1. The Sniper
By Liam O’Flaherty

2. Brief Summary/Historical Background
The Sniper follows a young man who finds himself in the midst of a civil war
The young man is Irish, a nation beset by war with England
“Republicans and Free Staters were waging civil war.”
Ireland is split between citizens who would like to be separate from England and citizens who wish to be governed by England
As a sniper, he works alone and is charged with the task of secretly stopping informants and ground forces from advancing

3. Brief Summary/Historical Backgroud
The young sniper finds himself the target of another sniper and must fight for his life
He faces a bit of a moral dilemma (internal conflict) over having to kill another
We are given his thoughts to understand how his mindset changes through his experience in a battleground setting
There is an ironic twist to the resolution of the narrative that presents a conflict for the young sniper

4. Activities/Tasks
We have 6 tasks to complete as we develop our understanding of The Sniper
Narrative Structure/Plot
Imagery & Mood
Literary Elements/SIFT
Theme
Characterization
Foreshadowing

5. Narrative Structure/Plot
Narrative structure involves the unfolding of the story
There are 6 basic elements to the structure of a narrative
Exposition: the background information (characters, setting, etc); how the story begins; the author exposes information to the reader
Inciting Incident: the action that interrupts the action in the story; the beginning of the conflict
Rising Action: action, after the inciting incident, that builds the narrative to a critical moment of suspense
Climax: The highest point of action; the critical moment of suspense
Falling Action: action after the climax that begins to close the narrative structure (loose ends are tied up, questions are answered/revealed
Denouement/Resolution: the conclusion of the narrative where the conflict is solved

7. Imagery and Mood
Imagery is the collection of literary elements that appeal to a readers senses
Any writing that appeals to what you can:
See
Hear
Taste
Feel
Smell
Imagery has a direct relationship to mood, the emotional response of the reader
Mood is how you feel as you read the work, based on the imagery the author has used to make the text come to life

8. Literary Elements/SIFT
SIFT is an acronym that means Symbol/Imagery/Figurative Language/Tone
Symbols are objects that represent both themselves and an outside object or idea
Figurative language is a wide-ranging term that encompasses many literary elements
We will focus on diction
Diction is the word choice of the author used to create a strong positive or negative connotation
Connotation is an implied meaning within a word that makes it sound either positive or negative; authors use this for effect
Tone is the author’s emotion/attitude in a literary work

9. Theme
Theme is a universal message the author is attempting to create about a given subject that is present in a literary work
A theme is never a single word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A theme begins with a single word—we call this a thematic topic
The task is to build your topic into a thematic statement
You will need to think critically about what point the author is making about his topic through the work

10. Characterization
Characterization refers to how a character is developed through thoughts, actions, dialogue
More than thinking of character traits, examine how the author develops the character through his description, his personal thoughts, thoughts of others concerning the character
Understand how characters can be static or dynamic, and why
Static characters stay the same throughout the work; they never grow or learn
Dynamic characters change throughout the work; they grow as individuals or learn a valuable lesson through the development of the plot

11. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the authors way of embedding clues as to what might happen next in the literary work
Foreshadowing involves the reader thinking critically about the text to make an inference as to what may come next
Foreshadowing is NOT guessing!
Guessing involves no thought or background information
Foreshadowing involves making an inference using the information provided in the text