1st Draft Essay
Ross Kelly
English 7th period

      The Sniper is a story of a struggle of a sniper in the Ireland Civil war. He is trapped on the roof of a building with an enemy on another rooftop. It is night and he must not be caught on the roof when dawn comes. He is in a struggle of danger and deception, and is living a horrible experience. Throughout The Sniper, the sniper changed from being ignorant and excited about the war to understanding and despising it.

      During the beginning of the story, the sniper was excited about entering the war. He was so excited in fact, that he didn’t even eat breakfast. “He was eating a sandwich hungrily. He hadn’t eaten since morning. He had been too excited to eat.” This quote from the story shows how the sniper was ignorant in his ideas of the war. He was happy and excited, but never realized how much danger he was in, and how terrible wars are. He was like a child wanting to play a game. He hadn’t seen the terrible things in the war, and didn’t even think about them. He was still ignorant and did not understand the war yet.

      The sniper is still trapped and is wounded by the other sniper. He creates a cleaver plan and is able to shoot the other sniper. At first he looks on with a feeling of accomplishment and glee, but then he watches as the other sniper keels over in agony. It is only then when he realizes what he has done. He is hit with the huge pain of guilt. “The last of the battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse.” The sniper is no longer the child he once was. He has seen the death in the war and is no longer treating it like a game. He hates himself for what he has done. He is already showing a great change in the middle of the story.

      By the end of the story, the sniper hates the war. He has seen the worst, and has killed a man. Despite his new hate for the war, the sniper still has a sense of duty. “Taking the whisky flask from his pocket, he emptied it a drought… He decided to leage the roof now and look for his company commander, to report.” He hasn’t totally changed though. He is very upset, and is even risking a drink in this danger. Also, he is curious about the man he killed and is willing to take a risk to discover who it is. He is yet again underestimated the danger and consequences of his actions. He does have a little wake in reality though when a machine gun rips up the ground behind him as he dashes across the street.

      From the beginning of the story to the end, the sniper has totally changed his thoughts and opinions on the war. He started out ignorant and excited about the war like a child, but after experiencing the war first hand he immediately grew up and realized how terrible the war was. He despised the war and discovered first hand how the war was not a game. With this large rang in emotions, it is easy to say that the sniper changed over the course of the story.