Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Sniper Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Storm, Unfolding Bud and For God’s Sake Hold Thy Tongue so, you can check these posts as well.
The Sniper Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Sniper – a person who shoots from a hidden position
- Twilight – the time of day between daylight and darkness, after sunset or before sunrise
- Fleecy – white and fluffy-looking
- Dublin – It is the capital and the largest city of Ireland
- Liffey – a river in the Ireland
- Ascetic – characterized by severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence
- Fanatic – expressing excessive zeal
- Gleam – shine brightly
- Parapet – a low protective wall along the edge of a roof, bridge or balcony
- Whiff – breath of air
Question 1: Summarize the setting that is provided in the first paragraph of the story.
Answer: The setting is outlined as being June in Dublin, Ireland. It is night and the scene is set in complete darkness except for the ‘dim light of the moon’ shining through the clouds.
Question 2: List the two sides in the conflict. On what side is the sniper?
Answer: One side of the conflict is made up of the Republicans while the other side is compared of the Free States. The conflict involves a civil war in Ireland. The sniper is on the Republican side of the war.
Question 3: Describe briefly the scene in Dublin as you understand from the first two paragraph of the story?
Answer: A civil war between the Republicans and the free estates was taking place at that time in Dublin. Fighting was going on between the two parties around the four courts. It was night and the moon gave dim light. Heavy guns roared. A Republican Sniper had taken position on the top of a roof near cannel bridge. A rifle lay near him and a pair of field glasses was also there. There was a bright shine in his eyes indicating that he was eager to kill enemy.
Question 4: Why did the Sniper consider it risky to smoke?
Answer: The Sniper thought it risky to smoke because the flash might be seen in the darkness and the enemy could watch it and thus, he could be spotted.
The Sniper Questions & Answers
Question 5: Write out the sentence containing a simile that is found in the first paragraph of the story.
Answer: “Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on lone farms.”
Question 6: There were enemies watching. He decided to take the risk. Do you think the sniper was careless? Give evidence from the lesson to support your answer.
Answer: No, the sniper was quite watchful and not careless. He could not resist the urge to smoke. He should not have taken the risk. The flash was seen by the enemy. As he lit his cigarette, a bullet hit against the parapet of the roof. He was lucky enough that the bullet did not hit him.
Question 7: The sniper is described as being a student who is ‘thin and ascetic’ but his eyes have ‘the cold gleam of the future’. Find the meanings of the words ‘ascetic’ and ‘fanatic’. Write out the definitions.
Answer: An ascetic is a person who is sensitive to art or beauty. A fanatic is a person who has extreme or irrational beliefs. The two terms contrast each other sharply.
Question 8: Why did the sniper kill the man in the armored car and the old woman?
Answer: The sniper killed the man coming in the armored car as he was his enemy otherwise, he would have shot the sniper dead. He killed the old woman because she was an informer of the enemy and was telling about the presence of the sniper.
Question 9: What happens when the sniper lights a cigarette?
Answer: As soon as he uses a match to light the cigarette, an enemy shoot at the light. The bullet hits the parapet of the roof.
Question 10: What happens when the sniper peers over the parapet and what does he see as a result?
Answer: When the sniper looks over the parapet, he is shot at immediately. The bullet passes over his head, just missing him. The sniper sees from where the shot has come from, the opposite side of the street, as a result of the flash.
Question 11: How was the sniper injured? How did he realize that he had been hit?
Answer: When the sniper fired at the man in the armored car and the old woman who was an informer, the enemy from the opposite roof shot at him and injured him. The bullet hit him in his right forearm and his rifle drifted. When he bent and tried to pick up, he could not lift that rifle. That is how he realized that he was hit.
The Sniper Questions & Answers
Question 12: What does the sniper do to the enemies he sees in the street?
Answer: He first shoots the man who is in the turret of the armoured car, killing him. Then, he turns his weapon on the old woman who is an informer. He shoots her dead and she falls into the gutter.
Question 13: What happens as a result of the sniper’s shots?
Answer: He has given away his location precisely when he fires his gun in the darkness. As a result, the man on the opposite roof shoots the sniper in the right forearm.
Question 14: How did the sniper treat his own wound?
Answer: He ripped open the sleeve of his shirt and examined the hole where the bullet had entered. When he realized the bullet had lodged in the bone of his broken arm, he ripped open the packet of his field dressing, poured iodine onto the wound and dressed the wound with cotton wadding.
Question 15: How did the enemy react to the sniper’s feigned death?
Answer: He believed that he had killed the sniper so, he stood up on the roof and looked across at the other building. When he did so, his head was clearly visible against the western sky.
Question 16: How far was the distance between the two men?
Answer: The two men were forty-five metres apart. The shot would be difficult for the shot sniper because he was not only in pain but was only having a revolver to use.
Question 17: For whom was the sniper looking when he decided to leave the roof?
Answer: He was looking for his company commander in order to report what he has done.
Question 18: In what way does the sniper admire the man whom he has killed?
Answer: The sniper acknowledges that the enemy has been a good shot and he wonders whether he knows his identity. He also ponders whether the enemy has been in the sniper’s own company ‘before the split in the army’.
Question 19: What is ironic about the ending of the story?
Answer: When the sniper turns over the ‘dead boy’, he discovers that his enemy has been his own brother. It is ironic that the two brothers are fighting on different sides of the civil war and that each has attempted to kill the other. It is ironic that the sniper has killed another sniper who happens to be his brother.
So, these were The Sniper Questions & Answers.