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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 does the sniper take a risk to do after he finishes eating?

2. What is the only description given of the old woman?

3. What is the sniper drinking?

4. What river is near the sniper's position?

5. The description of the car "panting" (96) suggests what about the situation?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What causes the sniper to suddenly lose his enthusiasm for the battle?

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

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

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

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

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

9. Describe the wound that the sniper suffers.

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

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 3

The words "dead" and "deadened" occur repeatedly in the paragraphs about the sniper getting hit with a bullet. Explain the thematic purpose of this repetition.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 666 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample