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Placing a cigarette between his lips, he struck a match, inhaled the smoke hurriedly and put out the light. Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof.
The story is narrated in third person from the Republican sniper’s perspective. But the enemy sniper’s actions suggest his presence and character as well. He hides on a rooftop opposite the Republican sniper’s location. He is alert to his surroundings; he notices everything and takes every chance he gets to shoot at the Republican sniper. He notices even the flicker of light from the lit match, uses it to aim, and quickly fires a bullet.
The narrative perspective reveals only the actions that the enemy sniper takes to kill the Republican sniper. Readers see the Republican sniper pass the time as he waits, eating a bit, having a cigarette. They do not see what the enemy sniper, hidden except when he fires, does as he waits. He is a mystery and thus a foreboding threat. Yet after he dies, the enemy sniper is revealed to be as human and as fragile as the story’s protagonist.
The other sniper, seeing the cap and rifle fall, thought that he had killed his man. He was now standing before a row of chimney pots, looking across, with his head clearly silhouetted against the western sky.
The Republican sniper smiled and lifted his revolver above the edge of the parapet.
When the enemy sniper sees his opponent’s hand slip from the parapet and the rifle that would have claimed his life fall to the street, he makes a fatal mistake. The enemy sniper is sure that he has shot “his man,” suggesting a hunter’s pride in taking down his target. He stands in a manner “clearly silhouetted against the western sky,” a posture that suggests hubris, and offers a clear and easy target. His overconfidence leads him to compromise his location and his safety, giving the Republican sniper a clear shot. The Republican sniper’s smile reveals his own confidence in his ruse, and he takes the shot with his shattered arm. By underestimating his opponent, the enemy sniper loses the mental battle that combat imposes and, when he falls, ceases to be a man and becomes a “body.”
