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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word (or a variation of it) is repeated several times after the sniper is shot?
(a) Ireland.
(b) Dead.
(c) Bridge.
(d) Broken.

2. How does the reader know the sniper's age?
(a) From the description of the objects he has with him.
(b) From the description of his eyes.
(c) From the description of his face.
(d) From the report of his thoughts.

3. What is the source of the sniper's respect for his fallen enemy?
(a) The man was a good shot.
(b) He can tell that his enemy was also a soldier.
(c) His religious respect for life.
(d) He is a fellow Irishman.

4. On the rooftop where the sniper is lying, there is a parapet. What is a parapet?
(a) An enclosed opening to the floor below.
(b) A low wall at the edge of the roof.
(c) A chimney.
(d) A stairwell.

5. Why does the protagonist expose his hand by draping it over the parapet?
(a) He needs to risk it in order to get his gun.
(b) To make it look like he has been shot.
(c) To show a white flag.
(d) He is unaware that he has done so.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the enemy sniper stand up and expose his position?

2. Where does the sniper think that he might know his enemy from?

3. In the context in which it is used in "The Sniper," how is "draught" (96) pronounced?

4. As a result of taking a risk in order to see his dead enemy's body, what happens to the sniper?

5. Why does the sniper decide that it is safe to move from the rooftop?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is the protagonist of "The Sniper" and what is he fighting for?

2. In the sentence "Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof," (96), what is being personified and what purpose does the personification of the bullet serve?

3. What is the setting of "The Sniper"?

4. What motivates the sniper to discover the identity of the dead man, and what is that identity?

5. What is the sniper drinking, and what evidence does the reader have that it is affecting his judgement?

6. Who does the sniper kill while he is still waiting to kill the enemy sniper, and why does he kill them?

7. What risk does the sniper take at the beginning of the story, and what are the consequences?

8. What happens as a result of the Republican sniper's ruse?

9. What striking contrast is there in the description that opens the story with the description that closes the first paragraph?

10. How does the sniper fool his enemy?

(see the answer keys)

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