“The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty

Skills:

· Becoming a Strategic Reader

· Identifying a Metaphor

• Identifying Conflict
• Identifying and Dealing with Ambiguity

Becoming a Strategic Reader

I want you to practice close reading, reading as if every word were important. I want you to s l o w l y r e a d. I want you to develop reading habits that keep you thinking and keep you in the game of reading. “The game of reading?” you ask. Yes, the game. It is a competition. It is a puzzle. It is a game between you and the author. In this case, O’Flaherty tries to get you to think in certain ways. He wants to surprise you and pull you in at the same time. He pulls you in so he can surprise you and he surprises you to pull you in to his way of thinking. Your role is to get in to the story without letting O’Flaherty do the leading. Your job is to not be surprised without missing the surprises. Get it?

Does this sound confusing or does this sound like fun? Take it as a challenge that you are going to meet, because you are in the game for the next few decades whether you like it or not. O’Flaherty isn’t the only opponent you’ll be meeting and the others are going to be playing whether you are in the game or riding the bench.

Don’t worry. I’m a good coach, but I can’t do it for you. You have to be a good player that will show up, will practice hard and will want to compete.

The above gray box contained a metaphor for strategic reading: reading is a competitive sport. When I compared reading to a game, I extended the idea by mentioning “competition,” “puzzle,” “challenge,” “opponent,” “playing,” and “riding the bench.” This type of metaphor is called an extended metaphor. I simply drew out the comparison.

Assignments:

• Read page 3 of Elements of Literature: Third Course.

• Read “Before You Read” on page 4.

• Read “The Sniper” beginning on page 5 and ending on page 10. Read also the Reader’s Log found in the yellow box next to the pages in the story. Be prepared to emulate this type of log.

• After reading “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty you will be divided into six groups. Each group will be assigned one of the six kinds of reflection listed on p. 3 and asked to create two or more illustrations for that thought process. The illustrations may use thought bubbles or symbols or any other artistic idea that the group feels will convey the method of thought found in the category they are assigned. Label the illustration with the category that is depicted. (Elements of Literature: Third Course, Teacher’s Edition, p T3)

• Read the ending closely. What does the last sentence mean? What else could the last sentence mean? Which do you think is the true answer? What did O’Flaherty mean? What is the purpose of ambiguity?

• It is said that there are five major conflicts:

• Person v. Person
• Person v. One’s self
• Person v. Nature
• Person v. Society
• Person v. Fate

What is the conflict found in “The Sniper”? Is there more than one?

• How is the armored car described on page 6? What is the metaphor?
  
  
• What major idea has O’Flaherty been trying to get across to you in this story? How has he used the ending to bring into his way of thinking?

Check Test:

• Where does the action take place?
• What happens to the old woman who informs on the sniper?
• How is the sniper injured?
• How does the sniper trick the enemy sniper?
• Who is the sniper who is killed?