Sniper Summary

 Summary
   Sounds of machine guns and rifles thundered in the darkness of the night around the Four Courts in Dublin.  An outbreak  of a civil war had started between Republicans and Free Staters. Near O’Connell Bridge, a Republican sniper that had a face of a student, but eyes cold gleam lay on the rooftop while eating his sandwich and drinking whiskey. Suddenly he spots an armored car of his enemy but doesn’t shoot as he knows his bullet wouldn’t pass through the steel. An old women walked towards that car and started talking to the man inside it while pointing a finger to the sniper. The sniper knew he had been spotted and without any hesitation he pulled the trigger and killed both the old women and the man in the car. Right after that a bullet from the opposite roof struck him right in his right forearm. He dropped his rifle and lay on the ground moaning in pain, but he knew he had to kill his enemy. He nursed his wound and set the rifle back up. Still crying in pain he targeted towards the opposite building and eagerly pulled the trigger. He heard the cry of the enemy being hit, he knew he had done his job. The sniper curiously went to the enemy wondering who it was and “turned over the dead body and looked into his brother’s face.” (The Sniper, 89)

Message from the Author

       I think the message the author is trying to convey is that in many countries where civil war or wars are going on, there are many kids that are affected by it. As the kids are still young and not mature they are easily manipulated to kill the enemy they are told to for food or other reasons and sometimes without even knowing they kill their own.  Similarly in this story the Republican sniper described as a youth as “his face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic”(The Sniper, 86) This explains how the sniper was a kid and was in fact scared. Moreover, kids are supposed to be guided by their teachers and parents to the right path as they are still new to the world, but in countries where war takes place some kids don’t get that guidance, instead are told to do illegal things for food, and this could be related to the young sniper. “He was eating his sandwich hungrily” and, ‘‘ He finished the sandwich and taking a flask of whiskey from his pocket, he took a short draught.”( The Sniper 86) This further gives an example of what I was saying before as here the text states the young sniper was eating like he hasn’t for days and  that he was drinking whiskey, meaning the young sniper has a food shortage and that he is being given wrong guidance as he is drinking whiskey, youths are supposed to drink milk instead of whiskey.  Also in the end the text states “ Then the sniper turned over the dead boy and looked into his brother’s face.”( The Sniper, 89) This shows how the kids don’t have any idea of what they are doing and who they are doing it to as  in this story  the sniper found out that the enemy he had killed was his brother. Basically in the countries where there are wars going on the kids there are growing very quickly and are killing instead of going to schools.  

Boy in the Stripped Pajamas

   Retell

       The story the Boy in the Stripped Pajamas is about a young boy named Bruno who lives a wealthy lifestyle in  Nazi Germany during WW2 with his mom, older sister, and SS Commandant father. Bruno has grown up learning that Jews are bad and should never interact with them. Later the family relocates to a countryside where his dad is a commander of a Jews prison camp. Bruno hates his new house because he had no friends to play with, but later he spotts a concentration camp thinking it is a farm and might kids there. Few days later, despite his families rules of not going exploring from backyard, his curiosity takes him to the concentration camp. There he meets a boy dressed in stripped pajamas named Shmuel who coincidentally was his age and was also behind electric fence. After talking for a while, they become friends. Bruno comes daily to meet Shmuel and brings him food every time. As the story advances the mother and father have an argument and they decide that it would be better to move back to the city. While this happens in the family, Bruno finds out that Shmuel is a Jew and that his dad was missing. Bruno is to leave his friend, but he had to fulfill the promise of finding Shmuel's dad before Bruno leaves. Therefore to get passed the electric fence, Bruno digs a hole under the fence and gets inside the concentration camp. Shmuel brings Bruno the uniform they wear and both kids search for Shmuel's dad, but while searching they get caught in a group of when which are taken to a room. The rooms were gas chambers and both kids along with other men die.

Reflect
    This movie does reflect on the actual events that happened in Germany during the Holocaust. When Hitler declared that the Jews should be killed or sent to concentrations camps, many German officers with families had to relocate to near these concentration camps where they killed Jews in gas chambers. The movie also shows how Jews and Germans were set in different categories which could never be together. But Bruno became friends with Shmuel before knowing he was a Jew as if Bruno first knew Shmuel was a Jew he won't have interacted with him. Still Bruno becomes friends with Shmuel without caring that he is a Jew.

Relate
  The movie relates to the reality of the world as there is a lot of discrimination and racial conflicts in the world. People judge or criticize others by looking at the cover meaning the skin color, religion, background, accent, physical appearance and other things, despite knowing what kind of person one is from the inside. This movie shows how Jews were discriminated by the Nazi Germans, but Bruno and Shmuel's friendship overlook the race and religion factors and bloomed.