wars.
In this story, the sniper killed his brother who was from the enemy side, the dramatic and cruel reality had shown that the wars are very brutal, the sniper used his loyalty to his chiefs or his faction by sacrificing the family love. This story had expressed the theme of human nature, but I think it also showed that when people make several decisions or try to acquire something, in the process, you always have to sacrifice or lose something, everything is not going to be perfect, like what the proverb said, ‘You win a few, you lose a few’, it is a hard situation, people will lose some while they are getting something.
In real life, I think I had been through this kind of dilemma, too. Three years ago, when I was in 14, my parents wanted to send me to Canada for high school. During that moment, I struggled, because going to Canada means I will get a better education, an extraordinary experience in life, even a better future. However, the ‘costs’ for it will also be heavy, I will be far away from home, I will not stay with my family during the Chinese festivals, even my birthday, and I will face more new challenges and difficulties from the brand-new environment alone. I think that is a really hard or significant decision to make as a 14 years old girl, and I made this decision. In a blink of an eye three years had passed quickly. I still remember every time at the airport, the tears felt off from my mom’s face; I still remember the first birthday without family; I still remember the uneasy in my heart and the fear of the new environment. I think these are all my dedication, my sacrificing, these are one after another dilemma that I had been through.
In conclusion, I think ‘The Sniper’ has exposed human nature, but it also tells people that everything is going to cost, gaining something, losing something. I think in this story, the author used the sniper’s mood to be the biggest turning point in the story. From the beginning, the sniper’s cruel and ruthless when he killed the two persons, until he killed another sniper from the enemy side, which also his brother, and saw the body fell off the roof, his heart is actually suffering a lot of shocks and tangles, so that is why he was so mad, and he hated everyone in the world. Actually, during that moment, that was a dilemma or a hard choice in his heart, he did not want to kill people, and that is the moment that had shown the human nature of good. However, when the gunshot dragged him to reality, he suddenly realized how weak and helpless he was in front of the war, so laughed, what a desperate laugh, what a helpless laugh. During that moment, the war forced him to become evil, to become cruel, and forced him to make another hard choice and been through another dilemma. Also, in the end, the author used such a dramatic way to end this story, it also predicts the sniper is going to being through another dilemma and making another moral choice.
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