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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the risk that the sniper takes in order to check out his dead enemy's identity?

2. Once he is wounded, what is the sniper's first priority?

3. Where does the sniper get shot?

4. How are the sniper's eyes described?

5. The narrator says that the sniper can hear the "dull panting" (96) of the enemy armored car. This is an example of which technique?

Short Essay Questions

1. What problem is created by the sniper's wound?

2. What motivates the sniper to get himself back under control?

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

4. What is the symbolic significance of the O'Connell Bridge and the River Liffey?

5. Who are the Republicans at war with, and what does this opposition believe?

6. 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?

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

8. Describe the wound that the sniper suffers.

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

10. How does the enemy sniper manage to shoot the protagonist?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What causes the sniper's abrupt change of emotion once he has killed the other sniper? Why does this occur only after he has killed the enemy sniper, and not when he kills the first person, the machine gunner?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the symbolic value of the description of setting in the story's opening paragraph.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the paradox in the story's description of the sniper's appearance.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample