The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

1. The Sniperby Liam O’Flaherty Historic Background Literary Analysis and Essay Planning

2. Background Knowledge: Ireland is an island near Great Britian (which is an Island off of Europe). Ireland is split into the Republic of Ireland (its own nation) and Northern Ireland (under British Rule as part of the United Kingdom)

3. Literature and Language Arts pages 232-235 • Read and Annotate • Write in all of the dates, leaving space between each one (two or three lines) to explain their importance. • 1170 • 1609 • 1780 • 1829 • 1916 • 1921 • 1968-Present

4. The Irish Civil War 1916-1923 1916: Many Irish begin to fight the British Rule that has kept Catholics from owning land, voting, and other rights for several hundred years 1921: The British Government proposes a splitting of Ireland, ceding most of the island to the Irish (it became the Republic of Ireland)

5. June 28-July 5 1922 • 200 IRA members occupied Four Courts. • The British were still there, but wanted the new Irish Government to do the fighting. • Therefore, the two sides were the IRA the (Irish who were against the new treaty) vs Provisional Irish Government (Irish who accepted the new treaty with the separation of Northern Ireland) The Battle of Dublin

7. The Prompt: • Proficiency Essay #1: • Choose three short stories that we have read during this unit and write an essay in which you explain for each of these stories a character’s conflict and his or her change as a result of the conflict.

8. Paired Activity: Imagery • Scan the story The Sniper, specifically looking for descriptive language. Each of you should take two pages to look at. Circle and identify as much as you can of the following: • metaphor • simile • personification (there are almost none of these) • imagery • onomatopoeia • alliteration

9. First fifteen minutes: • Do page 118, only the column for The Sniper (we will read Thoughts of Hanoi tomorrow before the test). • Do page 120 to review the vocabulary.

10. Planning Organizer

11. Some Similes: • “…rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on a lone farms” (110). • “…his right arm was paining him like a thousand devils” (113). • “…he was slowly falling forward, as if in a dream” (113).

12. Some Metaphors: • “His bullets would never pierce the steel that covered the gray monster” (111). • “The cloud of fear scattered from his mind . . .” (114).

13. Some Personification • “…a bullet flattened itself against the parapet”(111). • “The sniper could hear the dull panting of the motor” (111). • “He became bitten by remorse” (114).

14. Finding the Irony • “The enemy on the opposite roof covered his escape. He must kill that enemy” (113). • he does not know who the opposing sniper is • “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face” (114). • now that we know who the enemy is, the irony of the sniper wanting to kill him is revealed.

15. The Sniper Test: All Testing Rules Apply • Clear your desk of everything but the notes. You may use them to help you write your essay. • Have a pencil or pen ready. NO ELECTRONICS AT ANY POINT!!! • When you have completed your test, raise your hand and I will come get it. • Open your Interactive Reader to page 165 and highlight important words in the definitions of symbol, public symbol, invented symbol, and allegory. • Preview and read The Scarlet Ibis pages 168-183.