1. English 10 Literature Lesson #17 Mr. Rinka
The Sniper
Analysis

2. Historical Background http://www. cummingsstudyguides
In 1919, the newly formed Irish Republican Army launched guerilla warfare during the Irish War of Independence to liberate Ireland from the British. Unable to contain the rebels, London agreed in the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty to create an Irish Free State. However, the agreement would recognize the Free State only as a dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Moreover, it would permit

3. Historical Background http://www. cummingsstudyguides
six counties in northern Ireland to withdraw from the Free State, allow the British to maintain ports in the south, and require the Free State to pay part of the debt Britain incurred in waging the war. Consequently, not all Irishmen accepted the agreement, the provisions of which became effective in (The six northern counties seceded, as expected.) Once-united Irish fighters

4. Historical Background http://www. cummingsstudyguides
now split into two factions—disgruntled IRA members and supporters of the Free State—and fought a civil war. O’Flaherty, himself a member of the IRA, centers his short story on a scene of fighting in Dublin in which an IRA sniper shoots at Free Staters from a rooftop.

5. Setting http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides4/Sniper.html
The time and place in which a story, play, or narrative takes place. "The Sniper" takes place in Ireland's largest city, Dublin, on the country's east coast on Dublin Bay, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The time is nightfall in June after the establishment of the Irish Free State in The sniper

6. Setting
posts himself on a rooftop in central Dublin near the Four Courts building, which houses the high courts of Ireland, and O'Connell Bridge, which spans the River Liffey. The Liffey divides the city into two sections as it runs eastward to Dublin Bay.

7. Protagonist The main character in a story often called the “hero”
The IRA sniper is the protagonist.

8. Antagonist The character or force that blocks the protagonist.
The sniper across the street from the protagonist.

9. Conflict
In literature, the problem that is created between the protagonist and antagonist. The solution of this problem makes up the story.

10. External Conflict
A conflict in which a character struggles against an outside force

11. External Conflict Man v Man IRA Sniper V Free Stater Sniper
The enemy on the opposite roof covered
his escape. He must kill that enemy, and
he could not use his rifle. He had only a
revolver to do it. Then he thought of a plan.

12. Moral
A lesson about life that a story teaches

13. Moral http://www. cummingsstudyguides. net/Guides4/Sniper
War reduces human beings to mere objects.
They have no names, no faces. They are targets, nothing more, to be shot at from a distance. To support this theme, O’Flaherty refrains from naming any of his characters.

14. Moral http://www. cummingsstudyguides. net/Guides4/Sniper
War knows no boundaries—age, sex, location, time of day, family ties.
The IRA sniper is a young man, and the informer is an old woman. The fighting takes place in the heart of a city after sundown. The IRA sniper unwittingly shoots and kills his own brother.

15. Point of View (POV)
The perspective the narrator, storyteller, takes when telling the story.

16. 3rd Person Limited POV
The person telling the story presents the story through only one character. Uses the pronouns “he” and “she”.

17. 3rd Person Limited POV Example
Then he paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous. The flash might be seen in the darkness, and there were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk.

18. Allusion
Reference to a statement, person, place, or event from history, literature, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or pop culture

19. Allusion Example http://gvc0823. gvc08. virtualclassroom
Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war.
A reference to the 1922 decision to create free states in Ireland that would be ruled by England. This decision caused a civil war within Ireland.

20. Characterization
A description of the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral qualities of a person in a literary work.

21. Characterization
His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.

22. Direct Characterization
The writer describes the physical, emotional and mental qualities directly to the reader.

23. Direct Characterization
His teeth chattered, he began to gibber to himself, cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody.

24. Indirect Characterization
The reader has to use his own judgment to decide what a character is like based on the evidence that the writer gives.

25. Indirect Characterization
The woman darted towards the side street. The sniper fired again. The woman whirled round and fell with a sudden shriek into the gutter.

26. Dynamic Character
A Character who changes as a result of the events of a story.

27. Dynamic Character Example
The sniper seems to be a Dynamic Characters:
The sniper looked at his enemy
falling and he shuddered. The lust
of battle died in him. He became
bitten by remorse.

28. Flat Character
A character who has only one or two traits that can be described in a few words.

29. Flat Character Example
They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death.

30. Foreshadowing
Giving hints or clues beforehand in a story that create suspense and/or subtly prepare the reader for what is to follow.

31. Foreshadowing Example
he felt a sudden curiosity as to the identity of the enemy sniper whom he had killed. He wondered did he know him. Perhaps he had been in his own company before the split in the army.

32. Epiphany
The moment of awakening or realization for a character.

33. Epiphany Example
Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother´s face.

34. Imagery
Language that appeals to the senses to create a mental picture.

35. Imagery Example
Then the dying man on the roof crumpled up and fell forward. The body turned over and over in space and hit the ground with a dull thud. Then it lay still.

36. Situational Irony
Both the audience and the characters experience a surprise or shock at what occurs because they expected something else.

37. Situational Irony Example
A machine-gun tore up the ground around him with a hail of bullets, but he escaped. He threw himself face downwards beside the corpse. The machine-gun stopped. Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother´s face.

38. Metaphor
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another thing without using words such as “like,” “as,” “than,” “resembles.”

39. Metaphor
His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the grey monster.

40. Mood
The feelings a work stimulates in a reader.

41. Mood Example
While reading “The Sniper” I felt apprehensive and fearful because of the dangerous situation, and the fact that here was a young student turned into a killer..

42. Tone
The attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject or a character

43. Tone Example
O’Flaherty seems sympathetic to the sniper and probably was since he had been a supporter of the IRA.

44. The Sniper Video

45. English 10 Literature Lesson #17 Mr. Rinka
The Sniper
Analysis