The Sniper
1. What is the setting of the story?
I believe the story takes place in Dublin, Ireland, near the Liffey River, around the early 1900s, during the Irish Revolution period. The author describes the setting as a gloomy, war-torn area where “machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically”. There are two parties waging civil war, the Republicans and the Free Staters.
2. Break down the short story according to the plot graph.
In most narratives there is the introduction, the trigger incident, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution. Introduction: The main character is introduced as a Republican sniper; the author describes the setting and explains describes the antagonist, saying he has “the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic”. Readers Interest: Low
Trigger Incident: The antagonist is debating amongst himself if he should risk lighting a cigarette and he does. Immediately a bullet hits the parapet beside him, which introduces us to the main conflict, the enemy sniper. Readers Interest: Medium
Rising Action: An armoured car makes it way up the street the antagonist observes a woman giving the car the whereabouts of his location. The antagonist kills them both. The antagonist becomes wounded by the enemy sniper; he devises a plan and kills the sniper. The antagonist becomes revolted of what he had just done he curses and throws his revolver and it fires which shakes him back to his senses. He decides to find out the identity of the man whom he had killed and makes his way across the street. Readers Interest: Medium-High
Climax: The antagonist makes his way across the street, a machine gun fires and he jumps down beside the body and whirls the body around to look at the face of the man and discovers that the man he had killed was his brother. Readers Interest: Very High
In “The Sniper” there is no falling action or conclusion and the author leaves you to
I believe the story takes place in Dublin, Ireland, near the Liffey River, around the early 1900s, during the Irish Revolution period. The author describes the setting as a gloomy, war-torn area where “machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically”. There are two parties waging civil war, the Republicans and the Free Staters.
2. Break down the short story according to the plot graph.
In most narratives there is the introduction, the trigger incident, the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution. Introduction: The main character is introduced as a Republican sniper; the author describes the setting and explains describes the antagonist, saying he has “the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic”. Readers Interest: Low
Trigger Incident: The antagonist is debating amongst himself if he should risk lighting a cigarette and he does. Immediately a bullet hits the parapet beside him, which introduces us to the main conflict, the enemy sniper. Readers Interest: Medium
Rising Action: An armoured car makes it way up the street the antagonist observes a woman giving the car the whereabouts of his location. The antagonist kills them both. The antagonist becomes wounded by the enemy sniper; he devises a plan and kills the sniper. The antagonist becomes revolted of what he had just done he curses and throws his revolver and it fires which shakes him back to his senses. He decides to find out the identity of the man whom he had killed and makes his way across the street. Readers Interest: Medium-High
Climax: The antagonist makes his way across the street, a machine gun fires and he jumps down beside the body and whirls the body around to look at the face of the man and discovers that the man he had killed was his brother. Readers Interest: Very High
In “The Sniper” there is no falling action or conclusion and the author leaves you to